09 December,2009 10:31 AM IST | | AFP
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki accused the United States of abducting its nuclear scientist Shahram Amiri who went missing in Saudi Arabia earlier this year.
"Based on existing pieces of evidence that we have at our disposal the Americans had a role in Mr Amiri's abduction," Mottaki said at a press conference on Tuesday in Farsi which was translated into English by Press TV channel.
"The Americans did abduct him. Therefore we expect the American government to return him." Mottaki said Amiri had travelled to Saudi Arabia to perform the minor Muslim pilgrimage when he disappeared. "He disappeared in Saudi Arabia and naturally we ask the Saudi government to look into the case.... Saudi Arabia must be held accountable in this regard."
Earlier, foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast told Mehr news agency that Riyadh had handed Amiri over to Washington. Mehmanparast also acknowledged that Amiri was a nuclear scientist, something which Iranian officials had previously evaded to reveal.
