Amiri kidnapped by US, Saudi forces

Abducted Iranian scholar Shahram Amiri says he was kidnapped by the US security agents in collaboration with Saudi forces, while he was on a pilgrimage in the holy city of Medina in June 2009.

The university lecturer said he was kidnapped on June 3, 2009 in a joint operation by terror and kidnap teams from the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and Saudi Arabia’s Istikhbarat.

“I was abducted in a joint operation by terror and kidnap teams from the US Central Intelligence Agency and Saudi Arabia’s Istikhbarat. I was kidnapped in the holy city of Medina,” Amiri said in his first video message.

In his exclusive interview with Press TV Amiri said he was snatched by a group of unknown people, made unconscious and found himself on an American plane bound for the United States.

In the second video, he contradicted his earlier statements, saying that he was in the US of his own free will to further his education, dismissing all rumors about his defection.

However, in the latest audio message obtained by Iran’s intelligence sources, Amiri insisted that he was offered $10 million to appear on CNN and announce that he had willingly defected to the US.

Holding the US accountable for Amiri’s abduction, the Iranian Foreign Ministry summoned the Swiss charge d’affaires, whose embassy represents US interests in Iran, earlier this month and handed over new documents related to the abduction of the Iranian national by the CIA.

Analysts say US intelligence officials decided to free Amiri after they failed to advance their propaganda campaign against Iran’s nuclear program via fabricating interviews with the Iranian national.

The Iranian national has left the United States for the Iranian capital, Tehran.