FM Spokesman: Amiri leaves US, heads for Iran

Tehran, July 14, IRNA – Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said that the abducted Iranian researcher Shahram Amiri has left US for Iran.

Due to the measures taken by Iran and the sincere cooperation of the Pakistani embassy in Washington, Amiri left America and is heading to Iran via a third country, he said.

Mehman-parast added that the foreign ministry deputy for American affairs talked to Amiri on phone last night to enquire about his well-being.

However, Mehmanparast stressed, Iran will continue efforts to pursue the case in the role the US administration had in the abduction of Amiri through various legal and diplomatic channels.

Amiri appeared in Iran's interest section in the Pakistani embassy in Washington on Tuesday and called for return to the country.

Amiri, a university researcher, disappeared during a pilgrimage trip to Saudi Arabia last June. He was abducted by US agents with the help of the Saudi intelligence service.

In a video clip aired on Iran TV channels on April 6, 2010, Amiri said he was in the US and that he had been kidnapped by US agents en route to the holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia in June 2009. /end