10 December 2009 / REUTERS, TEHRAN
Iran believes the United States is holding a former deputy defense minister who disappeared in 2007 and 10 other Iranian nationals, according to a list carried by the semi-official Mehr news agency on Wednesday.
Separately, a Saudi official denied Iran’s claim that Riyadh handed an Iranian nuclear scientist to the United States, saying the kingdom had searched in vain for him on its territory. “Saudi authorities searched for him after being informed of his disappearance in Medina and at all the hospitals, hotels and centers in Mecca -- even at his place of residence -- but they could not find him,” Saudi Foreign Ministry media chief Osama al-Nogali said. On Tuesday, the Iranian Foreign Ministry’s spokesman said 11 Iranians were being detained in the United States, naming only the missing scientist, Shahram Amiri. US State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley, speaking to reporters in Washington, declined to comment on the situation. The list on Mehr also named former deputy minister Ali Reza Asgari and included a former ambassador to Jordan. Iran and the United States have had no diplomatic relationship for three decades and are embroiled in a long-running row over Tehran’s nuclear programme, which the West suspects is aimed at making bombs. Iran denies the charge.
