Posted on 12/09/2009 11:31:50 PM PST by ErnstStavroBlofeld
Saudi Arabia rebuffed charges that the US kidnapped a Iranian nuclear scientist on a pilgrimage to Mecca, a Saudi newspaper said Wednesday, while a leading Iranian politician branded the act "terrorist behaviour." Saudi Foreign Ministry spokesman Osama Nugali told Asharq Alawsat that he was "stunned by the declarations and allegations" from Tehran, which he "deplored."
Nugali said that nuclear scientist Shahram Amiri's disappearance earlier this year had sparked an extensive investigation by the Saudi government.
"After having been informed of his disappearance by the Iranian delegation (in Mecca), Saudi authorities undertook an intensive search in Medina as well as in all the hospitals in the region of Mecca," Nugali told the newspaper.
"Saudi Arabia receives a million Iranian pilgrims every year for the hajj and umrah, and as with other countries they are under the supervision of their own national delegations," he said.
Iranian parliament speaker Ali Larijani said both Washington and Riyadh must be held responsible for Amiri's disappearance, and that the United States behaved like a "terrorist" by abducting him from Saudi Arabia, Iran's state television reported Wednesday.
"Americans have done such things even in the past, but have never taken responsibility for their terrorist behaviour," Larijani said.
"It is clear that this move was done by Americans and organised by Saudi conspirators and such behaviour harms their reputation."
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki on Tuesday accused the United States of abducting Amiri, who went missing while on an umrah minor pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia earlier this year.
(Excerpt) Read more at spacewar.com ...
Israel, reportedly, has induced some Iranian nuclear experts to defect in the last few years.
I agree. This was a Mossad operation.
http://www.realclearworld.com/blog/2009/10/more_iranian_nuclear_scientist.html
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