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Report: Nuclear Scientist Quits Iran for US
Updated: 3 hours 9 minutes ago
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Theunis Bates Contributor
AOL News
(March 31) -- The CIA has persuaded an Iranian nuclear scientist to defect to the U.S., ABC News reported Tuesday, scoring a major intelligence coup in its ongoing operation to thwart the country's nuclear ambitions.
Shahram Amiri -- an expert in radioactive isotopes at Tehran's Malek Ashtar University, which has close ties to the Revolutionary Guard -- mysteriously vanished in June, just three day after arriving in Mecca for the annual Haj pilgrimage. News of his disappearance was only made public in the fall, when Iran accused the U.S. of kidnapping the researcher (believed to be in his early 30s) with the help of Saudi intelligence.
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Iranian nuclear scientist Shahram Amiri, here in an undated image, disappeared from Iran in June and is now living in the United States, sources told ABC News.
However, unnamed officials briefed by the CIA told ABC that Amiri willingly switched sides and has since resettled in the U.S. -- leaving his wife and family behind in Iran. The source added that his disappearance was part of a long-running CIA operation to win over the scientist, and that the agency first made contact with him through an intermediary in Iran.
The timing of Amiri's defection has raised speculation that the physicist may have provided the U.S. with vital information on the secret construction of a second uranium enrichment plant near the holy city of Qom. Iran revealed the existence of that facility to the International Atomic Energy Agency in September, a few days before President Barack Obama announced that the U.S., the U.K. and France had evidence the regime had been building a "covert uranium enrichment" plant for several years.
The Times of London noted that Western intelligence agencies believe Tehran was forced to come clean about the facility as they knew its secrecy had been compromised. At least one Iranian Web site, said ABC, claimed Amiri worked at the Qom site before his defection.
Exactly how much Amiri knew about the wider nuclear program is not clear. Security experts caution that the regime keeps scientists in the dark about much of the operation, so that no single researcher or official can derail the program should they defect. However, turncoats can still offer valuable insights into individual nuclear projects.
The CIA's campaign to lure key figures away from the regime has been running for at least two decades but was stepped up in 2005 with the launch of operation "Brain Drain." A former agent told the L.A. Times in 2007 that the agency was targeting dozens of potential defectors based on a single criterion: "Who, if removed from the program, would have the biggest impact on slowing or stopping their progress?" That would suggest that Amiri was an important figure, worthy of the agency's attention.
To date, the most senior Iranian official believed to have changed sides is Ali Reza Asghari -- a former brigadier general in the Revolutionary Guard and the most senior military officer overseeing the nuclear program -- who disappeared while on a trip to Turkey in 2007. The London Times says that his name appeared alongside Amiri's on a list of kidnapping victims passed by Tehran to the U.N. late last year.
And the West isn't just targeting Iran's human resources. Julian Borger, the Guardian's diplomatic editor, says a U.S. official hinted to him that the U.S. has deliberately seeded malfunctioning nuclear centrifuge parts across the global black market. That strategy, he said, explained why scientists at the Natanz refinement plant had struggled to enrich uranium as fast as Tehran wanted.
http://www.aolnews.com/nation/artic...tist-shahram-amiri-quits-iran-for-us/19421223
Updated: 3 hours 9 minutes ago
E-mail http://www.islamicboard.com//www.ad...uits Iran for U.S. - AOL News&content=&lng=enhttp://www.islamicboard.com//www.ad...uits Iran for U.S. - AOL News&content=&lng=enhttp://www.islamicboard.com//www.ad...uits Iran for U.S. - AOL News&content=&lng=enMore
Theunis Bates ContributorAOL News
(March 31) -- The CIA has persuaded an Iranian nuclear scientist to defect to the U.S., ABC News reported Tuesday, scoring a major intelligence coup in its ongoing operation to thwart the country's nuclear ambitions.
Shahram Amiri -- an expert in radioactive isotopes at Tehran's Malek Ashtar University, which has close ties to the Revolutionary Guard -- mysteriously vanished in June, just three day after arriving in Mecca for the annual Haj pilgrimage. News of his disappearance was only made public in the fall, when Iran accused the U.S. of kidnapping the researcher (believed to be in his early 30s) with the help of Saudi intelligence.
Iranian nuclear scientist Shahram Amiri, here in an undated image, disappeared from Iran in June and is now living in the United States, sources told ABC News.
However, unnamed officials briefed by the CIA told ABC that Amiri willingly switched sides and has since resettled in the U.S. -- leaving his wife and family behind in Iran. The source added that his disappearance was part of a long-running CIA operation to win over the scientist, and that the agency first made contact with him through an intermediary in Iran.
The timing of Amiri's defection has raised speculation that the physicist may have provided the U.S. with vital information on the secret construction of a second uranium enrichment plant near the holy city of Qom. Iran revealed the existence of that facility to the International Atomic Energy Agency in September, a few days before President Barack Obama announced that the U.S., the U.K. and France had evidence the regime had been building a "covert uranium enrichment" plant for several years.
The Times of London noted that Western intelligence agencies believe Tehran was forced to come clean about the facility as they knew its secrecy had been compromised. At least one Iranian Web site, said ABC, claimed Amiri worked at the Qom site before his defection.
Exactly how much Amiri knew about the wider nuclear program is not clear. Security experts caution that the regime keeps scientists in the dark about much of the operation, so that no single researcher or official can derail the program should they defect. However, turncoats can still offer valuable insights into individual nuclear projects.
The CIA's campaign to lure key figures away from the regime has been running for at least two decades but was stepped up in 2005 with the launch of operation "Brain Drain." A former agent told the L.A. Times in 2007 that the agency was targeting dozens of potential defectors based on a single criterion: "Who, if removed from the program, would have the biggest impact on slowing or stopping their progress?" That would suggest that Amiri was an important figure, worthy of the agency's attention.
To date, the most senior Iranian official believed to have changed sides is Ali Reza Asghari -- a former brigadier general in the Revolutionary Guard and the most senior military officer overseeing the nuclear program -- who disappeared while on a trip to Turkey in 2007. The London Times says that his name appeared alongside Amiri's on a list of kidnapping victims passed by Tehran to the U.N. late last year.
And the West isn't just targeting Iran's human resources. Julian Borger, the Guardian's diplomatic editor, says a U.S. official hinted to him that the U.S. has deliberately seeded malfunctioning nuclear centrifuge parts across the global black market. That strategy, he said, explained why scientists at the Natanz refinement plant had struggled to enrich uranium as fast as Tehran wanted.
http://www.aolnews.com/nation/artic...tist-shahram-amiri-quits-iran-for-us/19421223
