Iran Tells U.S. to Hand Over Missing Nuke Scientist

June 9, 2010 — -- The U.S. State Department said today that Iran had passed on a diplomatic note through the Swiss embassy in Tehran regarding missing nuclear scientist Shahram Amiri, who Tehran insists was abducted by the U.S. government.

"They allege in the note that we have him and they want him back," State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley told reporters today. "We will respond to the diplomatic note."

Two videos of Amiri surfaced on YouTube earlier this week, one showing Amiri telling an Iranian journalist he had been abducted by the U.S., the other showing Amiri claiming to be safe and happy in the U.S.

Asked about the conflicting videos, Crowley replied, "The [second video] will not be able to tell us any more about this individual's whereabouts than the first one." The U.S. has not given any official acknowledgement of Amiri's location.

The topic of Amiri came up during what Crowley says was a previously scheduled meeting yesterday between the Swiss ambassador and Iran's foreign ministry.

Amiri, 32, has been at the center of a mystery since his disappearance on a pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia last year. ABC News reported exclusively on March 30 that he had defected to the U.S. and was providing information about Iran's secret nuclear program, citing current and former CIA officials.

In a video posted online by Iranian television, with English subtitles, Amiri claimed he had been drugged and kidnapped and was living in Tucson, Ariz.

"Since I was abducted and brought to the U.S., I was heavily tortured and pressured by U.S. intelligence," Amiri says in Farsi.

"When I became conscious, I found myself in a plane on the way to the U.S.," he says.

Amiri claims that he was forced to lie and pretend that he had top secret information on the Iranian nuclear program so the U.S. could put "pollitical pressure" on Iran, and then asks international human rights organizations to help free him from captivity in the U.S.

Amiri, unshaven and wearing headphones, appears to be talking through a computer phone hook-up, which he says on the tape was made on April 5, one week after ABC News first reported his alleged defection to the US.

At almost the same time the first video was posted on line by Iranian television, a second video was posted on YouTube late Monday night in which Amiri appears in a professionally lit setting and says he is safe and happy to be in the United States. It is not clear who produced or posted the second video.

"I am free here and I assure everyone I am safe," he says.