国际英语新闻："Abducted" Iranian scholar says he was kidnapped by CIA

TEHRAN, July 15 (Xinhua) -- An Iranian scholar who had gone missing for more than one year told reporters here Thursday he was kidnapped by the CIA and the abduction was part of the U.S. campaign to add political pressures to Iran.

Shahram Amiri, 32, who arrived in Tehran early in the morning, told a news conference that he was abducted by CIA agents when he was on a pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia in June last year.

He said he was then forced to board a military aircraft bound for the United States, where he was interrogated and tortured by U.S. and Israeli agents who wanted classified information about Iran's nuclear projects from him.

An image grab taken from Iran's state-run English-language Press TV shows Iranian nuclear scientist Shahram Amiri.

"Over there I had to go through physical and mental tortures," said Amiri, who is an employee of the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization, or the IAEO.

But Amiri said he is just a "simple researcher," without any expertise on nuclear technology, or knowledge and access to Iran's nuclear sites.

"I had nothing to do with Natanz and Fordo sites," he added.