Iran Executes Nuclear Scientist

On Saturday August 6th, Iranian officials confirmed the execution of nuclear scientist Shahram Amiri for “giving vital information to the enemy.”

The execution was announced after Amiri’s mother had been handed over his body that had rope marks around the neck, indicating that he had been hanged. The information was passed on by the Mansoto, independent satellite television news station based out of London.

On Sunday, a spokesperson for the Iranian judiciary, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei stated that Amiri was hanged due to his connection to the United States and his giving of vital information to an enemy of Iran.

Yet, Shahram’s linkage to espionage for the United States is more confusing and muddled than bluntly put together by the Iranian judicial structure. Additionally, Amiri’s trial, detention, and execution were carried out in secret, and the evidence presented at the Iranian prosecution has yet to be unveiled.

Initially, Amiri disappeared in Saudi Arabia in 2009 when the scientist went on a pilgrimage to Mecca. One year later, he resurfaced in the United States in videos where he claimed to have been kidnapped by the CIA and forced to co-operate.

Silence ensued, yet Amiri returned to the spotlight a month later, this time though, the scientist was seen in a Pakistani embassy in Washington D.C. He then gave a second account of his time in the United States. During this rendition, Amiri stated that he had been in the United States to voluntarily study, but wished to return home because he desperately missed his son.

Confined within the Iranian interests section of the embassy, Amiri sought to return to his home country. Two days later, Amiri’s return to Tehran was broadcast on Iranian state television and he was greeted with flowers and open arms by party officials and his family. During a subsequent interview on an Iranian talk-show circuit, Amiri claimed, “I was under the harshest mental and physical torture.”

U.S. officials, however, tell a different story of Amiri’s time in the United States. They claim that Amiri offered his services in radiation detection to the United States for a five million dollar deal in which he provided information on the country’s nuclear development. Yet, before any payments were made, Amiri left the U.S.

In May of 2011, Amiri was officially sentenced on charges of treason and disappeared from the news until August, 2016.

Amiri’s actual purpose in the United States is unknown; however, based on the purges of scientists and academics taking place in Iran in 2009, it is reasonable to conclude Amiri fled the country in fear.

Under the guise of undertaking the haaj to Mecca, Amiri sought refuge with the United States in exchange for handing over intelligence on the Iranian nuclear program. If this is the case, then the explanation for Amiri’s rapid and strange return to Iran would be explained by Iranian coercive measures against the scientist’s family and friends if he refused to return.

Yet, the strange circumstance of Amiri’s situation raise questions about the possibility of an Iranian disinformation campaign. Amiri’s sad fate may be part of a larger effort to muddle United States intelligence officers and diplomatic officials understanding of the Iranian  nuclear program.

Regardless of the large questions surrounding Shahram Amiri’s curious defection from and repatriation to Iran, in announcing that it conducted a relatively secret execution of one of its nuclear scientist, Iran indicates that it still perceives the United States as  an enemy and those who aid it as traitors. Despite the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (the official name of the July 2015 nuclear deal with Iran) and other U.S. efforts at détente, the Islamic Republic’s drastic measures targeting Amiri ultimately highlight an unchanging attitude toward Western society and the United States in particluar.