2010-07-16 14:48

WASHINGTON - An Iranian scientist who defected to the US returned home amid an escalating propaganda war between Tehran and Washington but without $5 million that a US official says he had been paid for "significant" information about his country's nuclear programs.

The CIA paid Shahram Amiri a total of $5 million to provide intelligence, but Amiri did not take the money with him, the US official, who was briefed on the case, said Thursday. The funds were barred by US Treasury sanctions that prohibit the flow of American dollars to Iran.

"Anything he got is now beyond his reach, thanks to the financial sanctions on Iran," said the US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because public discussion of the case was not authorized. "He's gone, but the money's still here."

The official said Amiri had provided the CIA with "significant, original information" that the agency was able to independently verify, although he would not detail the scope of the intelligence he provided. There was also no indication, the official said, that Amiri might have been a double agent sent by the Iranians to learn what the CIA knows about its suspected nuclear weapons program.

Still, several former American intelligence officers said Thursday that Iranian intelligence officials would be expected to debrief Amiri to try to learn every last detail about the exchanges that took place between him and his CIA handlers, a process that could take weeks or even months.

The former officers, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of those exchanges, said Iranian intelligence would try to exploit any information to hunt for existing American spies.

In another twist, The New York Times reported Friday that Amiri had been a CIA informant inside Iran for several years before defecting. US officials quoted but not named by the newspaper said he had provided valuable information on Iran's nuclear program, including how a Tehran university served as headquarters for Iran's nuclear program.

Iran's leaders are expected to use Amiri to ring up as many propaganda points as possible against Washington, and within hours of the former defector's arrival in Tehran, the war of words heated up.

Iranian officials touted Amiri's claim he had been abducted by US agents, while a US State Department official parried with a call for three long-imprisoned American hikers to be released and treated similarly to Amiri, who they said was allowed to return to his homeland.

In Tehran, Iranian lawmaker Amir Taherkhani boasted that Amiri's return "shows the strength of the Islamic republic." Another prominent parliament member, Alaeddin Boroujerdi, called the alleged kidnapping a "terrorist act."

It remains unclear how Iranian authorities will ultimately deal with Amiri, and the US claims he cooperated with American authorities, despite his hero-style welcome. Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki called Amiri a "dear compatriot" and said Iran was keenly interested in learning more about the reasons for his alleged abduction.