Iran's state television has aired what it says is footage of a missing nuclear scientist whom Tehran alleges was kidnapped by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency.
In Tuesday's video, a man described as Shahram Amiri, a researcher working for Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, said he had just escaped from U.S. agents in the eastern state of Virginia and is in hiding.
The man said he could be arrested at any time and does not have permission to contact his family. He said the U.S. government is responsible if he does not return to Iran alive.
The U.S. television network ABC reported Monday the Iranian government had threatened to harm Amiri's family unless he returned home. ABC news has reported that Amiri defected to the U.S. to help the CIA.
Earlier this month, Iran aired an initial video of a man identified as Amiri saying he was kidnapped by Saudi and U.S. intelligence services in Medina (Saudi Arabia) and tortured in the U.S. But another video, posted one day later on the You Tube website, shows a man identified as Amiri saying he is safe and secure in the United States.
The man in the You Tube video says he came to the U.S. to continue academic studies in health-related physics. He is sitting comfortably in a room that appears to be an office or study.
The man says he is not interested in the weaponry field and is speaking on the video in order to put an end to rumors that he has been involved in "wrongdoings" against Iran. ABC news reported Monday that the CIA produced the second video.
The United States has denied kidnapping Amiri.
Amiri, a nuclear physicist in his 30s, vanished in June 2009. A few months later, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said investigators had obtained documents that showed what he called "U.S. interference" in his disappearance.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP and Reuters.
