US refuses comment on Iranian scientist abduction claims

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WASHINGTON, Dec 9 (AFP): The US State Department Tuesday declined to comment on Iranian claims the United States was responsible for the disappearance of an Iranian nuclear scientist in Saudi Arabia.
"We are aware of the Iranian claims," said department spokesman Philip Crowley. "I have no information on that."
"I'm not going to say anything else," he insisted as reporters pressed him on the matter at a press briefing.
Shahram Amiri reportedly disappeared from the holy city of Medina early June, just three days after landing in Saudi Arabia for a pilgrimage.
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki accused Washington of kidnapping Amiri.
"Based on existing pieces of evidence that we have at our disposal, the Americans had a role in Mr. Amiri's abduction," he said at a press conference in Farsi which was translated into English by Press TV channel.
Earlier Tuesday, Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast acknowledged for the first time that Amiri is a nuclear scientist, something which Iranian officials have previously declined to confirm.