U.S. frees Iranian scientist held over violation of sanctions

PanARMENIAN.Net - An Iranian scientist held for more than a year in California on charges of violating U.S. sanctions arrived in Muscat on Friday, April 26 after being freed in what the Omani foreign ministry said was a humanitarian gesture, Reuters reported.

Mojtaba Atarodi, an assistant professor of electrical engineering at Sharif University of Technology, had been detained for allegedly buying high-tech U.S. laboratory equipment, previous Iranian media reports said.

The U.S. sanctions are linked to Tehran's disputed nuclear program, which it says is for peaceful purposes only but Washington says is aimed at manufacturing a nuclear weapon.

Iran's semi-official Fars news agency said Atarodi would return home on Saturday.

Oman, a U.S.-allied Gulf Arab state which enjoys good relations with Tehran, has previously helped mediate the release of Western prisoners held by the Islamic republic.

Authorities in the Sultanate had worked with U.S. officials to speed up Atarodi's case and return him home, the Omani foreign ministry said in a statement carried by local media. It said Oman would provide medical attention for Atarodi until his return to Iran, giving no further details.

He had been released after follow-ups by Iran's foreign ministry, that ministry's spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast was quoted as saying by the Iranian Students' News Agency (ISNA).