US wanted to 'swap Iranian scientist for hikers'

US wanted to 'swap Iranian scientist for hikers'

rawstory.com

TEHRAN — An Iranian scientist, who returned home last week charging he had been held by US agents for more than a year, has said that they pressed him to agree to be exchanged in a "spy" swap for three US hikers in custody in Tehran.

In a lengthy interview aired by state television late on Saturday, Shahram Amiri claimed that the US agents had acknowledged that the three Americans, detained on the Iran-Iraq border in July last year, were indeed "spies".

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This story gets more and more interesting, on an almost daily basis. Now we are finding out that not only did the US want to trade the scientist for the three hikers (possibly), but also that the scientist is claiming that the US referred to the hikers as spies. Why else would you do a "spy exchange"?

I think most intelligent people or people who have looked into the matter, realize that the three hikers were most likely spies, but at least now we have another source suggesting the same.

Again, this story gets more interesting by the day. I can't wait until something else comes out tomorrow.

--airspoon


rawstory.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

I think what is happening here is that the Iranians are capitalizing on America’s lack of credibility that it has on the world stage after years of half truths. This ‘Iranian scientist’ is probably a plant by the Iranian government in an effort to discredit the United States.

They probably told him to approach the US government and try and find out what they know about their nuke program and if at all possible try and feed the US government false information. Somewhere along the way this was found out and the Iranians will spout off as much rhetoric as they can.

They know full well many people will buy it because of past half truths and outright lies by government officials over the years and different administrations.

I don't think we'll ever know the truth.

reply to post by airspoon


This story is crazy strange. I am actually not sure who to believe, no one's story seems to check out (or make much sense).

If he was a spy or asset why release him?

If he tried to defect, why go back to Iran?

I bet the truth is much stranger than what we are hearing from both sides. .

Isn't this like the 3 or 4th story he has told?

The sad thing about this is that now I really doubt those hikers will be released. With this guy saying that they were indeed spies it might even be hard for them to escape execution.

They wanted to do this with the 10 russian spy's as well. I made a thread about it with links, but it did not get that much attention.

www.abovetopsecret.com...



[edit on 18-7-2010 by YouCanCallMeKM]

Double post! Sorry.

[edit on 18-7-2010 by YouCanCallMeKM]

Don't even rule out the possibility of his being a double agent now. If we, behind the scenes. cooperate to make it look like he really was kidnapped, when he would return to Iran he could seek out more information, for either later transmission to U.S. sources, or for a later defection, including his family.

On the other hand, this may have been an action on the part of the U.S. to force the hand of the Iranian leaders. You trade our people for a guy that hasn't proven effective to us.

However, it could have been a power play by the Iranians, taking three Americans to force our hand with a guy the Iranian leadership wanted back pretty badly. In that case, the Americans could even have been outside of Iran, as they proclaimed initially. However, once armed Iranian troops picked them up and took them across the Iranian border, who could prove otherwise.

Or the story could be really complicated.

I think he's simply muddling the facts intentionally to stay in the public eye. It's safer there. Whether he was a single agent or a double agent, we'll probably never know. One things for certain, he'll never be trusted again by either side. It all went far too public, probably intentionally on his part or behalf. He's very lucky to be alive and will be luckier still to stay that way.

But what if you were one of the three Americans who were drawn into this fiasco because of the games played by each of the BIG BOYS? It is usually the little people who get stepped on, to put it politely.

The truth is probably that the real issues still relate to the power plays by the U.S. and Iran about the "nuclear issue." It is possible none of them were primary players.

reply to post by airspoon


I do have to laugh that the higher, if I think I know who you are talking about, is named Bauer. Talk about coincidence. lol.

Were they in Iraq to begin with?

blogs.citypages.com...

Personally it makes sense. We probably have at least a dozen spies in Iran. Begs to question why.

We may have spies in Iran, but if we do, it's because they know how to identify and determine military/nuclear facilities and equipment. Have you checked out the background of the trio?

Not exactly DIA material in my book.

reply to post by Truth1000


Are you serious? Of course they are CIA worthy. You must have the wrong idea, if you think that all CIA assets are James Bond types.

Also, we need assets in Iran for all sorts of reasons, not only to identify nuclear sites (as we already know where they are and Iran is fully cooperating with the IAEA).

The US probably has assets in Iran for all kinds of reasons, to include building opposition to the current government. You send a couple of people in, to a safe house inside Iran and from there, they continue to spew propaganda against the government, as well as funnel money and supplies to fund the operation.

In fact, you would expect such western or Israeli spies to slip in through the exact same spot as did those "hikers". You couldn't really have them fly in or come in by any other means if you want them completely off the radar.

I'm so sure that these guys were intelligence assets, that I would almost bet my manhood on it.

--airspoon

"IF" they were spies, it is extremely unlikely they would be CIA operatives to begin with.

You might want to be a bit more careful with your "manhood."