Scientist was paid $5 million

Shahram Amiri, who vanished from Saudi Arabia in June 2009 while on a pilgrimage, arrived in Tehran on Thursday after surfacing in Iran’s Interest Section in Washington two days ago. He denied that he was a nuclear scientist, but said he was questioned by Israelis during his captivity.

Immediately after his arrival he told reporters that he was just a “simple researcher”, refuting earlier claims by Iranian officials that he was a nuclear scientist.Iranian officials claim Amiri was kidnapped by the Central Intelligence Agency of the United States, while the US media has reported he defected to Washington. US officials have denied these claims.
Amiri “is not obligated to return the money but might be unable to access it after breaking off what US officials described as significant cooperation with the CIA and abruptly returning to Iran,” the Post report said.

It cited unnamed officials as saying he may have left the United States “out of concern that the Tehran government would harm his family.”

“Anything he got (financially) is now beyond his reach, thanks to the financial sanctions on Iran,” an unnamed US official told the daily. “He’s gone, but his money’s not. We have his information, and the Iranians have him.” Nonetheless, the same US official spotlighted that for the US, losing Amiri may have come at a high cost in terms of intelligence.