Iran now says scientist was double agent

American officials have said that the scientist, Shahram Amiri, was a CIA informant for years in Iran, providing “significant” information about Iran’s nuclear programme and voluntarily defecting to the United States in 2009. Amiri returned to Iran last week, saying he had been abducted and tortured by American authorities.

Iran now appears to be turning those claims around, casting Amiri as the double-agent hero of a plan to outwit American intelligence agencies and provide false nuclear data.

American officials responded derisively to the new claims. “He never had access to American intelligence information,” said one official. “That’s a joke.” The New York Times