Seyed Mojtaba Atarodi an Iranian scientist who was arrested in California in 2011 was a part of the ‘historic’ nuke deal that Obama and John Kerry cut with the Iranians. Pastor Saeed Abedini, a naturalized American citizen who has been held hostage by the Iranians for over a year on the other hand wasn’t even part of the discussion.
Mojtaba Atarodi, arrested in California for attempting to acquire equipment for Iran’s military programs, was released in April as part of back channel talks, Times of Israel told. The contacts, mediated in Oman for years by close colleague of the Sultan, have seen a series of US-Iran prisoner releases, and there may be more to come
In the most dramatic of those releases, the US in April released a top Iranian scientist, Mojtaba Atarodi, who had been arrested in 2011 for attempting to acquire equipment that could be used for Iran’s military programs.
American and Iranian officials have been meeting secretly in Oman on and off for years, according to a respected Israeli intelligence analyst, Ronen Solomon. And in the past three years as a consequence of those talks, Iran released three American prisoners, all via Oman, and the US responded in kind. Then, most critically, in April, when the back channel was reactivated in advance of the Geneva P5+1 meetings, the US released a fourth Iranian prisoner, high-ranking Iranian scientist Atarodi, who was arrested in California on charges that remain sealed but relate to his attempt to acquire what are known as dual-use technologies, or equipment that could be used for Iran’s military programs. Iran has not reciprocated for that latest release.