Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Ramin Mehmanparast on Sunday urged the United States to release the Iranian semiconductor scientist who has allegedly violated U.S. export laws by buying high-tech U.S. lab equipment, MNA reported.
Mehmanparast said that the U.S. move is indicative of the deceptive nature of Washington's claims of support for the Iranian nation.
Prison records show the U.S. is holding Seyed Mojtaba Atarodi, 54, a microchip expert and assistant professor at Tehran's prestigious Sharif University of Technology, in a federal facility in Dublin, Calif., outside San Francisco.