US mum on Iranian scientist's arrest

WASHINGTON (AP) — For one 55-year-old professor, what started out as an overseas trip to the doctor has become part of the shadowy U.S. struggle with Iran.

The arrest in Los Angeles in December of Seyed Mojtaba Atarodi, a U.S.-educated electrical engineer who teaches at a leading Iranian university, comes as the U.S. uses export controls to try to restrict Iran's acquisition of U.S. technology, including for its military and nuclear programs.

But the Atarodi case bears another hallmark of the long-running U.S.-Iran conflict: It's cloaked in secrecy.

U.S. officials won't discuss the case or confirm that Atarodi has been charged. He has appeared in federal district court in San Francisco at least twice, but both proceedings were closed. The indictment against the Iranian microchip expert, who holds a U.S. green card, remains sealed nearly three months after his arrest at Los Angeles International Airport as he arrived from Iran.

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