Family says Iran abducted California man in Dubai

Iranian officials said this weekend that they have detained the California-based leader of a militant resistance group, who they accuse of plotting a deadly 2008 mosque attack.

The Iranian Intelligence Ministry said Saturday it has detained Jamshid Sharmahd, The Associated Press reported. Tehran said Sharmahd is the leader of Tondar, the militant wing of the monarchist exile group Kingdom Assembly of Iran.

The Intelligence Ministry did not provide details on how it detained Sharmahd, but his family has accused the government of abducting him during a trip to Dubai and taking him to Iran by way of Oman.

Tehran has accused Sharmahd of masterminding a 2008 attack on the Hosseynieh Seyed al-Shohada Mosque in Shiraz, which killed 14 people. It also claimed the group masterminded a 2010 bombing in Tehran at Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s tomb.

Sharmahd’s family has denied he was involved in any attacks and said his only work with the group was as a spokesman.

“We’re seeking support from any democratic country, any free country,” his son Shayan Sharmahd told the AP. “It is a violation of human rights. You can’t just pick someone up in a third country and drag them into your country.”

The UAE, the site of the U.S. Navy’s largest port of call outside the U.S., currently houses about 5,000 U.S. troops. It is also the site of the U.S. State Department’s Iran Regional Presence Office, and is believed to be a major Iranian intelligence hub as well.

Since Tehran’s announcement, Jamshid Sharmahd has appeared in state TV footage, reminiscent of what human rights groups have said are coerced confessions aired on the network.

Shayan Sharmahd said his father has several medical conditions that require medications and regular checkups, including Parkinson’s, diabetes and a heart condition.

“He’s very much at risk,” he told the AP. “All of us are extremely concerned.”

The U.S. State Department said in a statement that Iran “has a long history of detaining Iranians and foreign nationals on spurious charges.”

Although Jamshid Sharmahd is not an American citizen, his detention could further inflame Washington-Tehran tensions. In January, the U.S. killed Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the commander of Iran’s Quds Force, in a Baghdad drone strike. The countries briefly seemed poised for armed conflict after Iran launched a retaliatory missile attack on an Iraqi airbase housing U.S. troops. The attack killed no U.S. forces but wounded several.