U.S. calls Iran's accusations against scholar absurd - Yahoo! News

U.S. calls Iran's accusations against scholar absurd - Yahoo! News: "U.S. calls Iran's accusations against scholar absurd " WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States dismissed on Tuesday as "absurd" Iranian suggestions that a U.S.-based academic imprisoned in in Iran sought to undermine the Islamic state. Haleh Esfandiari, the director of the Washington-based Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars' Middle East program, was detained in Iran on May 8 and taken to Tehran's Evin prison, the center and her family have said. On Monday, an Iranian Intelligence Ministry statement said she was working for a group supported by those seeking to undermine Iran's ruling system -- a charge denied by the U.S. State Department and by the Woodrow Wilson Center. "It's absolutely absurd to claim that this researcher ... poses a threat to the Iranian regime," State Department spokesman Tom Casey told reporters, repeating the U.S. demand for her immediate release. Esfandiari's arrest takes place amid tension between the United States and Iran over Iran's nuclear program, which the West suspects is aimed at making atom bombs. Iran denies this, saying it wants nuclear power to generate electricity. The two countries, which have not had diplomatic relations since 1980, are also at odds over Iraq' name=c1> SEARCHNews News Photos Images Web' name=c3> Iraq, where Washington accuses Tehran of fomenting the insurgency and of providing sophisticated roadside bombs that have killed U.S. soldiers. Casey described Esfandiari, a researcher with dual U.S. and Iranian citizenship, as a scholar whose work aimed to help Iranians and Americans better understand each other. "She's a researcher. She's also a grandmother and a child of a very elderly parent back in Tehran and, you know, I hardly think of such stuff are revolutions made," Casey said. The Woodrow Wilson Center, a nonpartisan think tank that receives government and private funding and promotes the study of U.S. and international affairs, has also denied Esfandiari was seeking to undermine the Iranian government. In a statement, the center said it had received reports that Iranian state-run television aired a broadcast saying that Esfandiari was being charged by the Iranian government with "seeking to topple the ruling Islamic establishment." The center said it was not aware of any formal charges brought against her but noted that Iran's "state television often speaks for the government." Casey also said he was unaware of any formal charges but said the State Department was "taking as legitimate the statements that have been made publicly that they have in fact placed her under charges."