Iran abducted California man while in Dubai, his family claims

A California-based member of an Iranian militant opposition group in exile was abducted by Iran while staying in Dubai, his family says.

The suspected cross-border abduction of Jamshid Sharmahd appears corroborated by mobile phone location data, shared by his family with The Associated Press, that suggests he was taken to neighboring Oman before heading to Iran.

Iran hasn’t said how it detained Sharmahd, though its announcement of the arrest came against the backdrop of covert actions conducted by Iran amid heightened tensions with the US over Tehran’s collapsing nuclear deal with world powers.

This undated photograph provided by the family of Jamshid Sharmahd shows the 65-year-old man from Glendora, California (Sharmahd family via AP)

Iran accuses Sharmahd, 65, of Glendora, California of planning a 2008 attack on a mosque that killed 14 people and wounded over 200 others, as well as plotting other assaults through the little-known Kingdom Assembly of Iran and its Tondar militant wing. It aired an interview of him on state television — footage that resembled many other suspected coerced confessions broadcast by the Iranian government in the last decade.