TEHRAN, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Tuesday that Washington had a role in abducting Iran's nuclear scientist in Saudi Arabia, local satellite Press TV reported.

    "Based on the evidence that we have at our disposal, the Americans had a role in abducting Shahram Amiri," Mottaki said in a joint press conference with visiting UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayid Al Nahyan in Tehran.

    "Therefore, we expect the U.S. government to return him," Mottaki said, adding that "Saudi Arabia is also responsible regarding this issue."

    Amiri was a staff of Atomic Energy Organization of Iran and was a researcher at Tehran's Malek Ashtar University and went missing after he travelled to Saudi Arabia for Hajj pilgrimage on June 4, 2009.

    "The U.S. should give back our compatriots based on the call of their family and people. We reserve the right for prosecution and will inform the public of ways of following up the case in the future," Mottaki was quoted as saying by the state-run IRNA news agency in a report.

    "It will be highly natural for us to ask Saudi Arabia to clarify the fate and home return of him," he added.