TEHRAN (AFP) – An Iranian scientist who spent 14 months in the United States in mysterious circumstances denied on his arrival in Tehran on Thursday that he had spilled Iran's nuclear secrets to US agents.

Repeating his claims he had been abducted by US spies, Shahram Amiri told reporters at Tehran airport that not only did he have nothing to do with Iran's controversial nuclear programme, he had also resisted US pressure to tell the media that he was a well-informed atomic scientist.

He said his captors wanted him to tell the US media that he had "defected on his own and was carrying important documents and a laptop which contained classified secrets of Iran's military nuclear programme."

"But with God's will, I resisted," Amiri said, soon after being welcomed at Tehran airport by his tearful son and overjoyed wife.

Amiri, who vanished from Saudi Arabia in June 2009 while on a pilgrimage, surfaced in Iran's Interests Section in Washington two days ago.