Saudi Foreign Ministry spokesman Osama Nugali told Asharq Alawsat that he was "stunned by the declarations and allegations" from Tehran, which he "deplored."

Nugali said that nuclear scientist Shahram Amiri's disappearance earlier this year had sparked an extensive investigation by the Saudi government.

"After having been informed of his disappearance by the Iranian delegation (in Mecca), Saudi authorities undertook an intensive search in Medina as well as in all the hospitals in the region of Mecca," Nugali told the newspaper.

"Saudi Arabia receives a million Iranian pilgrims every year for the hajj and umrah, and as with other countries they are under the supervision of their own national delegations," he said.

Iranian parliament speaker Ali Larijani said both Washington and Riyadh must be held responsible for Amiri's disappearance, and that the United States behaved like a "terrorist" by abducting him from Saudi Arabia, Iran's state television reported Wednesday.

"Americans have done such things even in the past, but have never taken responsibility for their terrorist behaviour," Larijani said.

"It is clear that this move was done by Americans and organised by Saudi conspirators and such behaviour harms their reputation."

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki on Tuesday accused the United States of abducting Amiri, who went missing while on an umrah minor pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia earlier this year.

"Based on existing pieces of evidence that we have at our disposal the Americans had a role in Mr. Amiri's abduction," Mottaki said at a press conference, according to a Press TV report.

"The Americans did abduct him. Therefore we expect the American government to return him."

Mottaki said Amiri had travelled to Saudi Arabia to perform the minor Muslim pilgrimage when he disappeared.

"He disappeared in Saudi Arabia and naturally we ask the Saudi government to look into the case.... Saudi Arabia must be held accountable in this regard."

Also Tuesday, foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast told Mehr news agency that Riyadh had handed Amiri over to Washington, while confirming that the missing Iranian was a nuclear scientist.

The US State Department declined Tuesday to comment on Tehran's assertion that it had taken Amiri.

"We are aware of the Iranian claims," said department spokesman Philip Crowley said in Washington. "I have no information on that."

"I'm not going to say anything else," he insisted as reporters pressed him on the matter at a media briefing.

The allegations came amid heightened US and European pressure on Tehran to halt its alleged efforts to develop nuclear weapons.

EU foreign ministers on Tuesday threatened new measures against Iran if it blocks progress toward resolving the dispute over its controversial nuclear programme.

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