Revolutionary Guard detains British professor

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — A British-Iranian university professor who actively campaigns against military action targeting his homeland has been detained in Iran by the country’s hard-line Revolutionary Guard, a semi-official Iranian news agency reported Thursday, becoming the latest dual national held there since the 2015 nuclear deal.

Computer scientist and mathematician Abbas Edalat was one of several people arrested by the Guard over accusations of being part of a “network affiliated with Britain,” the Fars news agency said.

Fars, believed to be close to the Guard, cited an unnamed source that accused the group of leading 2009 unrest in Iran surrounding the disputed re-election of hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Fars offered no evidence supporting the allegation.

The British Foreign Office said late Wednesday night it was “urgently seeking information” after the New Yorkbased Center for Human Rights in Iran first reported Edalat had been detained.

It’s unclear what charges he faces, though typically those arrested by the Guard face espionage or security-related charges and closed-door trials where guilty verdicts come down without the opportunity to defend themselves.

Edalat is a professor at Imperial College London, a famed British university that Fars described as “playing a special role in training spies in different disguises to launch espionage operations inside Iran.” Fars offered no evidence to support the allegation.

In a statement, Imperial College London said Edalat had worked there since 1989 and was a “valued colleague.”

“We are understandably concerned for his welfare,” the school said.

Edalat traveled to Iran for an academic workshop and was arrested April 15, according to the Center for Human Rights in Iran.

Analysts and family members of dual nationals and others detained in Iran say hard-liners in the Islamic Republic’s security agencies use the prisoners as bargaining chips in negotiations with the West. Iran and Britain have been discussing the possible release of some 400 million pounds held by London since the 1979 Islamic Revolution for a tank purchase that never happened.