Story highlights Just-released emails seem to support U.S. claims that an Iranian nuclear scientist was not abducted, but defected

The emails could provide more evidence that Clinton's aides were using veiled references to keep her apprised of sensitive matters on her private email account

(CNN) New Hillary Clinton emails released by the State Department appear to lift the curtain on the bizarre circumstances surrounding Shahram Amiri, an Iranian nuclear scientist who claims to have been abducted by the CIA.

The just-released emails, which were sent to Clinton back in 2010, seem to support what State Department sources have long maintained: that Amiri was not abducted, but a defector and paid informant who changed his mind about helping the U.S.

The emails also appear to offer insight into the department's plans to get Amiri back to Iran safely.

Amiri's complicated story began in 2009, when he mysteriously disappeared while on a religious pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia. Almost immediately, Tehran accused the U.S. of abducting him. The U.S. denied the accusation, saying it had no knowledge of Amiri's whereabouts.

Fast forward to nearly a year later, when a series of videos surfaced online of a man claiming to be Amiri.

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