Who the hell is "Mehdi Pourisfahani"?

One of the more curious notes in Joe Trento's latest update from Dawud Salahuddin is the suggestion that the arrest of a certain "Mehdi Pourisfahani" might be behind Iran's detention of Bobby Levinson.

Iranian authorities are especially upset over the detention of Mehdi Pourisfahani, according to Salahuddin. Pourisfahani was picked up at Chicago's O'Hare Airport with a group of other Iranians about six weeks ago. All the others in the group were released within a day or two. Pourisfahani remains in detention. According to Salahuddin, the Iranian is a wealthy businessman, resident in the states the past 15-20 years, apolitical but knows people over here.

It's anybody's guess what "Iranian authorities" are "especially upset" about, of course.

Maybe it's the way Dick Cheney ties his necktie or wears his pants. (In fact, "Iranian authorities" seem to be unusually sensitive to the sartorial habits of Westerners.)

Most folks, though, seem to think the Levinson kidnapping is in retaliation for the U.S. detention of five Iranian "diplomats" (read: "terrorists") captured in Irbil.

In any event, I can't find a reference to a Mehdi Pourisfahani anywhere on the Interweb. (Could he actually be "Mehdipour Isfahani"? That Iranian name seems to make a little more sense to me—though, again, no such individual turns up in a Google search.)

Could the Iranian businessman perhaps have been packing a penis pump in his carry-on?

The most likely explanation I can come up with is that this is just another one of Dawud Salahuddin's tall tales.

Don't forget to sign the Free Bobby! petition.