Mohammad Alavi is an Iranian nuclear engineer and a former employee at Palo Verde, the largest nuclear power plant of the United States. He was held in jail for 54 days by US court. He was arrested April 8, 2007 as he stepped off a plane in Los Angeles. He had returned to the United States with his wife for the birth of their first child. Iran's foreign minister sent a letter to U.S. officials demanding Alavi's immediate release. He was released in June 2007 after it was cleared that he had not taken any designs or blueprints of the Palo Verde power plant.