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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Missing Iranian official "fled to the US" - report

2007-03-06

Cairo - An Iranian military adviser and former general who disappeared in Turkey last month is said to have sought asylum in the United States. Pan-Arab newspaper al-Sharq al-Awsat said on Tuesday, quoting high-profile sources, that Ali Reza Askari left for the US shortly after arriving in the Turkish capital.

I guess the only thing better than "First Class" is flying "Defector Class".

Flying from Damascus, Askari arrived in Istanbul on February 7, but disappeared only a few hours after checking into an Iranian-owned hotel. Askari was seen leaving the hotel and initial reports of the mysterious disappearance speculated that he was abducted by foreign secret services, the CIA and Israel's Mossad topping the list. Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Monday that Askari had 'disappeared without a trace' and he held Turkey responsible for his fate.

Iran has formally asked both Interpol and Turkey to conduct an investigation into the adviser's disappearance, according to reports. The al-Sharq al-Awsat newspaper sources, however, claim the adviser was not abducted but left for the United States 'along with the secrets he carried.'

Anyone check Dick Cheney's plane when he got back?

Askari, a former deputy to the Iranian secretary of defence, facilitated government weapon deals and may have personal knowledge of Iran's uranium enrichment programme and defence strategies, according to the newspaper.

Meanwhile according to Israel's Haaretz daily, Arab sources insist that Askari was captured by American and Israeli intelligence. 'Unnamed Arab diplomats have been quoted in Israeli media as charging that the Israeli Mossad and the Central Intelligence Agency kidnapped Askari,' the paper said.

Israel denies any involvement in the disappearance, but still fears retaliation as a result of the speculation. Israeli daily Maariv reported Tuesday that the Israeli secret service has stepped up its protection for representatives of the Israeli state abroad.

Posted by:Steve

#24 HHHHMMMMMMM, Motakki.

Posted by: JosephMendiola 2007-03-06 22:35

#23 You have been on a roll lately, Steve. :-)

Alan, you're clearly more creative in this area than I. *shudder*

I didn't even remember the February 28th post, Sherry. Good memory! (even if it took a bit to find it)

Posted by: trailing wife 2007-03-06 22:14

#22 Who cares, I want to talk about Defector Class is that like a 1964 1st Class? I'm talking neck rubs here..... Is it so?

Posted by: Shipman 2007-03-06 18:30

#21 IF the Iranian government HAS withdrawn "tens of agents" because they were actually Revolutionary Guard instead of Iranian diplomatic personnel, that alone will provide us with a small diplomatic victory. Just go through the list of who's recently been "reassigned" to Iran. At the same time, removing those people also may break up some clandestine networks that Iran has managed to set up in foreign countries. The CIA, I'm sure, has had an "interesting" month, or they need to be disolved. Of course, if all went as it should, we will never know...

Posted by: Old Patriot 2007-03-06 15:01

#20 Suppose we might trade him for Genereal Weasely Clark?

Posted by: Anonymoose 2007-03-06 14:58

#19 Everybody there has family here.

Posted by: Seafarious 2007-03-06 14:43

#18 Bet he has family here. Anyone know how to check?

Posted by: Jack is Back 2007-03-06 14:38

#17 That's the one, I recognize my brillant in-line comments...

Posted by: Steve 2007-03-06 14:35

#16 Found it, with the added comments -- with a different spelling in TW's post.... Whew... that senior moment has passed!

From Rantburg on Feb 28
-Lebanon-Iran
Iranian General's Whereabouts Shrouded In Mystery
2007-02-28
Istanbul, 28 Feb. (AKI) - Retired Iranian general and former deputy defence minister, Alireza Asghari, has gone missing during a private visit to Turkey, Arab and Iranian newsreports said on Wednesday. Asghari arrived in the Turkish city on a flight from Damascus and after checking into the Hotel Ghilan has not been seen since, the reports said.

"One minute he was here, the next...gone!"

Asghari is a former general in the hardline Pasdaran or Revolutionary Guard, and served in the cabinet of former Iranian president Mohammad Khatami.

Baztab, an internet site linked to the Pasdaran, reported that Ashgari may have been kidnapped. Baztab recently reported that Asghari's name was one of 20 belonging to Pasdaran officers which appeared on what the site said was a CIA hit-list.

Defected ahead of a purge?

Posted by: Sherry 2007-03-06 13:29

#15 TW, changed the grit to coarse AND turned on the lemon juice shower.

Posted by: AlanC 2007-03-06 13:18

#14 This is the article I was talking about, Sherry. Sorry about not giving the link before.

Interesting comment from yesterday's thread:
#5 Tehran, 5 March (AKI) - Iranian foreign minister Manouchehr Mottaki has asked Turkey to shed light on the disappearance in Istanbul last week of a retired Iranian general and former deputy-defence minister. General Ali Reza Asghari, 63, a former senior officer in Iran's Pasdaran, or Revolutionary Guard, and deputy defence minister for eight years until 2005, disappeared in the Turkish city after arriving there on a flight from Damascus. "We are awaiting clarity and an explanation from the Ankara government who we hold responsible for the ex-deputy minister's safety," Mottaki said on Monday.

Asghari was for several years the head of Iran's missile programme, and some Iranian media reports have alleged that he may have been abducted by US agents. According to these reports Asghari's name appeared on a CIA 'hit list' of 20 people involved in Iran's nuclear programme.

I'll light a candle hoping he defected. He'd be able to spill the beans on everything. Question is, why?
Posted by Steve 2007-03-05 13:10

Posted by: trailing wife 2007-03-06 13:06

#13 Well, I did a RBurg search, but I really thought we were reading about this guy last week. I didn't find an earlier posting with his name, but this is not the first time this has been mentioned here. Maybe his named hadn't been used in the earlier postings.

'Course, it could also be a "senior memory" I'm having!

Posted by: Sherry 2007-03-06 12:02

#12 If he was a defector in place, he wasn't the only one. The rest are still in place, and their cells were compartmented from Askari's, so rolling up Askari's network won't get you the others.

Or not. This is all just idle speculation by some 46-year old lawyer whose only knowledge of the intelligence business comes from reading Tom Clancy.

Sleep soundly, Mahmoud. Nothing to worry about. Nothing at all.

Posted by: Mike 2007-03-06 11:41

#11 48 hour rule? Salt?

We had a similar article with fewer details yesterday, so by that measure we're already 24 hours into it... not to mention that the gentleman disappeared February 7th. However, the information mainly comes from pan-Arab newspaper al-Sharq al-Awsat and unnamed Arab diplomats, and we know how fond they are of baseless conspiracy theories involving the US and/or Israel. It's not nearly so important that it's true, though, than that the Iranians and the Arabs believe it to be -- can you imagine the blood pressure of the the Ayatollahs just now, and the raw nerves of the troops and their generals, both Regular Army and the Republican Guards? Skinless people in a sandpaper world (thanks, Zenster!), and it was just changed to the coarse diamond grit.

Posted by: trailing wife 2007-03-06 11:40

#10 Bets on what interesting docs he took with him?

Posted by: mojo 2007-03-06 11:14

#9 Any takers on the over/under of the NYT printing a 12 digit grid to horse farm between Dulles and Front Royal ?

Posted by: Bangkok Billy 2007-03-06 10:32

#8 Iran did not give details on Asgari's career. But the Iranian chief of police was quoted as saying that he may have been snatched "because of his Defence Ministry background". A Mossad veteran voiced doubt over such a scenario. "Espionage kidnappings went out of style after the Cold War," said Gad Shimron, a former Mossad field agent. "I doubt anyone wants that level of escalation at this point in time."

Agreed. You can nab a low-level agent, but not someone this high ranking.

Shimron said Turkish media reports suggested that Asgari had defected. According to Hurriyet, the Iranian vanished after checking into an Istanbul hotel room that had been reserved from him by two foreigners. Milliyet newspaper quoted Turkish intelligence as saying Asgari opposed the Iranian government. "It sounds to me very much like he turned up for a debriefing, or even to 'come out of the cold,'" Shimron said.

The London-based Arabic newspaper Asharq al-Awsat, citing "informed sources", said Asgari, 63, had decided to defect to the United States.
Israeli and U.S. officials had no immediate comment.

Menashe Amir, an Israeli analyst of Iranian affairs, said he had information indicating that Asgari's family was with him. "According to part of the information, his wife and children managed to leave Iran before his disappearance," Amir told Israel's Army Radio, without elaborating on his sources. "It's very possible that he decided to defect," Amir said.

(crossing fingers)

Posted by: Steve 2007-03-06 10:30

#7 Definite 48 hour rule. Still, this will make all the right people nervous even it is not true and not an intentional psy-op.

Posted by: Excalibur 2007-03-06 10:28

#6 Turkish newspaper Milliyet, citing unnamed officials, said Turkish intelligence and police had found Asgari opposed the Iranian government and had information on its nuclear plans.

Posted by: Steve 2007-03-06 10:20

#5 possibility.

Hes been a defector in place for a while. The admin wants to use his info in public now, so they brought him to safety. Making the decision that going public was more important than keeping the source. YOu can infer what you will from that decision. and they rolled up the cell in Iraq since they were gonna take him to the US anyway. Too hard to roll up all the other cells without endangering his escape.

OR - the Iranians were sniffing, and getting close, so they pulled him out before he was caught, and they arent kewl with losing the source. In which case what you could have inferred from the first possibity, you cant infer.

Posted by: liberalhawk 2007-03-06 10:06

#4 The general's disappearance was first reported at the end of February in the Saudi newspaper al-Watan. The paper said that at the beginning of February Asgari visited Damascus and later flew o Istanbul in Turkey, where he checked into a hotel. "Several Turkish citizens reserved a room for Asgari at the Gilan Hotel in Istanbul and paid for it, but haven't heard from him since," the paper stated. "In a meeting held by the Turkish security officials with an Iranian delegation, the possibility was raised that the Mossad and the CIA were involved in his disappearance," it added.

Security sources in Turkey told a local newspaper that so far, the searches for Asgari have yielded no results. According to a Turkish official, "The records do not show that a person under this name left Turkey, but given his sensitive job and the important information he possesses regarding the Iranian nuclear program, the possibility that he left Turkey using a fake passport and an alias is being examined."

Posted by: Steve 2007-03-06 09:40

#3 48 hour rule? Salt?

Posted by: AlanC 2007-03-06 09:39

#2 Additional: Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki was quoted by Iran's news agency today as saying that a foreign ministry official was currently in Turkey to investigate the disappearance and has asked the Turkish government "to inquire into the issue and give explanation on Asgari's whereabouts."
One respected analyst with sources in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard says Gen. Ali Reza Asgari has defected and is now in a European country with his entire family, where he is cooperating with the U.S.

"This is a fatal blow to Iranian intelligence," said the source, explaining that Asgari knows sensitive information about Iran's nuclear and military projects. Iran called tens of its Revolutionary Guard agents working at embassies and cultural centers in Arab and European countries back to Tehran out of fear that Asgari might disclose secret information about their identities, according to the analyst.

The source, however, believes Asgari's disappearance was prompted by the detention of five Iranians after the raid on their government's liaison office in Irbil, Iraq in January. Asgari, 63, knew and may have worked with some of the detained men, said the analyst.
Asgari's years with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and the Iranian defense ministry would make him an invaluable source of information. He was reportedly based in Lebanon in the 1990s and was in charge of ties with the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah. At one point he was also in charge of military purchases at the defense ministry and exposed widespread corruption there which led to the arrest of a number of officials. Most recently, he worked as a consultant for the same ministry.

Posted by: Steve 2007-03-06 09:36

#1 If true .... oh baby.
All your nukes are belong to us, Iran!

Posted by: DarthVader 2007-03-06 09:22

00:00