Rome, 12 March (AKI) - A former Iranian deputy defence minister and retired general who mysteriously disappeared in Istanbul two weeks ago was an avowed enemy of current president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a well-placed Iranian source has told Adnkronos International (AKI). "As soon as Ahmadinejad came to power in July 2006, [General Ali Reza] Asgari was sidelined. For months after that the general feared he may fall victim to an 'accident' or be accused on trumped up charges," the source told AKI. | I figured he skipped out just ahead of a purge |
| The spy who came in from the cold, it seems. Whether it was a purge or whether the Iranian counter-intel had gotten wind of him still isn't clear. |
Asgari's disappearance shortly after checking into a Istanbul hotel - the retired general had flown to the Turkish city from Damascus - has triggered media speculation that he may have defected and that he is co-operating with Western and Israeli intelligence services.
Israeli newspaper Yediot Aharanot, citing unidentified Israeli security sources, has indicated Asgari worked as an agent for Israel's Mossad intelligence services since 2003, and that he had "fled with a suitcase stuffed with documents," with Mossad's help. But sources close to Iran's former president Mohammad Khatami, under whom Asgari served as deputy defence minister, have told AKI they are sure the 63-year-old retired general did not work for Mossad. However, they said they believed Asgari had voluntarily defected to the West and that he was not kidnapped.
The Iranian sources said that before his cabinet appointment, Asgari had been responsible for several "highly sensitive" operations. In the early 1980s he supervised the training of Hezbollah fighters in their Bekaa Valley stronghold in Lebanon, also helping them install missiles, according to the sources. Following his return to Iran in 1986 Asgari was made responsible for the missile programme of the elite Pasdaran Revolutionary Guard and posted in Isfahan, an important centre of Iran's miilitary industry.
According to Israeli security sources contacted by AKI, Asgari represents a "goldmine of information" and that has information on Tehran's ties with Palestinian militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad. In addition the retired general could also shed light on the July 1994 attack against a centre of the Jewish community in Argentina, beleived to have been masterminded by Imad Mughnyeh a Hezbollah operative based in the Latin American country.
| You'd like to think that people in the West could keep their mouths shut on this fellow, but no ..... |
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