TEHRAN, Iran — An Iranian former deputy defense
minister who has been missing for nearly three years was abducted by
Israeli agents and is now being held in Israel, several Iranian news Web
sites reported Sunday.
Ali Reza Asgari, a retired general who served in Iran's
Revolutionary Guard, disappeared while on a private trip to Turkey in
December 2006. In March of this year, a former German Defense Ministry
official said Asgari had defected and was providing considerable
information to the West on Iran's nuclear program.
Iranian officials and Asgari's family have claimed that he was
abducted.
One of Sunday's Web reports, on a site called Alef, said
German and British intelligence services assisted Israeli agents in
abducting Asgari and taking him to Israel. The site is close to a
conservative Iranian lawmaker.
"On the basis of a two-year investigation carried out by
concerned bodies, Asgari was abducted by foreign intelligence services
and is being held in a Zionist prison," the site reported, apparently
referring to an Iranian intelligence probe into the matter.
"Asgari was abducted with the cooperation of Mossad as well as
German and British intelligence services and was finally taken to
Israel," the news report said.
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Israel's Foreign Ministry refused to comment.
Hans Ruehle, a former chief of the planning staff of the
German Defense Ministry, wrote in a Swiss newspaper in March that Asgari
told the West that Iran was financing North Korean steps to transform
Syria into a nuclear weapons power, leading to an Israeli airstrike that
targeted a site in Syria on Sept. 6, 2007.
The U.S. claims the site was a nearly finished nuclear
reactor, but Syria denies that and says the facility was an unused
military installation.
Ruehle said Asgari, who was instrumental in establishing the
Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon, "changed sides" and provided
information to the West on Iran's own nuclear program.
The U.S. and its European allies, as well as Israel, suspect
Iran is intent on using a civilian nuclear program as a cover for
developing nuclear weapons. Iran denies that and says it only wants to
generate power.
Iranian officials have said Asgari was not linked to Iran's
nuclear program, but Western media reports have said he has cooperated
with U.S. intelligence and is considered a "high value" defector.
Asgari, who became involved in the olive business after
retirement, arrived in Turkey on a private visit from Damascus, Syria,
on Dec. 7, 2006, and disappeared on Dec. 9, according to Iranian
officials.
Ziba Ahmadi, one of Asgari's two wives, claimed at the time
that her husband did not defect to Turkey and she believed "some
evidence" showed he was abducted.