http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21364525-31477,00.html
Tehran spy under interrogation by NATO officers a.. Abraham Rabinovich, Jerusalem b.. March 12, 2007 AN Iranian general who defected to the West is reportedly being interrogated by intelligence officers at a NATO base in Germany after slipping out of Iran via Damascus and Istanbul. General Ali Reza Asgari, 63, Iran's former deputy defence minister, had been spying on Iran since 2003 when he was recruited on an overseas business trip, reports said yesterday. General Asgari carried maps and other sensitive intelligence documents out of Tehran, according to the London-based Arabic newspaper Asharq al-Awsat. The Saudi newspaper, Al Watan, reported Iran was changing defence systems guarding its nuclear facilities for fear the US and Israel now possessed information that threatened those sites. The Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported that General Asgari was believed to have brought documents relating to Iran's plans in case of a conflict with the US. Other documents are said to shed light on involvement by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard in the training of Shia militias in Iraq and of militants elsewhere in the Arab world. General Asgari is also believed to be providing information on the devastating attacks on US and French bases in Lebanon in the 1980s by Hezbollah -- the Lebanese Shia militia which General Asgari had been instrumental in founding as a ranking officer in the Revolutionary Guard. The Sunday Times quoted an Israeli intelligence official as saying General Asgari "was probably working for Mossad but believed he was working for a European intelligence agency". Such slight of hand has been used by Mossad in the past. Spokesmen in Jerusalem have denied Israel's involvement in the matter. Mossad's brief includes running agents in Muslim countries hostile to Israel. In 1965, it persuaded an Iraqi pilot to fly his then-new MIG 21 to Israel for a handsome fee. It was a highly placed Egyptian agent working for Mossad who provided Israel with a tip-off of a pending Egyptian-Syrian attack hours before the outbreak of the 1973 Yom Kippur War. A former officer in Mossad, Ram Igra, described General Asgari as "a gold mine" for Western intelligence. "If he has something to give the West," Mr Igra told Israel radio, "it is in this context of terrorism and Hezbollah's network in Lebanon." Although Iranian sources say General Asgari was "out of the loop" regarding Tehran's nuclear efforts, it is presumed he has something to offer on this aspect as well. Mr Igra said General Asgari was unlikely to know up-to-date details about the nuclear program the West was interested in but would likely have more general information about it. According to one account, General Asgari's initial contact with Western intelligence was made in 2003 during an overseas trip when he met a foreign businessman. The businessman was a foreign intelligence agent who reportedly channelled large sums of money to General Asgari. An Iranian journalist writing for Asharq al-Awsat, Ali Nourizadeh, said General Asgari was forced to resign as deputy defence minister after exposing corruption in the ministry. "He is considered a big fish," Nourizadeh said. The journalist said that General Asgari had enjoyed great prestige within the Revolutionary Guard. When he was in charge of internal investigations in the Guard he had uncovered several instances of embezzlement which made him some enemies. According to one report, he was pushed aside from positions of influence by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, with whom he had long been in conflict, when the latter came to power. At least 10 members of General Asgari's family are reported to have escaped from Iran before his defection became known. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Check out the new improvements in Yahoo! Groups email. http://us.click.yahoo.com/4It09A/fOaOAA/yQLSAA/uTGrlB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Post message: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe : [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe : [EMAIL PROTECTED] List owner : [EMAIL PROTECTED] Homepage : http://proletar.8m.com/ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
