Iranian Spy in Israel ?

Iranian Spy in Israel ?

אילוסטרציה

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Illustration

Did an Iranian general and former deputy defense-minister die in an Israeli prison in 2010?

The danger posed by the rapid development of Iran’s ability to construct an atomic bomb in the near future is a menace to Israel and a long-standing inspiration for journalistic sensation stories allegedly relying on nameless “intelligence sources” whose reliability cannot be established for certain. One of the “hot” names in the context has been Ali Reza Asgari, Iran’s deputy defense minister and head of the revolutionary guard until the beginning of Ahmadinejad’s Presidency. Asgari, whose rank was parallel to that of a brigadier general, disappeared in 2007 during his stay in Turkey, where he arrived along with his family. According to media reports from that time, two scenarios were proposed as possible explanations for his disappearance: either he was abducted by some intelligence organization – from Israel or another country – or he defected to the West of his own accord.

The usually credible Washington Post reported in those days, that “Western sources say that Asgari’s disappearance came of his own volition, having been ‘orchestrated’ by Israel in Turkey.” An Arab-speaking publication in London reported at the time that “Asgari, who is northern Europe, is being questioned by US and other Western intelligence services.” The story was then picked up by an Israeli daily newspaper, Yediot Ahronot, that reported, based on an unnamed US source, that Asgari was in the US, where he could be delivering information on Iran’s highly accelerated nuclear program.

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When Asgari disappeared, the global media reported the missing Iranian general “had comprehensive knowledge of Iran’s military infrastructure, including the conventional arms supply to Hezbollah.” In the UK, The Times reported that Asgari had been spying for the West since 2003, and that he had escaped Iran with the help of the West after it turned out his cover was about to be blown by Iranian intelligence. In this context, a person called ’Ram Igra’ was interviewed on Israeli Radio, where he was presented as “a former Mossad officer”. ’Igra’ said Asgari spent years in Lebanon, and that he was the one who developed Hezbollah’s military capabilities.

Truth be told, only very few people worldwide knew for certain where general Asgari was at that time, whom did he meet, what was the essence of the information he provided, and whether this truly amounted to intelligence material on Hezbollah – or on Iran’s nuclear weaponry and its development. All that was ever written about this topic may very well have been equally true and preposterous at the same time. Case in point: the rumor that Asgari was in Israel of all places, where he was brought, along with his family, by Mossad agents.

Such stories – whether they actually did happen or not – eventually find their way to the media, however mysterious. Some partial solution can be seen in the fact that in December 2010 the Iranian authorities issued an official statement – either true or completely bogus – claiming that Asgari died in a prison in Israel. The question where Asgari did turn up since his disappearance is yet to be resolved, but the stories keep popping up. Among the most fascination was that Asgari was an unnamed prisoner at the Ayalon prison in Israel.