IRAN:An Iranian politician with information about his country's nuclear programme is believed to have defected. Sources in Tehran suggested he has been abducted.
Ali Reza Asgari, a former deputy defence minister, has not been seen since visiting Turkey last month. It is suggested that his last movement was to go to a hotel in Istanbul to meet two foreigners.
Israeli security experts yesterday gave some credence to an Iranian statement that Mr Asgari might have been kidnapped by western spies, but also suggested the missing man had defected.
Israel has reason to be interested in Mr Asgari. The Turkish newspaper Hurriyetsaid in an unsourced report that he was involved in Iran's nuclear programme, which Israel considers a major threat.
US officials, at the forefront of western efforts to curb a programme that Iran insists is peaceful, have at times said their work is circumscribed by lack of viable intelligence. "A man with nuclear information would be a valuable asset for the CIA [ the US Central Intelligence Agency] and Mossad [ Israeli intelligence]," said Alon Ben-David, Israel analyst for Jane's Defence Weekly, referring to US and Israeli foreign spy services. "He could be worth kidnapping, despite the risks."
Iran did not give details of Mr 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."
Shimron said Turkish media reports suggested that Mr Asgari had defected. According to Hurriyet, the Iranian vanished after checking into an Istanbul hotel room that had been reserved for him by two foreigners. Milliyetnewspaper quoted Turkish intelligence as saying Mr 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'," Mr Shimron said. The London-based Arabic newspaper Asharq al-Awsat, citing informed sources, said Mr Asgari (63) had decided to defect to the United States. Israeli and US officials had no immediate comment.
Menashe Amir, an Israeli analyst of Iranian affairs, said he had information indicating that Mr Asgari's family was with him.
"According to part of the information, his wife and children managed to leave Iran before his disappearance," Mr Amir told Israel's Army Radio, without elaborating on his sources. "It's very possible that he decided to defect."
A major Mossad action involving Iranians would require the approval of Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert, who has been at pains to reduce open tensions with Tehran that might distract from the US-led diplomatic campaign against it. But Mr Ben-David said Israel might consider Mr Asgari a prize worth the price of potentially embarrassing Turkey, one of the few Muslim countries to maintain ties with the Jewish state.