Missing Iranian official may have information on Ron Arad - Haaretz

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Tue., August 21, 2007 Elul 7, 5767

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Last update - 08:32 06/03/2007

Missing Iranian official may have information on Ron Arad

By Yoav Stern, Haaretz Correspondent, and Haaretz Service

A former Iranian deputy defense minister whose reported disappearance in Turkey sparked allegations of a Mossad and CIA-linked kidnapping is likely to possess information on missing Israel Air Force navigator Ron Arad, a British newspaper reported Monday.

Arad has been missing in action since a 1986 mission over Sidon, Lebanon.

According to The Daily Telegraph report, Iranian intelligence official Ali Reza Azkari, 63, is also likely to have intimate knowledge of Iran's defense establishment and nuclear development program.

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Azkari's disappearance in Turkey sparked allegations of a Mossad and CIA-linked kidnapping, but Haaretz has learned that he may have defected.

Azkari served in the senior defense post under former defense minister General Ali Samahani. Israeli media have said that for many years, Azkari was the most senior Iranian intelligence official in Lebanon, with responsibility for Iran's ties with Hezbollah.

Unnamed Arab diplomats have been quoted in Israeli media as charging that the Israeli Mossad and the Central Intelligence Agency kidnapped Azkari, who reportedly disappeared under mysterious circumstances from Istanbul, Turkey a month ago.

Israel Channel 10 television said late on Sunday that Azkari was kidnapped on February 7, after arriving in Istanbul from Damascus.

There has been no official Iranian statement on the reported affair.

According to one report, Azkari was to have stayed at a luxury hotel in the city, but disappeared before his planned arrival there. Another report held that he had checked into the hotel and was staying there at the time of his disappearance. The second account said that he left the hotel at one point and never returned, his baggage still in his room.

Iran reportedly sent a delegation of defense officials to Turkey last week to investigate the incident. It has also been reported that Iran has asked Interpol to open an investigation into the disappearance.

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1.	DIFFERENCE IN HEADLINE AND CONTENT OF THE NEWS	17:41	\|	JACKAL	05/03/07

2.	#1	18:57	\|	From the Moon	05/03/07

3.	to Jackal	19:02	\|	BKF	05/03/07

4.	3. Problem with contemporary journalism	19:15	\|	Paul Freedman	05/03/07

5.	Defection	19:32	\|	Nady	05/03/07

6.	Calling John Le`Carre, Tom Clancy, and Tom Cruise	19:37	\|	Jacob BLues	05/03/07

7.	my main point was ....	19:43	\|	JACKAL	05/03/07

8.	#7: Jackal: shows up in lead paragraph	22:04	\|	Paul Freedman	05/03/07

9.	DEFECTED ???	22:11	\|	TOBIA	05/03/07

10.	Whatever the reason, this is a coup for the West	00:50	\|	BradL	06/03/07

11.	Jackal - same could be said of kidnapping	00:50	\|	Jon	06/03/07

12.	defector & the "good life"	01:14	\|	curious	06/03/07

13.	missing iranian.	01:22	\|	curious	06/03/07

14.	Actually I sort of agree with Jackal	01:50	\|	Ahmad	06/03/07

15.	#2	01:56	\|	Ahmad	06/03/07

16.	#10	02:07	\|	Ahmad	06/03/07

17.	Mossad already in action	02:11	\|	Joey	06/03/07

18.	Too bad for Rod Arad	03:58	\|	Mark Lincoln	06/03/07

19.	Quite possibly he feared achMADinejad	04:22	\|	* BEN JABO	06/03/07

20.	Let the espionage gossips be juicier	07:31	\|	Joseph E .	06/03/07

21.	Mark Lincoln	21:48	\|	Debra	06/03/07

22.	#18 2ND TRY Mark Lincoln	00:04	\|	* BEN JABO	07/03/07

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