It’s not just as a mystery writer that I am fascinated by the kidnapping, defection or whatever it is of former Iranian general Ali Reza Asgari. But the Times Online story this morning – “Defector spied on Iran for years” – has really tickled my writer genes. From their Tel Aviv correspondent:
It is unclear which intelligence organisation he was spying for. “He probably was working for Mossad but believed he was working for a European intelligence agency,” said an Israeli defence source.
Probably? Now who was telling that to the Times and why? Whether you spell defense with an s or a c, that Israeli source had his/her reasons. A message was being sent to the Iranian authorities. But then they have been reacting to this “defection” for over a month. How does all of this relate to the sudden dialog between Iran and the US? I’m really in the realm of speculation here, but if it is true Asgari was a spy and did, as the article says, carry with him documents “disclosing Iran’s links to terrorists in the Middle East”, if I were the Ayatollah Khamenei, I would be mightily displeased and looking for a fall guy. This could be very bad news for Ahmadinejad. We shall see.
MORE: Another piece of information possibly gleaned in these documents was the extent to which Khatami was indeed a reformer. He was president of Iran until 2005. According to the Times, Asgari began spying in 2003.
I bet they are getting really paranoid over there.
Xerxes is getting it from all directions–
He is being debriefed on a Nato Base but it doesn’t say by whom. The Iranians could not know how much this guy knew and is telling. That is valuable information. There could be an open channel back to the Iranians giving them this heads-up. That’s the way it works. Our CIA aren’t the only leakers. Some would call “leakers” spies.
Buddy L.
Link please!!!
promoguy, i was just wisecracking (poorly) that the same weekend that this happens, a certified phenomenal opening for a flick about the west fighting the pre-jihadis, the news breaks wide open about a current big chief jihadi coming over to our side.
Buddy, I knows you was. Thought I’d be funny too. Next time smilies.
Ah. Oof. I’ve been a little slow on the uptake ever since Owsley.
I wonder if there is any connection here to the news that Russia is edging away from Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Sure, it could just be that the mullahs aren’t paying their bills on time (a good sign in any event). But perhaps the Western intel services have learned something that Moscow wishes to remain secret � or they think we’ve learned something that they wish to remain secret.
Roger:
I would be skeptical over anything that the Sunday Times (London) writes concerning Israel. They have had a history of unsubstantiated allegations against the Jewish state which have been proven to be false.
When it comes to Isreal they are a more sophisticated version of al-Guardian.