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.
PJM Home
Pajamas Media appreciates your comments that abide by the following guidelines:
1. Avoid profanities or foul language unless it is contained in a necessary quote or is relevant to the comment.
2. Stay on topic.
3. Disagree, but avoid ad hominem attacks.
4. Threats are treated seriously and reported to law enforcement.
5. Spam and advertising are not permitted in the comments area.
The clause regarding "hate speech" has been deleted because readers criticized it as being too loosely defined. We agreed.
These guidelines are very general and cannot cover every possible situation. Please don't assume that Pajamas Media management agrees with or otherwise endorses any particular comment. We reserve the right to filter or delete comments or to deny posting privileges entirely at our discretion. If you feel your comment was filtered inappropriately, please email us at story@pajamasmedia.com.
9 Comments
1. Terrye:I bet they are getting really paranoid over there.
Mar 11, 2007 - 10:26 am 2. Buddy Larsen:Xerxes is getting it from all directions–
Mar 11, 2007 - 10:47 am 3. Walter Guest: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.
Mar 11, 2007 - 3:48 pm 4. promoguy:Buddy L.
Link please!!!
Mar 11, 2007 - 4:19 pm 5. Buddy Larsen: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.
Mar 11, 2007 - 5:33 pm 6. promoguy:Buddy, I knows you was. Thought I’d be funny too. Next time smilies.
Mar 11, 2007 - 9:25 pm 7. Buddy Larsen:Ah. Oof. I’ve been a little slow on the uptake ever since Owsley.
Mar 12, 2007 - 11:44 am 8. Doug S.: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.
Mar 12, 2007 - 5:01 pm 9. Ripper:Roger:
Mar 13, 2007 - 8:58 amI 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.