Tehran
A former deputy defense minister missing for more than a month may have been kidnapped by Western intelligence services, Iran charged this week. Gen. Ali Reza Azkari, 63, was once Iran’s top liaison to the Islamic militant movement Hezbollah in Lebanon. He was last seen Feb. 7, getting off an airplane in Istanbul. For weeks, Iranian authorities had no comment on Azkari’s disappearance, even as Middle East Internet chat rooms buzzed with speculation that he may have defected. Finally this week, Iranian police said they had requested Turkish help in locating Azkari, whom they now suspect was abducted. Arab and Israeli newspapers alike speculated that Azkari was kidnapped by the CIA, the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad, or both.
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