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.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
'The Office' gets a spinoff and the Guinness family gets the 'Peaky Blinders' treatment in September TVthe week recommends This month's new television releases include 'The Paper,' 'Task' and 'House of Guinness'
-
Hostile architecture is 'hostile — to everybody'Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Why are federal judges criticizing SCOTUS?Today's Big Question Supreme Court issues Trump case rulings 'with little explanation'
