Several Iranian news Web sites are reporting that a former deputy defence minister who has been missing for more than two years was abducted by Israeli agents. Israel's Foreign Ministry refused to comment. Ali Reza Asgari disappeared while on a private trip to Turkey in February 2007.
In March of this year, a former German Defence Ministry official said Asgari defected and provided considerable information to the West on Iran's nuclear program. Iranian officials and his family have claimed that he was abducted. The news Web site Alef, www.alef.ir, which is close to a conservative Iranian lawmaker, said Sunday that German and British intelligence services assisted Israel in abducting Asgari and taking him to Israel.