Iran Accusatory Over Missing Official
A crew from the Florida Department of Transportation work to clean up the debris of a tree that fell and damaged the home of Geneva Sercey in Gainesville, Fla., in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Beryl on Monday, May 28, 2012. Beryl came ashore early Monday near Jacksonville Beach with near-hurricane-strength winds of 70 mph. (AP Photo/The Gainesville Sun, Brad McClenny) / Brad McClenny
Iran said Tuesday its former deputy defense minister has disappeared while on a private trip to neighboring Turkey, and Iran's top police chief accused Western intelligence services of possibly kidnapping the official.
Ali Reza Asghari, a retired general in the elite Revolutionary Guards and a former deputy defense minister, had arrived in Turkey on a private visit from Damascus, Syria, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported Tuesday.
Iran's top police chief, Gen. Esmaeil Ahmadi Moghaddam, said Iran was investigating the fate of Asghari through the Turkish police.
"It is likely that Asghari has been abducted by the Western intelligence services," IRNA quoted the Iranian police general as saying. The general did not elaborate.
Turkey's Foreign Ministry said Monday that the Iranian Embassy there had reported Asghari's disappearance and had asked Turkey's Interior Ministry to investigate.
Meanwhile, ambassadors from the world's major powers met Monday to discuss possible new sanctions against Iran for refusing to suspend uranium enrichment, but differences emerged and an agreement did not appear to be close, diplomats said.
The U.S., Britain and France would almost certainly favor tough new sanctions, but they know they will have to settle for less to ensure that Russia and China, which have close ties to Iran, will not use their veto power in the U.N. Security Council to block a new resolution.
Diplomats from the five permanent Security Council nations and Germany held three rounds of talks over the past week on strengthening sanctions against Iran following a report earlier this month by the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency that Iran was expanding enrichment instead of suspending it.
During a conference call on Saturday, the diplomats decided that Security Council ambassadors should take over the discussion of elements for a new resolution — and the ambassadors held their first meeting late Monday at Britain's U.N. Mission.
China's U.N. Ambassador Wang Guangya, asked afterward by reporters how the meeting went, said there are "some different views here, so we will continue to work." He said the ambassadors would meet again on Tuesday afternoon and then consult with officials in their respective capitals.
Iran's refusal to freeze all its enrichment-related activities prompted the Security Council on Dec. 23 to impose sanctions targeting the country's nuclear and missile programs and the individuals, companies and organizations involved in them. The council gave Tehran 60 days to halt enrichment or face additional nonmilitary measures.
Iran insists its nuclear program is peaceful and aimed solely at producing nuclear energy, but the United States and its European allies believe Tehran's real goal is to produce nuclear weapons.
Tehran says it has the right to enrich uranium under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and has vowed not to stop — which has led the council to consider additional sanctions.
Some diplomats said the new measures may include travel bans, expanding the list of technology and materials countries are banned from making available to Iran, and creating stiffer economic sanctions including a ban on export guarantees to Iran.
Wang said there was no draft resolution yet, only "ideas and elements," but he thought it would involve another 60-day deadline.
© 2009 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Ali Reza Asghari, a retired general in the elite Revolutionary Guards and a former deputy defense minister, had arrived in Turkey on a private visit from Damascus, Syria, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported Tuesday.
Iran's top police chief, Gen. Esmaeil Ahmadi Moghaddam, said Iran was investigating the fate of Asghari through the Turkish police.
"It is likely that Asghari has been abducted by the Western intelligence services," IRNA quoted the Iranian police general as saying. The general did not elaborate.
Turkey's Foreign Ministry said Monday that the Iranian Embassy there had reported Asghari's disappearance and had asked Turkey's Interior Ministry to investigate.
Meanwhile, ambassadors from the world's major powers met Monday to discuss possible new sanctions against Iran for refusing to suspend uranium enrichment, but differences emerged and an agreement did not appear to be close, diplomats said.
The U.S., Britain and France would almost certainly favor tough new sanctions, but they know they will have to settle for less to ensure that Russia and China, which have close ties to Iran, will not use their veto power in the U.N. Security Council to block a new resolution.
Diplomats from the five permanent Security Council nations and Germany held three rounds of talks over the past week on strengthening sanctions against Iran following a report earlier this month by the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency that Iran was expanding enrichment instead of suspending it.
During a conference call on Saturday, the diplomats decided that Security Council ambassadors should take over the discussion of elements for a new resolution — and the ambassadors held their first meeting late Monday at Britain's U.N. Mission.
China's U.N. Ambassador Wang Guangya, asked afterward by reporters how the meeting went, said there are "some different views here, so we will continue to work." He said the ambassadors would meet again on Tuesday afternoon and then consult with officials in their respective capitals.
Iran's refusal to freeze all its enrichment-related activities prompted the Security Council on Dec. 23 to impose sanctions targeting the country's nuclear and missile programs and the individuals, companies and organizations involved in them. The council gave Tehran 60 days to halt enrichment or face additional nonmilitary measures.
Iran insists its nuclear program is peaceful and aimed solely at producing nuclear energy, but the United States and its European allies believe Tehran's real goal is to produce nuclear weapons.
Tehran says it has the right to enrich uranium under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and has vowed not to stop — which has led the council to consider additional sanctions.
Some diplomats said the new measures may include travel bans, expanding the list of technology and materials countries are banned from making available to Iran, and creating stiffer economic sanctions including a ban on export guarantees to Iran.
Wang said there was no draft resolution yet, only "ideas and elements," but he thought it would involve another 60-day deadline.
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YEAH RIGHT !!!
The criminal Iranian regime has tortured, murdered and oppressed us for the past 30 years, while the world has stood by & watched...
Maybe it's the Great Satan & the Israelis at work ???!!!!
Good for them !!!
Frankly, they should make this a habit & kidnap more Iranian officials while they're on "personal" visits with their terrorist counter-parts...
Islamic worldview and the reason why it becomes a calamity in the 21st century
The Islamic world view of converting the entire human species to Islam at the pain of death is not something novel. It has existed for 1400 years since this cult of death and destruction was founded by Mohammed-ibn-abdallah, the nefarious bandit and murderer in the 7th century in Mecca. What makes this world view a calamity is the fact that Muslim have started acquiring WMD capability off late. While all these centuries, they could carry on with their murder and mayhem only with swords from the 7th century up to the 16th century. So they could be defeated by those who could wield swords better and more so by those who in addition to this managed to recognize the mortal threat to all non-Islamic civilizations that Muslims represented. There have not been very many on this planet who could see through the murderous message of the Quran, that the Muslims robotically believe is the message from some god, to be divinely followed by placing their swords on the necks of all their defeated victims and giving them the choice Islam or death.
http://www.historyofjihad.org/globaljihad.html
http://www.historyofjihad.com/sitemap.html
I hope the Iranians found out what happened to this guy. Kidnapped in Turkey?