Zaman, Turkey
Some Light Shined
on Iran-U.S. 'Shadow War'
"The
official, whose name wasn't mentioned, said that U.S. intelligence is trying to
recruit doctors, designers and artists to work as U.S. agents. … All in all, it's
quite obvious that a shadow war between America along with its allies (namely
Israel) and Iran - is on. Who's winning, we cannot say."
By Fikret Ertan
October 18, 2009
Turkey - Zaman - Original Article (English)
For quite some time and using
various methods, the United States and its allies have been trying to stop Iran's
nuclear program. In fact, there have been battles raging on many fronts - but without
overt military action.
Right now in the lead is the
diplomatic front. And on this front, through diplomatic pressure and sanctions,
the U.S. and its friends have made some headway. Not sufficient or strong
enough to have persuaded Iran to stop its nuclear program, but nevertheless, it
seems that this remains the key front. Recent moves by the Americans to
introduce a fourth sanctions package at U.N. Security Council seem to bear this
out.
Of course the diplomatic
front is only the most obvious. The covert or secret front is another story. Here
the fight takes place in the shadows with intrigue, deception and misinformation.
What little is known of this shadow war emerges in the occasional bits of news
and information picked up by the international press.
One such news story appeared in
major newspapers last week. It concerned the disappearance of Iranian
nuclear scientist Shahram Amiri,
who reportedly worked at Tehran's Malek Ashtar
University, which is linked to the elite Revolutionary Guard Corp.
Although Iranian officials
haven't publicly identified Amiri as a nuclear
scientist and refer to him only as an Iranian citizen, Iran Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki took the
unusual step of complaining to the U.N. secretary general about the
disappearance. He went on to say that Amiri had been
arrested and he accused the United States of playing a role.
“We've obtained documents that
prove U.S. involvement in Shamram Amiri's
disappearance,'' said Mottaki, according to the
semiofficial Fars News Agency.
Amiri traveled to Saudi Arabia on May 31 for Umrah [pilgrimage
to Mecca], his wife told the unofficial ISNA News Agency. The last
time she heard from him was June 3 when he called from Medina. She said he told
her that during his arrival in Saudi Arabia, he had been closely questioned by
police at the airport -- “more than any other passenger'' -- according to ISNA.
Iranian Foreign Ministry
spokesman Hasan Qashqavi
said that Iran has asked Saudi Arabia for information on his whereabouts but hasn't
received a reply. Concerned about his fate, Amiri's
relatives have demonstrated outside the Saudi Embassy in Tehran demanding
information.
Posted
by WORLDMEETS.US
Some believe Amiri might have defected, and others suspect he's been abducted
by an intelligence service.
Of course, Amiri's is only the latest in a string of disappearance
cases involving important Iranian officials. For example there's the case of Ali Reza Asgari [photo below], a former deputy defense minister
and senior official of the Revolutionary Guard Corp. He went missing in 2007
while in Turkey and was never heard of again. In his case, most theorize that
he defected to the United States, which may be why in talking about Amiri, Foreign Minister Motttaki referred
to Asgari.
Furthermore, to underline the
fact that a shadow war is under way, one might refer to a Fars News Agency
report from earlier this year. In that report, with regard to the intelligence
war, Iran's chief of counter-espionage at the Intelligence Ministry warned the Obama
White House not to insist on taking the approach of the Bush Administration. The
official, whose name wasn't mentioned in the report, said that there is in fact
an espionage war being waged against
his country and that U.S. intelligence is trying to recruit doctors, designers
and artists to work as U.S. agents. And while he asserted it had not been
successful, he said that U.S. agents are indeed active in neighboring countries
like Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Azerbaijan and Turkey.
All in all, it's quite
obvious that a shadow war between America along with its allies (namely Israel)
and Iran - is on. Who's winning, we cannot say. What we can say is that the ups
and downs of this war are likely to affect talks regarding Iran's nuclear
program.
[Posted
by WORLDMEETS.US October 18, 11:48pm]
