March 09, 2007	Friday	Safar 19, 1428

WASHINGTON, March 8: A former Iranian deputy defence minister who went missing in Turkey was giving Western intelligence agencies information on Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Iran’s ties to the group, the Washington Post reported.

Citing a senior US official, the Post said in its Thursday edition that Ali Reza Asgari, who disappeared while on a trip to Turkey last month, had left his country and was willingly cooperating. Iran has suggested he was kidnapped by Western intelligence.

Another US official denied an Israeli newspaper report that Asgari was in the United States.—Reuters