Report: Iran plans to kidnap Israelis

'Sunday Times' says Teheran will get even with West for abduction of generals.

By JPOST.COM STAFF
Iran general 298 (photo credit: Channel 10)
Iran general 298
(photo credit: Channel 10)
Iran is threatening to kidnap Israelis, Europeans and Americans, Britain's Sunday Times reported on Sunday. The article on the newspaper's Web site described the move as retaliation for what Iran claims was an undercover operation by the West to kidnap senior officers in the Iran Revolutionary Guard. Iranian sources say several officers have been kidnapped over the past three months, the Times said. According to the report, the US has drawn up a list of other targets for capture, with the aim of destabilizing Iran's military. The Revolutionary Guard's newspaper, Subhi Sadek, published an article warning that Iran intended to strike back. "We've got the ability to capture a nice bunch of blue-eyed, blond-haired officers and feed them to our fighting cocks," it read. "Iran has enough people who can reach the heart of Europe and kidnap Americans and Israelis." The writer, Reza Faker, is believed to have close ties to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, said the Times. The initial signs of a potential mission to capture high-ranking Iranian officers sprouted up earlier in March following the disappearance of retired Revolutionary Guard general Ali Rez Asghari. Asghari, who was also a former Iranian deputy defense minister, vanished last month after arriving in Turkey on a private visit from Syria. According to an American official quoted in The Washington Post, Asghari's disappearance was orchestrated by Israel. Another official was quoted in the paper as saying Asghari was in Western hands and providing intelligence services with information about Hizbullah, Iran and the ties between the two. According to the Times report, Asghari may be in possession of top-secret Iranian intelliegence. Two other Iranian generals have been reported missing since: Colonel Amir Muhammed Shirazi, who most likely vanished in Iraq, and the head of the Revolutionary Guard in the Persian Gulf, whose identity had yet to be confirmed. Members of the Quds Force, which Asghari had commanded, were allegedly taken by US troops in Irbil, Iraq. Iranians have also accused the US of being involved in an attack on Revolutionary Guard members in Iran last month, during which 17 of them were killed. Yaakov Katz contributed to this report.