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WASHINGTON - An Iranian general appears to have defected to the West with vital documents, despite Iranian claims that he was snatched last month from a Turkish hotel by United States or Israeli agents.
A former Iranian Deputy Defence Minister, Ali Rez Asgari, has documents and maps detailing the relationship between the elite Revolutionary Guards and Islamist groups such as Hizbollah and Islamic Jihad, the London-based Asharq Al-Awsat said.
The paper said the general was also briefing Western intelligence on Iran's links to movements supported by the Iranians in Iraq.
These include the Mahdi army of radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and the Badr organisation. The Washington Post quoted a US official who said Asgari was willingly co-operating.
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