Is the release of a diplomat in Iraq part of the true cost of the hostage affair, asks philip jacobson |
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As the 15 Royal Navy personnel flew home and Tony Blair hailed a triumph for peaceful diplomacy, the British and American governments have been briefing the media intensively that there has been no secret deal with Iran.
But events that occurred in the final phase of the crisis raise intriguing questions about the extent to which this complex, often confusing, saga was resolved through negotiations that may still be under way.
 The day before President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced the hostages' release, the senior Iranian diplomat, Jalal Sharafi, kidnapped by unknown gunmen in downtown Baghdad in January, arrived back into Tehran with little or no media fanfare. It is still unclear who abducted him or where he was held, but the timing of his release was surely no coincidence. US sources had previously described Sharafi as a key figure in
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Mystery still surrounds the disappearance of Iran’s former deputy defence minister, Ali
Reza Asghari |
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the Republican Guard intelligence network inside Iraq: it is hard to believe he could have been freed without Washington's approval.
Reports from Tehran that an Iranian official would be granted access to the five alleged Republican Guard agents detained by American troops during a dramatic pre-dawn helicopter raid in Irbil, northern Iraq, two months ago, have not yet been confirmed by the US. They were said to be collaborating with the radical Shia militia groups battling coalition forces in Iraq. Securing their release is a priority for Ahmadinejad.
Mystery still surrounds the disappearance of the retired Revolutionary Guard general and former deputy defence minister, Ali Reza Asghari (left), during a visit to Istanbul in February. Initial reports that he had defected to the West have not been confirmed: Israeli sources believe he was kidnapped and is undergoing deep interrogation about Iran's nuclear programme and his suspected involvement in deadly suicide attacks on US troops in Lebanon in the 1980s. Iran badly wants him back too.
FIRST POSTED APRIL 5, 2007
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