Israel Helped Iranian Nuclear Scholar to Defect

An Israeli deputy minister told army radio on Saturday that Israel played a key role in the recent defection of an Iranian nuclear scholar. Ayoub Kara offered few details and declined to name the scholar who was described as having links to Iran’s nuclear development program, but said the defector is now “in a friendly country.” Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki recently said that another nuclear scholar, Shahram Amiri, was kidnapped by American agents, and is currently in the United States. It is believed that Amiri defected with the help of the CIA during a trip to Saudi Arabia.