Mossad Allegedly Kidnapped, Killed Iranian General in Ron Arad Search

Nearly forty years after the disappearance of Israeli navigator Ron Arad in Lebanon, a New York Times investigation has revealed the extent of clandestine operations conducted by Israel to find him. Among the most significant revelations is the alleged abduction and execution of Ali Reza Asgari, a former Iranian deputy defense minister and high-ranking Revolutionary Guards officer, by Israeli intelligence services. According to the investigation, based on testimonies from dozens of Israeli, Iranian, and American officials, Asgari was captured by Mossad agents in Turkey in December 2006. He was reportedly interrogated for weeks aboard a ship, suspected of holding information about Arad's fate. However, after failing to obtain evidence of his involvement, Israeli agents allegedly killed him and disposed of his body in the Black Sea.

Asgari had disappeared from an Istanbul hotel under mysterious circumstances. Israeli intelligence considered him a potential source due to his ties to Hezbollah leaders and his presence in Lebanon shortly after Arad's disappearance. While Israel has consistently denied responsibility for Asgari's disappearance, the investigation suggests that Israeli officials later confirmed his death to American counterparts during diplomatic negotiations when Tehran raised the issue.

The investigation also details an operation in September 2021 targeting Iranian General Abdullah Saberi in Syria. Israeli agents, disguised as movers, reportedly bypassed security checkpoints in Damascus, subdued Saberi during his morning jog, drugged him, and concealed him in a refrigerator box before transporting him to Israel. Saberi was allegedly interrogated solely about Ron Arad's disappearance and later abandoned in a Johannesburg street after weeks of detention. He has since claimed to have been tortured.

At the time, then-Mossad Director David Barnea acknowledged authorizing a daring operation to gather intelligence on Arad, admitting it did not yield the desired results. The investigation highlights a shift in Israeli intelligence conclusions regarding Arad's fate. For years, Israel believed Arad was transferred to Iran after his 1986 capture. However, by 2004, Iranian and Hezbollah investigations reportedly concluded that Arad likely died in 1988 in the Lebanese village of Nabi Chit, where he was allegedly buried. These findings were reportedly conveyed to Israel via former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.

Intelligence assessments in 2005, including those by Raz Zimmt, are now considered potentially erroneous. Internal Israeli investigations in 2006 led by Shin Bet head Yuval Diskin and in 2016 by Avi Kalo concluded that Arad most likely died in 1988 in the Nabi Chit region. Israeli investigations increasingly focused on Lebanon, where Ahmad Shukr, a former Lebanese security official suspected by Lebanese authorities of being involved in an Israeli operation, disappeared in December 2025. Shukr was reportedly one of the few individuals who might have known the exact circumstances of Arad's death. One hypothesis among Israeli officials is that Arad was executed in 1988 in retaliation for the death of Shukr's brother, though Shukr's family denies any connection.

In March 2026, an Israeli operation at Nabi Chit to excavate a grave in search of Arad's remains, accompanied by clashes with Hezbollah, yielded no decisive discoveries. Despite extensive intelligence operations and investigations across multiple countries, Israel has not yet recovered Ron Arad's body, leaving his exact fate uncertain forty years after his disappearance.