The alert was issued after Israel was blamed for the disappearance of a former Iranian deputy defense minister in Turkey. An Iranian delegation has been sent to Turkey and demanded the whereabouts of Ali Reza Asqhari, missing from an Istanbul hotel since Feb. 7.

The 63-year-old Asqhari, believed to have been a senior official in Iran's missile and nuclear weapons program, arrived in Istanbul from Damascus and had been registered in the Ceylon Hotel. But it was not clear whether he checked into the hotel.

On Tuesday, the London-based A-Sharq Al Awsat reported that Asqhari defected and was taken to the United States, Middle East Newsline reported. The United States has not commented on the report. On Wednesday, the Saudi-owned newspaper quoted an Iranian military source as saying that Ashqhari was taken to an unidentified northern European state where he was being interrogated on Iran's nuclear weapons program.

Last week, Western intelligence sources said Asqhari, a former IRGC general, was believed to have defected as part of a CIA campaign to recruit Iranian scientists and defense officials. Asqhari was said to have been the Defense Ministry's liasion with Iran's strategic programs under Ali Shamkhani, who served as defense minister until 2006.

"It is likely that Asqhari has been abducted by the Western intelligence services," Iranian police chief Gen. Esmaeil Ahmadi Moghaddam said.

Israeli officials said the Defense Ministry and Foreign Ministry have increased security on embassies and legations throughout the world. They said the government declared an alert after Teheran accused the Jewish state of abducting a senior Iranian official.

"The prospect of an Iranian retaliation or provocation exists," an Israeli official said.

On Wednesday, Israel's National Security Council warned of the prospect of an imminent attack on Israelis in such countries as Egypt and Jordan. The council's Counter-Terrorism Division urged Israelis to leave all Arab countries immediately.

Israeli officials said Iran could retaliate by seeking to attack Israeli embassies or abducting government representatives. Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps was said to operate a special unit for such attacks.

At one point, Asqhari was also the IRGC's liasion with Hizbullah and helped develop its military force, the sources said. They said Turkey has determined that Asqhari defected to the United States and possessed information on Iran's intervention in Iraq, Lebanon and Syria.

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