EX-TIMES REPORTER ACCUSED OF ROLE IN 53 COUP IN IRAN

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00845R000100120021-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 15, 2010
• Sequence Number: 21
• Publication Date: September 26, 1980
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/15: CIA-RDP90-00845R000100120021-1
ON PAG% 26 September 1980
STAT
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Lx- Times Reporter Accused ofRole in '53 coup in. ra
Sped to Ttte New York Times
WASHINGTON, Sept. 25 - The editors
,,of CounterSpy, a magazine that advo-cates the abolition of the Central Intelli-i
gence-Agency, charged today that a for-
jner New York Times reporter helped the
C;I.A. overthrow the Government of Iran
in 1953 while working for The Times.
At a news conference here, the editors
'-'released an unpublished paper written in
'1960 by the reporter, Kennett Love, which
they said showed he aided in the over-
throw- of the Government of Mohammed
'ZMossadegh by distributing C.I.A. "propa-
ganda" and ordering tank commanders
loyal to the rebellion to attack the home
of Mr. Mossadegh on Aug. 19,1953.
The coup restored Shah Mohammed
Riza Pahlevi to power in Iran. The Shah
was swept aside in 1979 by forces loyal to
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. .
Mr. Love, who left The Times in 1962,
said in,. a telephone, interview from his
home' in Easthampton, L.I., that he
"never wittingly" aided or worked for the
C.I.A..
While acknowledging that he had sug-
gested-to, tank commanders that they at-
tack forces near Mr. Mossadegh's home
and had distributed copies of a decree by
the Shah at the Park Hotel in Teheran
hours before the coup, Mr. Love said he
did not perform either deed at the direc-
tion of the C.I.A.
He said his failure to report on Ameri-
can-involvement in the coup, once he
learned about it later in 1953, was a result
of "misguided patriotism." He charged
editors of The Times with showing a
"gross lack of interest" in the post-coup
articles he did offer the paper, suggesting
that that attitude indirectly reinforced
THE NEW YORK TIMES
his decision not to disclose the American
role in the coup.
The paper released by CounterSpy was
written by Mr. Love for a seminar while
he was a Carnegie Press Fellow at ;
Princeton University.
Mr. Love, who covered the 1953 coup in
Teheran for The Times, wrote at Prince-
ton that on the eve of the revolt he distrib
uted copies of a decree from the Shah that
named Gen. Fazollah Zahedi as Prime
Minister, replacing Mr. Mossadegh. He
added that a C.I.A. agent, Joe Goodwin,
had taken him to the home where he re-
ceived copies of the decree for an inter-
view with General Zahedi.
Mr. Love said today that in 1953 he did
not even know what the C.I.A. was and
only later learned that Mr. Goodwin hadl
been an American intelligence agent. HeI
said he did not piece together the connec-
tion between his actions in 1953 and C.I.A.
interests until long after he left Teheran.
Mr. Love called the CounterSpy,
charges "irresponsible" and "unfound
ed," and said he had asked his lawyer to
prepare to sue the editors of the magazine
for libel.
A. M. Rosenthal, executive editor of
The Times, issued the following state-
ment on the Love matter today:
"No editor or executive on this paper
has any knowledge of what Mr. Love was
supposed to have done 27 years ago. What
,every editor and executive on this paper
.does know, however, is that The New
.York Times has an absolute rule against
any reporter working for any govern-
ment agency. This paper has repeatedly
urged President Carter to reverse the
C.I.AJs-present policy of permitting use
of journalists as agents when the Director
of Central Intelligence approves.
"We are confident that no member of
The-New York Times would agree to be
used- by- the C.I.A. But not until the
C.I.A.'s policy is publicly reversed will
there be total confidence abroad that the
C.I.A. and other government agencies
are respecting the spirit of the First
Amendment and not getting involved
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/15: CIA-RDP90-00845R000100120021-1