TOP-SECRET 'IRAN PAPERS' OUTLINE ROLE OF U.S. THERE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000100210008-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 20, 2011
• Sequence Number: 8
• Publication Date: September 19, 1980
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/12/20: CIA-RDP90-00965R000100210008-3
ARTICLE A3i'%~+.:~ w l
ON FAG1
THE WASHINGTON POST
19 September 1980
"11
By Scott `Armstrong
Wasbinaton Post Staft writer
Working since-last December? a'small State
Department"group has put together a massive.
top-secret report that describes four decades"
of U.S.: involvement in Iran,; The Washington
Post has learned. .9nV ,Y
The report consists of'a- 500-page overview-
and about' 60,000 pages of government docu-
ments. The overview includes a 100-page sum-
mary and shorter sections on various events
and issues.
It is saidAo_.eontain . no_ bombshells,..,hut
rather to acknowledge in official form U.S.
conduct that has never been. admitted in the
past and that--bas'. in some instances, been
denied
The documents, however, are said to include
sensitive- ~ private communications between:
U.S. officials and highly' `classified govern
ment' rents which could, like_the+ Pentagon
Papers of-a'decade ago, cause a furor. if made
public. r ~, t
The report was compiled o fr personal in-
structions' from President Carter, who; ac=
cording to one source familiar with the. prof
ect,.wanted to know "what was' on the 'record
in preparation'-';for international tribunals,
`, ..
with the idea of making muc:r of it public""
'An inquiry by such a tribunal was envisioned' ' at.the time 'as a likely'step in the. negotiated"
release of-the Americans held hostage in Iran.`'
Nothing came of`it-then,--but in the last."
few days, statements emanating from Iran
suggest once again that an inquiry into U.S.
-activity.in"Iran over-they years will be.. a key.'
requirement-for release-'of the hostages.
=, he U.S:7government"has agreed to co=
operate, providing .the hostages are 'released,
the outset - of. such an inquiry. The Iran
papers, if the-, report : may be called that (it?
has been'given no- name: by the government),
'would- be,. used - to :prepare much of the:..U.S.
'response:`to any inquiry today. The -govern A
ment, however,- now has no intention Of mak-
ing any of the report public.---:'
'Iranian leaders have demanded. occasionally
that the United States admit "guilt" and apol-
ogize for its conduct toward Iran. One high-
ranking administration official.told The. Post
that the study does. not constitute an apology
but is "a kind of full laying-out.. of our rela-
tions with the shah."
Severalr sources familiar with the report
told The Post that if its supporting documents
were aired, every president from Franklin D.
Roosevelt through Carter would be subject
to substantial criticism.
At the same time, however, the sources
,said, ' Carter. and national security adviser'
Zbigniew Brzezinski have refused researchers'
requests for specific material describing their
own actions during'-the prolonged Iranian
crisis. '
One source said the report as'lt now stands
,would- give-"critics of U S.-policy,a field day,
Another -said,., however,' that-' if what -the
Iranians want, is an.-admission. of -U.S. guilt
for activities in Iran, the report "is not what.
kheyr want. -It will make them"very, mad": "'
In response to an inquiry from The Post
State Department spokesman John Trattner
said last night, "This is not the Pentagon. Pap-,
ers there is no 'study' as such,'only a cola
on past U.S. relations with Iran. This compila-
tion"did not focus on `U.S. misdeeds,' and'no-
conclusions,or-,-j udgments", were- derived. Es.
sentially, it is ain inventory and nothing more"
The report'is said-to be'so secret"that'only
20 people in government know'of its existence.
A great many people contributed to portions
of it but did. not know they-were helping -
STAT
I Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/12/20: CIA-RDP90-00965R000100210008-3
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/12/20: CIA-RDP90-00965R000100210008-3
together such a history, one source
;old The Post.
Only. two copies of the report and
the accompanying documents are said
to exist, with one of them being held
by Brzezinski, who now is in control
if the study. The other copy is said
to be locked in a place where only
two State Department officials have
access to it, apparently to prevent
leaks or, according to some sources,
to keep Brzezinski from making
changes or destroying material.
The study grew out=of a request by
Carter for a. white paper-a document
that could be made public and would
justify the U.S..role in Iran for the past
25 years. Four-membersof the State
Department's policy planning and in-
telligence offices were assigned to con-
duct it. :..: ' -..
Anthony take, the, director of the
policy planning staff, was put in over-
all charge. The operational head of
the study was Phi1i'p Stoddard, who
worked, on it while on leave from the
intelligence office at State. ,
Almost immediately,. the study team
decided to push the period covered
by the report back from 1953, when
the CIA assisted in a coup that re-
stored the shah of Iran to power, to
1941, when the United States first be-
came deeply involved in Iran. ' `.
The `team also. concluded that the
material should not be-prepared as a
white paper to be made public.."If
the Carter administration got into
drawing judgments', about, the policy
of each .administration, they would
have ended up condemning elements
of every policy, Including their own,"
one source said-..,
Initially, Carter resisted the change
to a secret study, saying, according to
one source, that "we have nothing to
be afraid of."" He was persuaded to
go along by former 92cretary of state
Cyrus R. Vance; who teportedly told
him that a white paper would need-
lessly antagonize officials of past ad-
ministrations 'and reflect poorly on
the president during his reelection
campaign.
Files from the Defense Department
and State Department were imme i-
a a e avai e- -
ers virtually in their en irety.. -We
CIA provided access QYI
rom i s files, but would n ph-fr-With
the i:..