CIA CURRIED FAVOR WITH KHOMEINI, EXILES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90B01390R000100090018-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 7, 2012
• Sequence Number: 18
• Publication Date: November 19, 1986
• Content Type: MEMO

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250
CIA (that proceeds on several tracks, according
to several administration officials, Curried and th
. at
vi
ew is s
Favor
hared by some former U.S. intel-
ligence officers.
~~ ? "I have no knowledge that the Reagan ad-
ministration I(lioiiieiiii, ministration is giving money to the Iranian
E exile groups, but I see no reason not to
give
them money and at the same time extend a
Sources Sa Agency hand to Khomeini," Stansfield Turner, CIA
director in the Carter administration, said
?r Gave Regime List of KGB Agents Monday. "Playing both sides of the fence is
By Bob Woodward
W +Rtoa Pat staff Writer
The-Reagan administration's se
t
p
ayer
cre
opera-
over
at they could
-
tures and arms shipments to Iran are -~4ions are not intended to bring about Kho. do that."
of a part +aieini's downfall but are aimed primarily at
seven-year_ But one well-placed administration
long pattern of covert Cen- 42tainin source said the CIA o
tral Intelligence-
operations-,some g intelligence about is regime Aerations involving
dating back to the Carter administration- rough the exile groups. Iran were ad hoc and inconsistent, rather
'that were designed both to cu =--The White House and administration than being the result of a coherent U.S.
the regime of Ayatollah Ruho! ah favor wi t4 "sok~en declined to comment on these strategy. "The U.S. does not have a policy
and support Iranian exiles who seek to me'n' -CIA Operations. Vice Adm. John M. Poin. but a series of actions," said the source, who
throw it, according to informed sources over- dexter, the President's national security af_ described the administration as "groping in
T. inoo r-- Maim
Patted in a secret operation to Provide list
of Sovi
t K
e
GB agetdll
ns an coaborators op-
erating in Iran to the Khomeini regime,
which then executed up to 200 suspects and
closed down the communist Tudeh party in
Iran, actions that dealt a major blow to KGB
operations and Soviet influence there, the
sources said. Khomeini also expelled 1G8
Soviet diplomats, Imprisoned the Tudeh
Party leaders and publicly thanked God for
"the miracle" leading to the arrests of the
"treasonou
l
"
s
eaders
. At the same time, secret presidential in-
telligence orders, called 'findings," author.
ized the CIA to support Iranian exiles op.
Posed to the Khomeini re
i
g
me the sou
rces ~
said. These included providing nearly' $6 Administration
sources said that all CIA
million to the main Irania
il
n ex
e movprogra
-ms financing an anti-Khomeini exile fit' concerning Iran have been de-
station in Egypt group radio igned with several objectives: 'to build brid-
ized television transmitter supplying
an l -minute -eexiles for information bout what is ha the
clandestine broadcast to Iran two months Ong in Iran, to develop inde Ppen
ago by Reza Pahlavi th
pendent in
um
e son of th lgenr
,eate --e sources, to win friend
s, to diminish
Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who vowed, soviet influence and to keep pressure on her of anti-Khomeini operations. One was
"I will return." the Khomeini regime by demonstrating that designedtogather intelligence about
Iran
One well-placed intelligence source said the exile and dissident opposition is active. and support Iranian exiles, sources said;
that this support of the anti-Khomeini exile := Iran is strategically vital because senior source id wash
movement is "just one level a another was a more ambitious
of its oil plan than one
hove [intelli. -'supplies, warm-water on Komn n to game,
Bence] collection," and that the mone in- gulf and Ports on the Persian N "
flict
volved was Y proximity to the Soviet Union. Punishment on the Khomeini regime,
equivalent to the 'walking- : an's political turbulence and the possibil- which was holding the U.S. hostages.
See
See CIA. A28, Col. 1 "Ity that one of the exile groups could some Under. Reagan and his CIA director. Wil-
assume power justifies a U.S. strategy !rain J. Casey, the first major Iranian oper
ation was intended to support an exile
group headed by the shah's former naval
commander-in-chief, Rear Adm. Ahmad
Madani. The Madani group received several
not unusual, as long as they did not fund any
=around n~ey" frequently distributed i - exile group to the extent that they would
American Political campaigns. Administra-' try to overthrow the [Khomeini) govern-
I"' ion ?
stres ment
s
. There is not a
ed that the CIA
r
th
_
.... aaaacl vaewer
-- -'? ??? assoc.
Sunday that "I don't want to confirm or Despite the CIA efforts to curry favor
1-deny any other operations" and added that with the Khomeini regime, Iran continued
"we aren't seeking the overthrow of the to encourage violence against American in-
:{homeini regime." terests, sources noted. For example, intel-
_ ?ess and broadcast reports from Iran ligence shows that Iran directly supported
wave repreatedly accused the U.S. govern- the October 1983 bombing of the Marine
t of backing anti-Khomeini exile activ- Corps barracks in Beirut in which 241 U.S.
ties. Informed sources said that the Kho- servicemen were killed. This was less than
operations because it has agents in- agents in Iran from a Soviet defector and
-side the Iranian'exile groups. gave the names to the Khomeini regime.
.Some of the Iranian exiles in Paris said it Sources said that the British intelligence
el thi
i
n their g thh serv
ce also patiitd ih
roupsat teyrcpaen te operation
also
t some of the CIA vas
- - --u
teao Administration
Innimpw official
id
4
d
m
s sa
sa
that
more
Peculate in gore use
to recent overtures made under President
ncy markets in Switzer-
Reaganto "moderates" in Tehran have
stopped Iranian government sponsorship of
terrorist actions against Americans.
In January 1981, when Reagan took of-
fice and 52 Americans returned after 444
days' captivity in Tehran, the CIA had al-
ready begun under President Carter a n
-
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/11/07: CIA-RDP90B01390R000100090018-1
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successor, however, was discovered to be a
that CIA"'tunds were being used to speculate
in currency markets in Switzerland. Con-
sequently, the FLI member functioning as
liaison &with the CIA was ousted in 1985. His
ro
e of
some FLI members were providing useless Kuzichkin also passed largely unnoticed ex-
and questionable -informatinn t., tho riA .,:.., ceot for a- 19R_S .,~.uI.,... L.. T.J.
.-
,
was not
The allegations included charges that ~ known that the CIA had a role The
l
million dollars, but proved too independent
by insisting on control of their own anti-
Khomeini operations, and the CIA connec-
tions were soon dissolved.
In 1982, the CIA began supporting the
main Iranian exile movement, the Paris-
based Front for the Liberation of Iran (FLI).
Headed by former prime minister Ali Amini,
the FLI advocates Khomeini's ouster and
since 1983 has called for restoration of the
Iranian monarchy.
The CIA has given the FLI $100,000 a
month. But beginning about two years ago,
two members of the National: ecttnty
Council staff, Lt. Col. Oliver North.Jr, and
Vincent M. Canistraro, became involved in
supervising the CIA operation after hearing
allegations that the FLI was mismanaged j
and ineffective.
The CIA then provided Khomeini with
lists and supporting details of at least 100
and perhaps as many as 200 Soviet agents
in Iran, sources said. After arresting and
executing most of the alleged agents, Kho-
meini outlawed the Tudeh party on May 4,
1983, and expelled the 18 Soviet diplomats
believed to be involved in KGB operations.
Many Tudeh members were arrested, in-
cluding the party's secretary general and
six central committee members, and they
were forced to make televised confessions
that they spied for Moscow.
One wen-Placed source said the CIA ac-
tion was intended to cripple KGB operations
in Iran while offering "a gesture of good
will" to KhoitleinL
' There Were reports at'the time ofaa up.
heaval in the Tudeh party
but ? t
fectQr had brought with him two~trunks full
of documents about the KGB and the Iran-
ian communist party. The column reported
that the British "secretly turned the ;_,r__
former communist who advocated hostage- , oration over to Khomeini."
taking and who was a suspected Khomeini A CIA memo of May 17, -1985, saying
informer, according to. U.S. and Iranian that the United States was lagging behind
sources. the Soviets in cultivating Iranian contacts
That liaison ' was, removed earlier this for a post-Khomeini era, was apparently one
year, and the CIA appointed one of the of the first actions that led to Reagan's de-
shah's former cabinet officers as the new vision to begin secret overtures to the Iran.
overseer of the FLI money, the sources inns and eventually to ship them arms this
said. year.
Neither. the CIA nor the White House A recent CIA-upported operation ' was
ever seriously believed that exile groups the sudden appearance on Iranian television
were strong enough to overthrow Kho- two months ago of Reza Pahlavi, son of the .
meini, sources said, and none of the current late shah. That dandestioe anti-I omW
operations includes paramilitarysupport. broadcast was made possible by the CIA,
part of the FLI support, the CIA also which Provided technical assistance and a
provides equipment and $20,000 to miniaturized suitcase transmitter, the
$30,000 a month for the organization's Ra- sources said. The broadcast disrupted two
die Nejat, or Radio Liberation, which broad- channels of Iranian television for 11
casts anti-Khomeini programs for four inutes at 9 p.m. on Sept. S. It is not known
hours a day from Egypt to Iran, according whether the shah's son knew that the CIA
to U.S. and Iranian sources. . had provided support for the broadcast.
As the links to the exile groups were being The Khomeini regime apparently was
built, the CIA'received an unexpected wind- 'ware of or suspected a U.S. role in the
fall of intelligence information in Iran through :landestine appearance and responded with
the defection of Vladimir Kuzichkin, a senior n radio broadcast of its own, declaring that
KGB officer in Tehran whose job it had been The terrorist government of Reagan ... in
to maintain contacts with the Tudeh party. i disgraceful manner was the vanguard of
Kuzichkin defected to the British in late 1982 his puppet show."
and was debriefed later by the CIA, giving >tajjrssearehersBarbara Fein man and
the United States details of Soviet and Tudeh ,
operations in Iran. lerman Patterson contributed to this reporL
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