“You will see we are not in any particular animosity with the Americans. [The Islamic Republic of Iran] will be a humanitarian one, which will benefit the cause of peace and tranquility for all mankind. (…) It is advisable that you recommend to the army not to follow [Shah’s prime minister Shapour] Bakhtiar.”

Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini
Letter to US President Jimmy Carter
(January 29 1979)

February 1 2022 — On January 17 1979, the Shah left the country, never to return. Two weeks later, on Thursday February 1st 1979, Khomeini returned in triumph to Iran, welcomed by a joyous crowd estimated to be of up to five million people. The communications between Khomeini and the president Jimmy Carter’s administration during the last two weeks of January 1979 remain largely classified and highly controversial.

PS — Whenever you learn new facts, you must re-think what you thought you knew. In this case, you may want to reconsider the following events: the release of the hostages on January 20 1981, 20 minutes after Reagan concluded his inaugural address, as well as the Iran-Contra scandal, the summer massacre and the fall of Ayatollah Montazeri. Follow us on Twitter: @Intel_Today

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“It is now very clear that there were two separate agreements, one the official agreement with Carter in Algeria, the other, a secret agreement with another party, which, it is now apparent, was Reagan. They made a deal with Reagan that the hostages should not be released until after Reagan became president. So, then in return, Reagan would give them arms. We have published documents which show that US arms were shipped, via Israel, in March, about 2 months after Reagan became president.”

Former Iranian President Abolhassan Banisadr

UPDATE (February 1st 2023) — On January 20 1981, 20 minutes after Reagan concluded his inaugural address, the Islamic Republic of Iran announced the release of 52 Americans being held hostage in Iran since November 4 1979.

Allegations that the Reagan administration negotiated a delay in the release of the hostages until after the 1980 presidential election have been numerous.

RELATED POST : On This Day — Tehran Releases 52 US Hostages After 444 Days (January 20 1981)

Gary Sick, principal White House aide for Iran and the Persian Gulf on the Carter administration’s National Security Council, claimed in his book “October Surprise: America’s Hostages in Iran and the Election of Ronald Reagan” that CIA Director William Casey and possibly Vice President George H. W. Bush went to Paris to negotiate such a delay.

As I wrote one year ago: “Whenever you learn new facts, you must re-think what you thought you knew. In this case, you may want to reconsider the following events: the release of the hostages on January 20 1981, 20 minutes after Reagan concluded his inaugural address, as well as the Iran-Contra scandal, the summer massacre and the fall of Ayatollah Montazeri.”

I was therefore deeply shocked to read this article titled: Are Republicans and Conservatives More Likely to Believe Conspiracy Theories?

According to the abstract: “A sizable literature tracing back to Richard Hofstadter’s The Paranoid Style (1964) argues that Republicans and conservatives are more likely to believe conspiracy theories than Democrats and liberals. However, the evidence for this proposition is mixed. Since conspiracy theory beliefs are associated with dangerous orientations and behaviors, it is imperative that social scientists better understand the connection between conspiracy theories and political orientations.”

“First, we examine the relationship between beliefs in 52 conspiracy theories and both partisanship and ideology in the U.S”

And of course, the story of the hostages is one of the 52 conspiracy theories… Seriously?

Highly respected researchers (including Gary Sick), as well as former Iranian President Abolhassan Banisadr came to the conclusion that Reagan made a deal with the Iranians about the hostages. Fore sure it was never proven, but it is certainly not a crazy theory compared to the parts (including the Iran-Contra scandal) that have been confirmed.

As Professor Stephan Lewandowsky — Chair in Cognitive Psychology at the University of Bristol — wrote:

“This is the long-standing dilemma confronting philosophers. Conspiracies do occur and they can seem quite outlandish and unexpected once publicly revealed.

Who would have thought that Oliver North would sell arms to Iran from the basement of the White House and launder the money to supply arms to Nicaraguan rebels in contravention of explicit legal prohibitions?”

I will return to this study soon. Stay tuned!

END of UPDATE

“Ronald Reagan made a deal with the Iranians about the hostages release before he was elected.”

Harvard’s Law Professor Alan Dershowitz 
(Feb. 2017)

In a first-person message, Khomeini told the White House not to panic at the prospect of losing a strategic ally of 37 years and assured them that he, too, would be a friend.

“Khomeini’s message is part of a trove of newly declassified US government documents – diplomatic cables, policy memos, meeting records – that tell the largely unknown story of America’s secret engagement with Khomeini, an enigmatic cleric who would soon inspire Islamic fundamentalism and anti-Americanism worldwide.

This story is a detailed account of how Khomeini brokered his return to Iran using a tone of deference and amenability towards the US that has never before been revealed.

The ayatollah’s message was, in fact, the culmination of two weeks of direct talks between his de facto chief of staff and a representative of the US government in France – a quiet process that helped pave the way for Khomeini’s safe return to Iran and rapid rise to power – and decades of high-stakes tension between Iran and America.

In the official Iranian narrative of the revolution, Khomeini bravely defied the United States and defeated “the Great Satan” in its desperate efforts to keep the Shah in power.

But the documents reveal that Khomeini was far more engaged with the US than either government has ever admitted. Far from defying America, the ayatollah courted the Carter administration, sending quiet signals that he wanted a dialogue and then portraying a potential Islamic Republic as amenable to US interests.” [BBC]

The former Carter administration officials have always maintained that Washington had stood firm behind the Shah and his government. However, declassified US documents show otherwise.

Only two days after the Shah departed Tehran, the US told a Khomeini envoy that they were — in principle — open to the idea of changing the Iranian constitution, effectively abolishing the monarchy.

Moreover, US officials gave the ayatollah a key piece of information: “Iranian military leaders were flexible about their political future.”

Zbigniew Brzezinski — National Security adviser to Carter from 1977 to 1981 — could not recall the communications between Khomeini and the Carter administration.

Yet another spectacular case of specific dissociative amnesia?

“There were a lot of maneuvers by people at that time and I do not have any special information particularly on the Ayatollah and his role in it. Probably in some fashion there was some involvement but nothing specific that I can recall.”

Zbigniew Brzezinski

Ayatollah Khomeini Returns to Iran  (February 1, 1979) 

MI6 and the CIA collaborated with Ayatollah Khomeini

Recently declassified files indicate that MI6 and the CIA collaborated with Ayatollah Khomeini’s theocratic regime until at least 1983.

The UK’s secret intelligence service, MI6, worked with the CIA to provide a list of alleged Soviet agents in Iran to Ayatollah Khomeini’s theocratic regime, which took power after the overthrow of the UK-backed Shah in 1979. The information was used by the regime to execute leading members of the Iranian communist party, the Tudeh.

The British files also highlight how at least one Foreign Office official considered how the UK might benefit from the forced confessions given by Tudeh members at the time, which were believed to be extracted under torture.

The files suggest British policy was motivated by the desire to curry favour with Iran’s new rulers, rather than concerns over Cold War geopolitics or Soviet influence in Iran, which was recognised to be minimal. [How Britain helped Iran’s Islamic regime destroy the left-wing opposition by Mark Curtis and Phil Miller]

The list of Iranians allegedly working for the Soviet Union in Iran was provided to Britain by Vladimir Kuzichkin, a major in the KGB who defected to the UK in June 1982, as reported by the New York Times and London Times in 1986.

REFERENCES

Two Weeks in January: America’s secret engagement with Khomeini — BBC News

US had extensive contact with Ayatollah Khomeini before Iran revolution — The Guardian

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On This day — Ayatollah Khomeini Returns to Iran (February 1 1979) [MI6 and the CIA collaborated with Tehran until at least 1983]

On This day — Ayatollah Khomeini Returns to Iran (February 1 1979) [MI6 and the CIA collaborated with Tehran until at least 1983] [UPDATE : A Quick Note on Conspiracy Theories — Are Republicans and Conservatives More Likely to Believe Conspiracy Theories?]