SAVAK

SAVAK (Sazman-e Ettelaat va Amniyat-e Keshvar, Organization of National Intelligence and Security) was the internal security and intelligence service of Iran under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, established in March 1957 with organizational assistance from the Central Intelligence Agency and Mossad. SAVAK was responsible for internal surveillance, political repression, the torture and execution of political opponents, and foreign intelligence collection. It was dissolved following the Iranian Revolution of February 1979.¹

Establishment and CIA-Mossad Role

SAVAK was created in the aftermath of the 1953 CIA-MI6 coup (Operation Ajax/Boot) that restored the Shah to power after the removal of Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh. The CIA's Kermit Roosevelt Jr. and other officers provided organizational guidance in establishing SAVAK's structure. The CIA subsequently provided training at Camp Peary (The Farm) and at other facilities for SAVAK officers, covering interrogation techniques, surveillance, and counterintelligence methodology.

Mossad established a close liaison relationship with SAVAK from the mid-1950s, providing training and operational cooperation in a relationship that served both countries' interests: Israel valued Iranian intelligence on Arab states and the Palestinian organizations, while the Shah valued Israeli technical expertise and intelligence collection. The SAVAK-Mossad relationship was one of the most productive liaison partnerships in the Middle East during the Cold War period and was extensively documented following the 1979 revolution.¹

Operations and Repression

SAVAK monitored Iranian students and dissidents both inside Iran and abroad, including in the United States, Europe, and the Middle East. Surveillance of Iranian students at American universities was documented by the Church Committee investigations. SAVAK's internal repression included the operation of Evin Prison in Tehran, where political prisoners were subjected to torture including electric shock, sleep deprivation, and physical beatings. Amnesty International issued repeated condemnations of SAVAK's treatment of prisoners during the 1970s.²

SAVAK was directed by General Nematollah Nassiri from 1965 to 1978. Nassiri was arrested by revolutionary forces after the Shah's departure and executed in April 1979. General Hossein Fardust, a childhood friend of the Shah who served in SAVAK, reportedly cooperated with the new Islamic Republic and provided information on SAVAK operations and personnel.¹

Key Figures Connected to the Vault

Several figures central to this vault's Iran-Contra and October Surprise subjects passed through the SAVAK world:

• Manucher Ghorbanifar, the Iranian arms broker who served as intermediary in the Iran-Contra arms-for-hostages pipeline, is claimed by multiple sources to have had a SAVAK connection before the revolution.
• Adnan Khashoggi, who served as a financial intermediary in Iran-Contra transactions, had extensive pre-revolutionary connections to Iranian intelligence networks.
• Ardeshir Zahedi, the Shah's son-in-law and ambassador to the United States during the hostage crisis period, maintained the overlapping intelligence and diplomatic relationships of the Shah's era.²

Dissolution

Following the Shah's departure on January 16, 1979, SAVAK's headquarters and files were seized by revolutionary forces. Many SAVAK officers were arrested, tried by revolutionary courts, and executed. The organization was formally dissolved and replaced by SAVAMA (Sazman-e Ettelaat va Amniyat-e Melli-ye Iran), which in turn was eventually reorganized into the current VEVAK (Ministry of Intelligence). SAVAK's files, many of which were captured intact, provided the new Islamic Republic with information about the CIA's Iranian network.¹