Raji Samghabadi

Raji Samghabadi was an Iranian-born journalist who worked as a Middle East correspondent for Time magazine. He was initially hired as a stringer for Time by Bruce van Voorst, who had been a CIA officer. Prior to this, in the early 1970s, Samghabadi worked for Keyhan International, an English-language daily newspaper in Tehran, and was secretly a member of the pro-Soviet Tudeh Party.¹

After the Iranian Revolution, Samghabadi was arrested by the Mullahs, accused of being a CIA spy and a Tudeh Party member. He was later released and sought political asylum in the U.S., eventually becoming an American citizen and a Middle East correspondent for Time.¹

In May 1986, Ari Ben-Menashe provided Samghabadi with detailed information about the North-Nir operation, which became known as the Iran-Contra Affair. Samghabadi considered it a major scoop, but Time magazine ultimately refused to print the story, a decision attributed to the editor-in-chief, Henry Grunwald.¹

Samghabadi was later a witness for Ari Ben-Menashe in his trial for arms dealing. Despite suffering from frayed nerves, he testified, confirming that Ben-Menashe had informed him about the Iran-Contra Affair prior to its public exposure. He also made a memorable, if excitable, statement during his testimony, highlighting the human cost of the conflict.¹