{"id":30733,"date":"2020-01-21T22:15:48","date_gmt":"2020-01-21T20:15:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/norkhosq.net\/?p=30733"},"modified":"2020-01-21T22:18:28","modified_gmt":"2020-01-21T20:18:28","slug":"how-britain-helped-iran%e2%80%99s-islamic-regime-destroy-the-left-wing-opposition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/norkhosq.net\/?p=30733","title":{"rendered":"How Britain helped Iran\u2019s Islamic regime destroy the left-wing opposition"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/strong><\/p>\n

Britain supported Iran\u2019s new Islamic regime in crushing the last remaining opposition to its rule in 1983 while the UK\u2019s leading official in the country joked about Iran\u2019s torture techniques, declassified files reveal.<\/strong><\/p>\n

By Mark Curtis and Phil Miller\u2022\u00a021 January 2020<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The UK\u2019s secret intelligence service, MI6, worked with the CIA to provide a list of alleged Soviet agents in Iran to Ayatollah Khomeini\u2019s 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\u00a0Tudeh<\/span><\/a>.<\/div>\n

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.<\/p>\n

The files suggest British policy was motivated by the desire to curry favour with Iran\u2019s new rulers, rather than concerns over Cold War geopolitics or Soviet influence in Iran, which was recognised to be minimal.<\/p>\n

The hit list<\/p>\n

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\u00a0New York Times<\/span><\/a> and London\u00a0Times<\/span><\/a> in 1986. The information gleaned by MI6 from Kuzichkin \u2013 who was responsible for maintaining contacts with the Tudeh party, the main leftist organisation in Iran established in the 1940s \u2013 was also shared with the CIA, and passed on to Tehran.<\/p>\n

The Iranian regime proceeded to round up over 1,000 members of the Tudeh party and eventually executed as many as 200. The party was banned and forced underground.<\/p>\n

Britain\u2019s senior official in Iran at that time, Nicholas Barrington,\u00a0states<\/span><\/a> in his memoir that Kuzichkin\u2019s information simply \u201cfound its way\u201d to the Iranian authorities after the Russian\u2019s defection, without specifying the British role.<\/p>\n

Files from the time \u2013 when Barrington was head of the British Interests Section in Tehran since Iran and the UK had cut full diplomatic relations \u2013 suggest that British officials supported Iran\u2019s repression of the Tudeh.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Telegram from Nicholas Barrington, the UK\u2019s senior official in Iran, to the Foreign Office in London, 9 May 1983. (National Archives)<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u2018A significant step\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

As Iran\u2019s crackdown was under way, Barrington met a senior Iranian official on 5 May 1983 seeking British views \u201con his government\u2019s action against the Tudeh\u201d, which, he said, was evidence of \u201cIranian independence of the big powers\u201d.<\/p>\n

Barrington replied, according to his memorandum on the meeting: \u201cI said I had never doubted this independence. The latest Iranian [actions] seemed to me a significant step.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Iranian official then mentioned to Barrington a \u201cconfession\u201d forced by the new regime which had aired the previous night on Iranian television by a Tudeh member who had previously been jailed for 24 years under the Shah. The activist was said by the Iranian official to have previously revealed nothing \u201cdespite all the Savak\u2019s tortures\u201d \u2013 referring to the former regime\u2019s brutal security service.<\/p>\n

Barrington commented: \u201cI said, half in jest, that perhaps the Islamic Republic\u2019s torture was more effective than that of the Shah.\u201d<\/p>\n

By this time, Barrington and other British officials were well aware of Iranian repression. On the same day he met the Iranian official, Barrington had informed the Foreign Office in London of the \u201cdestruction of the Tudeh\u201d.<\/p>\n

He noted that \u201cit is widely believed that some [Tudeh members] have already suffered the death penalty and the rest will do so soon\u201d. He added that \u201cthe public have been taking the law into their own hands\u201d in dealing with Tudeh members and \u201cno doubt scores will be settled and some comparatively innocent will suffer with the guilty\u201d.<\/p>\n

Read More:\u00a0 \u00a0https:\/\/www.dailymaverick.co.za<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Britain supported Iran\u2019s new Islamic regime in crushing the last remaining opposition to its rule in 1983 while the UK\u2019s leading official in the country joked about Iran\u2019s torture techniques,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30733","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/norkhosq.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30733","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/norkhosq.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/norkhosq.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/norkhosq.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/norkhosq.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=30733"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/norkhosq.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30733\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30735,"href":"https:\/\/norkhosq.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30733\/revisions\/30735"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/norkhosq.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30733"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/norkhosq.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30733"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/norkhosq.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30733"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}