Vevak & Savak: By Federation of American Scientists
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The following article is by Federation of American Scientists
about Islamic Republic's Vevak:

http://www.fas.org/irp/world/iran/vevak/index.html


HISTORY

Little public information exists on SAVAK's successor agency, the Ministry of Intelligence and Security [Vezarat-e Ettela'at va
Amniat-e Keshvar - VEVAK ], initially known by the acronym SAVAMA. The agency's first director was Major General Fardust, who was
arrested in December 1985 for being a "Soviet informer." But after this major arrest the revolutionary government's keen desire to
gain an upper hand over leftist guerrilla organizations may have influenced certain IRP leaders to relax their previously
unrelenting pursuit of military intelligence personnel.

A 1984 reorganization of the security organization led by Mohammadi Rayshahri, concurrently the head of the Army Military
Revolutionary Tribunal, created the Ministry of Information and Security which assumed the role formerly played by SAVAMA. Key
religious leaders, including Majlis speaker Hashemi-Rafsanjani, insisted on recalling former agents to help the regime eliminate
domestic opposition. Consequently, some intelligence officers and low-ranking Savak and army intelligence officials were asked to
return to government service because of their specialized knowledge of the Iranian left. Others had acquired in-depth knowledge of
Iraq's Baath Party and proved to be invaluable in helping decision makers.

Although it was impossible to verify, observers speculated that some of SAVAK's intelligence-gathering operations were turned over
to VEVAK. However, the ideological underpinnings of the new agency were radicallyl different from its Imperial predecessor. The
Islamic Republic of Iran is Khomeini' philosophy of Velayat-e Faqih, or "Islamic Rule," which calls for imposing absolute authority
over the populace, and on the other upon extending this authority to all Muslims, i.e. "exporting revolution."

ORGANIZATION

With a large budget and extensive organization, the Ministry of Intelligence and Security is of the most powerful ministries in the
Iranian government. The ministry has traditionally operated under the guidance of the Velayat-e Faqih apparatus of Ali Khamenei.
Ministry of Security and Intelligence personnel are either attached as diplomats in Iranian embassies and consulate offices or as
Ministry of Guidance and Propaganda representatives. Non-official covers include Iran Air [the official airline of Iran] or as
students, merchants, mechanics, shopkeepers, bank clerks, as well as members of opposition groups. VEVAK has frequently relied on
the foreign branches of Iranian state-controlled banks to place intelligence agents and to finance terrorist operations. In Germany,
for instance, the most prominent is Bank Melli, which maintains branches in Hamburg, Frankfurt, and Dusseldorf.

OPERATIONS

Iran is the most active sponsor of terrorism in the world. Since the inception of the Islamic state in 1979, the country has used
terrorism as an integral part of its foreign and military policies. Iranian leaders view terrorism as a valid tool to accomplish
their political objectives. Terrorist operations are reviewed and approved at the highest levels of the Iranian government, and the
President of Iran is involved in the approval process of all major terrorist operations. Iranian-sponsored terrorism has had two
major goals: Punishing opponents of the Islamic regime and expanding the Islamic movement throughout the Persian Gulf region.

Iranian-backed political violence has killed more than 1,000 people in over 200 terrorist attacks since the 1979 revolution,
including some 80 assassinations of Iranian dissidents around the world. Major attacks include the suicide bombings of American and
French military barracks in Beirut in 1983 which killed 299, a series of bombings in Paris in September 1986 which killed 12,
attacks on the Israeli embassy and a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires in 1992 and 1994 which killed 125, and the bombing that
killed 19 Americans in Dhahran in June 1995.

The Ministry of Intelligence and Security is responsible for intelligence collection to support terrorist operations. The ministry
is also responsible for liaison activities with supported terrorist groups and Islamic fundamentalist movements. VEVAK has also
conducted terrorist operations in support of Iranian objectives. Most of these activities have focused on attacks on Iranian
dissidents.

On 17 September 1992 Sadegh Sharaf-Kindi, leader of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (KDPI), was gunned down along with 3
colleagues at the Mykonos, a Greek restaurant in Berlin. An Iranian and four Lebanese were soon arrested and charged, and in March
1996 the German Federal Prosecutor issued an international arrest warrant for Iranian intelligence Minister Ali Fallahian for having
ordered the killings. In final statements in late November 1996, German prosecutors charged Iranian Supreme Leader Khamenei and
Iranian President Rafsanjani with approving the operation. Guilty verdicts for four of the accused were announced in April 1997.

Iranian leaders have consistently denied being able to revoke the fatwa against Salman Rushdie's life, in effect for nearly eight
years, claiming that revocation is impossible because the author of the fatwa is deceased. There is no indication that Tehran is
pressuring the 15 Khordad Foundation to withdraw the $2 million reward it is offering to anyone who will kill Rushdie.

Mujahedin units supported by Iran have assisted in the training of selected Bosnian army elements since 1993. Although the numbers
of Mujahedin operating in Bosnia remained a matter of speculation, most credible estimates indicate approximately 2,500 members were
present by mid-1995.

Sources and Methods
  a.. Iran Report on Human Rights Practices for 1996 - US Department of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, January
30, 1997.
  b.. Overview of State-Sponsored Terrorism Patterns of Global Terrorism 1996
  c.. IRAN'S SMOKING GUN - A GERMAN COURT JUDGES TEHRAN GUILTY OF MURDER, SETTING OFF A CRISIS IN EUROPE'S RELATIONS WITH THE
ISLAMIC STATE BY JAMES WALSH TIME International APRIL 21, 1997 VOL. 149 NO. 16
  d.. TERRORISM THE TEHRAN CONNECTION By THOMAS SANCTON TIME Domestic March 21, 1994 Volume 143, No. 12
  e.. IRAN's STATE OF TERROR by THOMAS SANCTION TIME Atlantic Edition, Monday, November 11, 1996
  f.. "ISLAMIC REPUBLIC" OF IRAN EXPORT OF REVOLUTION FLAG OF FREEDOM ORGANIZATION OF IRAN (FFO) SPECIAL REPORT August 12, 1997
  g.. Secret plan of Iranian terrorists for 1996 Akbar al Youm ­ Cairo Serbia Bulletin - April 96
  h.. New Security Law Violates Human Rights OCTOBER 22, 1995
  i.. Regime intelligence agents in France unmasked The Iran Brief, Issue Number 31, dated 2/5/97, Serial 3112
  j.. Alleged victims of Iranian government "hit squads," 1979-1996 Foundation for Democracy in Iran