Bakhtiar from Dependency to Assassination
Rather than being expressions of empathy and sympathy with
the victim’s loved ones and colleagues, the condemnation statements made by
counter-revolutionary movements after Bakhtiar’s assassination are expressions
of the fear and panic they have over their inevitable fate, and in fact, their
issuing declarations and statements means that they are seeking help and
support from various centers.
A CIA source wrote his evaluation of Bakhtiar after meeting
him:
"... Bakhtiar manages his operations with little
funding, and he will only achieve something if he receives financial support
and practical guidance from America. He is still in the planning stages, and
everything will be ready in the next few months.”
Shapour Bakhtiar, the last prime minister under the deposed
Shah, was murdered by one of his confidants on Tuesday, August 6, and his body
was discovered two days later by French police officers in one of the rooms of
his house, located in the suburbs of Paris. Despite the propaganda of the
counter-revolutionary groups in France claiming this murder was the work of the
Islamic Republic of Iran, the French police identified several people who were followers
of Bakhtiar and regular visitors to his house as suspects in this murder; after
publishing their names and details in the French press, police all around the country
mobilized to arrest them. In the days immediately after Bakhtiar's murder, it
became evident that the suspects had fled the country. Regardless of the
theories that have been formulated so far regarding Bakhtiar's murder, one fact
cannot be doubted, and that is that the French regime’s protective belt around
the Iranian counter-revolutionaries living in that country is fragile and
permeable.
The French government took extraordinary measures to protect
Bakhtiar's life and posted his son, Guy Bakhtiar, a French police officer, to
the area of his father's residence to increase his protection factor by using
the emotional bond between father and son. However, these measures proved
vulnerable and weak when countered by the willpower of the perpetrators of
terrorism. Naturally, this vulnerability and the inability of the French police
to protect refugees’ lives will cause counter-revolutionaries to lose their confidence.
Especially when one considers that not much time has passed since the Paris murders
of Abdorrahman Boroumand, the number two man of the National Resistance
Movement (Bakhtiar), and Cyrus Elahi, the deputy of Manouchehr Ganji (the head
of the Flag of Freedom organization). These murders and the successful
assassinations of the translators of The Satanic Verses in Japan and Italy,
have doubled the counter-revolutionaries’ fear of death.
Meanwhile, it seems that the condemnation statements made by
counter-revolutionary movements after these assassinations, rather than being
expressions of empathy and sympathy with the victim’s loved ones and colleagues,
are expressions of the fear and panic they have over their inevitable fate and
in fact, their issuing declarations and statements means that they are seeking
help and support from various centers.
Bakhtiar's assassination once again caused the name of the National
Resistance Movement and its affiliates to feature prominently in the headlines.
Therefore, to become more familiar with the National Resistance Movement and
Bakhtiar, we will briefly review this group’s history, positions, and actions
during the post-revolution period.
Bakhtiar's dependency
After Bakhtiar fled to France, the American Intelligence Agency
(CIA) concluded that he was one of the best and most prominent people who could
lead the opposition against the Islamic Republic. Thus, a CIA source, after
meeting him during an investigation, writes about Bakhtiar:
"Bakhtiar manages his operations with little funding,
and he will only achieve something if he receives financial support and
practical guidance from America. He is still in the planning stages, and
everything will be ready in the next few months. Bakhtiar came to Washington to
negotiate with American authorities and accepted me (the CIA source) as his liaison
with the CIA.”
With this assessment of Bakhtiar's ability, America began to
unite deserters and other fugitives under the banner of an organization called the
National Resistance Movement, and in 1980, a coup d’etat headquarters was set
up in Paris under the leadership of Bakhtiar with the help of others such as
Javad Khadem, Hassan Nazih, Lotfali Samimi, Colonel Boyer-Ahmadi, etc.
The military wing was headed by Colonel Bani Ameri, the
political branch by Qadsi, and Ghorbhanifar was the number two.
Nojeh coup
Immediately after forming military and civilian units (in 1980),
the movement put the military coup strategy at the top of its goals. From the
first days after the victory of the Islamic Revolution, this mentality arose in
the rotten brains of some counter-revolutionaries that the most suitable and
effective method to overthrow the Islamic Republic of Iran system as quickly as
possible was a military coup. So, those who formed the National Resistance
Movement group, along with others, made this strategy, coordinated with America,
the main task of their movement and operations, and regardless of the depth of
the people’s and the military forces’ loyalty to the holy Islamic government,
they intended to carry out a coup, which was thwarted by the grace of God when
two of the coup agents approached military officials and revealed its details, including
the exact day and hour, 4/17/59 [Wednesday, July 9, 1980].
After the failure of the Nojeh coup, the foreign units shifted
to Bakhtiar’s leadership, and 26 days later (5/14/59 [Tuesday, August 5,
1980]), the National Resistance Movement of Iran, led by Bakhtiar, announced
its existence in Paris.
During these years, with the help of the monarchists, the
movement created another stupid coup plan, under which Bakhtiar and Reza
Pahlavi agreed to invade the holy land of the Islamic Republic of Iran through
Khuzestan. Still, with the grace of the Almighty and due to differences between
Bakhtiar and the monarchist faction, this plan also came to naught.
Strategic changes
After the failure of various coup plans, the movement
inevitably had to make fundamental changes in its work methods, and the
military coup strategy turned into one of an armed struggle. The choice of such
a policy meant that the movement deviated from the position it had held for
several years and taken a step back, and this was considered an irreparable
failure for an organization that had told its supporters that it would soon
come to power.
The discovery and destruction of several underground military
and civilian networks inside the country, the destruction of operational
channels, and the occurrence of problems in the lines and points of communication
between Turkey and Iran caused the implementation of the movement’s second
strategy to fail.
After these developments and the blows inflicted on
Bakhtiar's gang after 1986, the group’s primary strategy shifted to declaring a
"political struggle" against the government, and military operations
were pursued only in a limited form in parallel with political actions. In this
context, Bakhtiar said:
“I believe in a ‘national uprising,’ and I do not believe in
a ‘coup.’ I believe in the willpower of the suffering Iranians and their
unified uprising against tyranny and torture.”
To justify the weakness of his organization in taking refuge
in this new policy, Bakhtiar added:
"We are organized inside Iran, but we should not, under
any circumstances, shed the blood of innocent people every day without being
sure we will achieve a result. When all cadres and forces, including the army, tribes,
people, and academics, find that they are ready, the time for overthrow will
come."
From 1980 to 1985, all factors that could have contributed
to the movement’s success tended to weaken or were destroyed.
In the current situation, the group focused on the domestic
arena, trying to create discontent and make people lose confidence in regime
officials. Externally, it focused on making the movement's diplomacy as active
as possible and concentrated on establishing contact with the American
authorities and rights organizations such as the Human Rights Organization and
the Organization for the Defense of Prisoners' Freedom.
Political goals of the National Resistance Movement
1. Establishment of a monarchist regime based on a democratic
constitution
2. Efforts to separate religion from politics
3. In terms of governance, he believed in social democracy,
and based on this, he presented his philosophical and political thought in
three principles:
A- Patriotism
B- Freedom
C- Socialism
Organizational Structure
The National Resistance Movement has a much more coherent
and complex organizational structure than other counter-revolutionary groups, especially
the monarchists. This group has three wings; military-political, tribal and a
clandestine network, all focused on overthrowing the Islamic Republic.
Military wing
The most important subgroup of the movement is the
"military wing," most of the movement’s best personnel are in this
branch. This branch was first led by Colonel Bani Ameri (leader of the Niqab
group, responsible for the military wing of the Nojeh coup), but he later resigned
due to differences he had with Bakhtiar and one of the commanders of the Shah's
army named Shahrdar was appointed in his place. Shahrdar has remained in this
position until now.
The military branch consists of the following subunits:
Guerrilla army - subversion - popular struggle
The movement’s military wing has so far undertaken actions
against Iran in multiple countries. However, the main activity of this branch
is concentrated in Turkey. The military branch’s section in Pakistan was led by
Colonel Nik Bagheri, who made a lot of efforts to equip the evildoers in the
east of the country and strengthen their connections with the movement. After
some time, he was removed due to a disagreement with Shahrdar - he was one of
the agents of the Nojeh coup – and a major was chosen to head this branch
instead. But again, this endeavour failed, and the military wing’s unit in
Pakistan practically collapsed.
The movement’s most essential and sensitive military and
civilian facilities were set up in Turkey. After the unsuccessful Nojeh coup
and the movement’s formation, people such as Colonel Aziz Moradi were in charge
of this branch. However, the vital role of the deceased Colonel Shahverdilou-
an intelligent and sophisticated person, should not be underestimated.
But during the era of the late Colonel Aziz Moradi, the military
wing’s activities in Turkey peaked. As Moradi had a good relationship with many
soldiers inside the country, this made it possible to obtain important and
confidential news about Iran’s military and civilian situation. Later on, these
informants were identified and arrested.
With the help of Iraq, Aziz Moradi carried out the most
military actions inside Iran between 1984 and 1986, which included spying on
the front, cities, government offices, importing explosives into the country,
bombing and terrorizing, and destroying some sensitive areas.
After Colonels Behrouz Shahverdilou and Aziz Moradi were
killed in Istanbul, Turkey, on July 16, 1985, and December 23, 1985,
respectively, the Turkish branch of the military wing, especially with the
death of Aziz Moradi, suffered a vacuum and became too confused to carry out
operations. However, according to the decision of the movement, Colonel Ahmad-Hamid
Monfared was appointed to lead the branch. He also failed due to many reasons
and finally died in Istanbul on April 28, 1987.
It should be mentioned that Turkey is considered one of the
most important bases of the National Resistance Movement due to that country’s
dependence on the United States. All the lines of communication and
organization from Iran lead there, and operations are planned and followed up
there. Today, however, this base has practically lost its former effectiveness in
recruiting troops.
The group’s next base is Iraq, which was considered one of
the important operational bases for penetrating Iran. Because of the Persian
Gulf War, the activity of this base dropped significantly and became
practically neutralized. However, following the deterioration of Iran-Iraq
relations, this base resumed its activity.
Currently, the military branch’s headquarters in Paris is led
by Brigadier General Shahrdar, Colonel Holaku Vahdat and another colonel.
Political wing
The political wing is the next pillar of the resistance
movement and is currently pursuing the following goals:
Disseminate the views and thoughts of the movement’s
leadership regarding political events and present a campaign program to the
resistance cells and grouplets inside the country.
Introducing the movement and Bakhtiar as the only
alternative to the Islamic Republic
Encouraging pride in the ancient national culture and
promoting the revival of nationalist ideas
Some of the responsibilities of this wing are; planning and
programming, communications, budget and financing, propaganda and publications,
students and youth, coordinating with branches outside the country.
Currently, the political wing is not working at maximum effectiveness
because of the opposition’s general weakness, and the intensification of
differences between the leaders of this branch.
Tribal wing
The third pillar of the movement is the tribal branch, for which
Bakhtiar had high hopes. Bakhtiar, who was himself considered one of the
Bakhtiari tribe's khans, and had many relatives belonging to this tribe, had a
lot of interest in investing in the tribes.
The movement planned that the branch would have six
sections:
A. Boyer-Ahmadi tribe
B. Qashqai tribe
C. Bakhtiari tribe
D. Balochis
E. Akrad [Kurds]
F. Gilaks (in Gilan
province)
Despite all efforts, the tribal branch of the movement has
had very little influence on the Bakhtiari, Qashqai and Boyer-Ahmadi tribes. In
areas such as the West, North, and East of the country, the movement has not
achieved any success.
Clandestine network
The main task of this network is to harmonize among, and disseminate
the appropriate policies and tactics to, the units inside the country. The
fugitive Abdorrahman Boroumand, who was able to establish and build up a large
number of secret cells inside the country, led this network.
Boroumand left his position after several years due to a
disagreement with the Shahrdar, and died shortly after he returned to the
movement.
Taking advantage of the movement's bases in Turkey, the clandestine
network was able to attract weak-minded, corrupt, and incompetent elements who
had either left or fled the country, and in this way, was able to expand its
counter-revolutionary actions against the system.
Clandestine network operatives were organized in groups of
three to seven people, and these cells were dispersed and separated from each
other by the head of the cell, connected with Turkey or France, who received orders
and tactics from these two bases.
Central Council
The movement has a central or decision-making council that
does not have an administrative organ. This council’s main task is to determine
the group’s policies, goals and practical tactics, as well as choosing and dismissing
personnel of the branches, networks, and offices in various countries.
At first, this council was known as the thirty-three council
because it had 33 branches in different countries. Currently however, it is not
functioning with the necessary effectiveness, and the number of its members has
decreased significantly.
The next leader of the National Resistance Movement
It seems that Brigadier General Shahrdar is one of the most likely
candidates to succeed Bakhtiar, because of his history of working closely with
the CIA.
The American intelligence agency supports him, and when
protests against him increased, Bakhtiar said in an air of desperation that it’s
out his hands, that he was not allowed to fire Shahrdar.
Currently, he is one of the most important members of the
resistance movement in France, and all the military units affiliated with the organization,
both abroad and inside the country, are managed under his supervision.
Shahrdar entered the military in 1951 and went to the
military academy in 1957. In the same year, he was put in charge of guarding the
southeastern border, and in this way, he established contact with smugglers. In
1961, he went to America to take a military training course, and in 1969 was chosen
to be military attaché in that country. He completed an intelligence course in
that same year.
Shahrdar was a high-ranking officer under the notorious
Pahlavi regime. Due to his excessive dependence on the Americans and the Shah,
he rose to high ranks and also became head of the military high school.
After the revolution, he fled to Germany and was appointed
by Bakhtiar in 1983 as the commander of the military wing in Paris.
Shahrdar was the head of the two military branches for many
years and was active in intelligence operations. For this reason, Bakhtiar used
him to improve the quality of the intelligence and military work of the movement’s
military wing.
Another possible candidate is Ali Shakeri, a member of the
political branch, whom American Radio, in its recent reports (after Bakhtiar's
death), calls the leader of the National Resistance Movement.