BBC Persian on the Iranian revolutionaries in America

My debut article with the BBC's Persian service covers archival findings on Sadeq Qotbzadeh, Mostafa Chamran, and Ebrahim Yazdi.

Longtime followers of this blog know about a pet project of mine: digging up U.S. government records on foreign leaders. The Iranian-American diaspora activists who played a part in the 1979 revolution — Sadeq Qotbzadeh, Mostafa Chamran, Ebrahim Yazdi — are especially fascinating historical actors. I’ve already published a feature for The Critic on the topic.

The BBC’s Persian service is running a series of historical articles for the anniversary of the revolution, and they asked me to write something about these Iranian-American revolutionaries. Along with the documents I found on the three figures, I had the exciting opportunity to interview members of the Yazdi family, who still live in America.

Below is a translation of my BBC article; the quotes from Yazdi’s family members and U.S. government documents are all in the original English.

What did Yazdi, Qotbzadeh, and Chamran do in America? What did the U.S. government think about them?

Iran’s Islamic Revolution has always been locked in a deadly embrace with America. The leaders of the Islamic Republic say that their primary goal is to expel American influence from the region, and are famous for the slogan “death to America.” Yet three of the Islamic Revolution’s most important figures lived and worked in America for an extensive period of time: Sadeq Qotbzadeh, Mostafa Chamran, and Ebrahim Yazdi. 

U.S. government records reveal a complicated relationship between these revolutionaries and their American hosts. Qotbzadeh was under heavy surveillance due to his outspoken political activities, and met with FBI agents at least twice in order to prove he was not a Communist. Meanwhile, Chamran and Yazdi both worked in the United States on government-affiliated research, and Yazdi eagerly tried to integrate into American society. The U.S. government, which was mostly concerned with Communism, did not seem to understand or care about Islamist activism among Iranians.

These documents were obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, which allows members of the public to request files from U.S. government archives. Because Qotbzadeh, Chamran, and Yazdi are no longer alive, the government was willing to turn over files on those individuals. The government censored many of the files before releasing them, ostensibly in order to protect personal privacy, police secrets, and other classified information. Yazdi’s family members also spoke to the BBC and confirmed some of the information in the documents.

Sadeq Qotbzadeh, “annoying” element

Qotbzadeh, who was executed in 1982, has often been accused of being an American or Soviet spy. The documents, however, suggest that the U.S. government mostly saw him as a nuisance. While studying at Georgetown University in the 1960s, Qotbzadeh helped turn the Iranian Students Association into a venue for anti-Pahlavi protests, and disrupted many Iranian Embassy events. Iranian Ambassador Ardeshir Zadehi informed the FBI, and the FBI began investigating the Iranian Students Association for alleged Communist ties.

The FBI interrogated Qotbzadeh in April 1962 over allegations that he had threatened to murder the Shah. (One informant had told the FBI agents that Qotbzadeh was obviously joking.) Qotbzadeh declared that he was “opposed to using force to bring about reforms in the Iranian government,” and that he had “no personal hatred of the Shah but he dislikes things the Shah does or permits to be done in his name,” according to the FBI records.

The FBI’s monitoring only intensified afterwards. Officials saw that Qotbzadeh did not work for a living, and was receiving money from abroad. They wondered if he should be charged with violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act, a law that requires people performing political work in America on behalf of foreign clients to inform the U.S. government. Informants told agents that Qotbzadeh was said to be connected to Tudeh Party members and Communist sympathizers in America. One of them implied that Qotbzadeh was receiving money from Communists.

Qotbzadeh realized that the FBI was talking to his friends, so he volunteered to be interrogated again in November 1962. According to the notes from that interrogation, Qotbzadeh told the agents that he was not a Communist, but rather “strongly nationalistic,” because Islam “does not permit belief in communism.” His demand was for Iran’s national wealth to “be spent wisely and not to increase the wealth of the Shah,” and he claimed to support a democracy on the model of Thomas Jefferson, author of the U.S. Declaration of Independence from Britain.

Shahin Maleki Copeland, an ex-girlfriend of Qotbzadeh and a monarchist, also spoke to FBI agents. (She was married to Max Copeland, an American who was later accused by the Islamic Republic of spying for the CIA. They are not related to CIA officer Miles Copeland.) Maleki Copeland said that Qotbzadeh “was very anti-Shah and promoted slogans regarding ‘Jeffersonian Democracy’ but did not understand ‘Jeffersonian Democracy’ nor would he ever understand that many years are needed before Iran is ready for democracy,” and she could not take him “seriously in his views regarding Iran because he could not materially plan anything.”

According to a memo from June 1963, the U.S. Department of Justice concluded that the Iranian Students Association “were violently in opposition to the shah” but “there was no evidence they were engaged in communist activities.'“ They also realized that the money Qotbzadeh received from abroad was from his very wealthy family. Therefore, the FBI’s concerns were resolved. Supreme Court justice William Douglas, a personal supporter of Mossadegh, had intervened on behalf of the Iranian students’ cause, telling officials that “the shah was making up lists for the firing squad.”

Still, the U.S. government decided to frighten the students. The head of the Immigration and Naturalization Service met with Qotbzadeh and fellow student Ali Seifpur Fatemi on 24 December 1963 to warn them against “activities troublesome and embarrassing to the United States Government in the conduct of its relations with a friendly power,” such as the “harassment and insulting of visiting Iranian royalty and Government dignitaries.” He also reminded the students that Zahedi had revoked their passports, which means they could be deported back to Iran. The students tried to reassure U.S. officials that they hated Communism even more than the Shah.

Qotbzadeh eventually did have to leave America because of his passport issues. He reentered the country with a Syrian passport under the name “Sadegh Asfahani” and was deported again. A form letter from 2 May 1967 reveals that the FBI placed Qotbzadeh in the category of “attempted or threatened bodily harm to any government official or employee, including foreign government officials.” Other categories at the time included “member or participant in communist movement” and “subversives, ultrarightists, racists and fascists.”

With the escalation of unrest in Iran, the FBI became interested in Qotbzadeh again. The CIA asked the FBI to collect information about a “secret anti-Shah meeting in St. Louis” on 15 February 1975, where Qotbzadeh was said to have been. The FBI could not find any information. After the revolution succeeded and Qotbzadeh took the reigns of government, FBI agents investigated reports that Qotbzadeh had been arrested in Washington for child molestation. It appeared to be a false rumor spread by Qotbzadeh’s enemies.

Mostafa Chamran: from “NASA” to the defense ministry of Iran

Unlike Qotbzadeh, neither Chamran nor Yazdi had been the subject of an FBI investigation before the revolution. In fact, the FBI said it could find no files on Chamran.

“Sadeq Qotbzadeh was not really into higher education. He was really an activist, and a very effective activist,” said Mehdi Noorbakhsh, a university professor and son-in-law of Yazdi who lives in America. “But Chamran and Yazdi were really into higher education, and both of them were really unique in their field.”

Chamran was a physicist at the famous Bell Laboratories in California. Some biographers state that Chamran also worked at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, but NASA archivist Kylie Neal could not find Chamran’s employee files. She concluded that Chamran was “most likely” sent by Bell Laboratories to work at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory as a contractor.

In any case, it is strange that the FBI never looked into Chamran after the revolution. A man who had used to work on rocket development was now leading a foreign revolutionary army. After his work in Bell Laboratories, he traveled to Arab countries in order to obtain military training and fight alongside Palestinian guerrillas. Chamran died in battle in 1981, long before the Iranian missile program became a concern for the United States.

Ebrahim Yazdi, prayer-leader in Houston and mentor of basketball player Zaid Abdul-Aziz

The famous basketball player Don Smith (in a black t-shirt) prays behind Ebrahim Yazdi. Smith had converted to Islam and changed his name to Zaid Abdul-Aziz.

Perhaps the most interesting figure of the three is Yazdi, because he was deeply rooted in America. Yazdi taught at the Baylor College of Medicine, worked as a pharmacologist in a government hospital for American veterans, and became an American citizen. It is clear from Yazdi’s immigration file that he considered himself a friend of the United States and wanted to assimilate into American culture.

When applying for U.S. citizenship, Yazdi was asked whether he was willing to “bear arms on behalf of the United States.” He indicated that he was. On the other hand, officials noted that Yazdi had apparently forgotten to register for the draft, which was mandatory in America when Yazdi first arrived. Because Yazdi was too old to serve in the U.S. military, officials let it go.

The citizenship application also asked Yazdi whether he was a “polygamist.” (The question is asked because of conflict between the U.S. government and Christian sects that practiced polygamy a century ago.) In the broken English of an immigrant, Yazdi wrote an earnest four-page essay explaining that he will “support and defend the laws of the United States” and will not “advocate polygamy” in America, but must be honest about his religious beliefs.

“Theoretically, and hypothetically, I believe that there are circumstances, under which, polygamy is the best answer to many social disorders,” he stated. “Under specified social circumstances i.e national wars, when thousands of heads of family are destroyed and the security, education, and well being of thousands of children and widows are the issue. Not only as a mean to provide shelter and security for those families which have lost their heads, but also to prevent those children of becoming criminals, and also to prevent the illegal extra and pre-martial sexual relationship, adultry and illegitimate children.”

The immigration officer indicated that he had heard the same long-winded opinions from Yazdi before. “I am satisfied that [Yazdi] is not a 'phony,' and that he is not espousing a cause. He appears to be perfectly sincere in what he has said to me orally and in what he has written in the two supplements to his application,” he wrote, recommending that the authorities do not waste any more time investigating.

When Yazdi’s granddaughter Azadeh was shown the documents. she chuckled. “I can totally imagine his thought process when writing this,” she said. “He had to take it deeper, because he couldn’t just answer yes or no.”

On 6 February 1971, a day after Yazdi filed his citizenship application, a newspaper in Houston described upcoming Eid al-Adha celebrations by a local mosque. (The newspaper clipping was included in Yazdi’s immigration file.) Yazdi told the reporter that Eid al-Adha is about the “universality of the faith,” because the Hajj is for “the poor, the wealthy, workers, professors, students, all races from every corner of the world.”

The article noted that the celebrations would include a diverse menu of foods from Asia, Africa, America, and the Caribbean islands. Yazdi joked that the mosque would have to provide heartburn pills to the American visitors because of the intense flavors.

“He really inspired Muslims in Houston, whether they were Iranian or from another country, to embrace their religion and feel comfortable to practice their religion,” said Azadeh. In addition to helping run the local mosque, Yazdi also ministered to Muslim prisoners at the Huntsville Penitentiary.

[His son] Youseph remembered stories about Yazdi’s time working in Huntsville. Yazdi once had to meet with prisoners in an office that had a foul-mouthed parrot. While he attempted to recite the Qur’an to prisoners, the bird shouted vulgar words. But Yazdi’s preaching also had an impact. Azadeh recalled that years later, a woman thanked the Yazdi family for helping her husband quit drugs and alcohol.

Youseph remembered going to interfaith events with Yazdi, a priest, a rabbi, and a minister. “They would just get together and do interfaith dialogue. It was a really fun group. A lot of respect amongst them,” he said. Yazdi also got to know the de Menil family, founders of the Rothko Chapel, an interfaith prayer house. He was invited to pray at the funeral of John de Menil.

The Yazdi family has a photo of Friday prayers led by Ebrahim Yazdi. The famous basketball player Don Smith prays behind Yazdi. Smith converted to Islam and changed his name to Zaid Abdul-Aziz. Azadeh Yazdi says that Yazdi was a "mentor" for Smith.

“My father was a great organizer. He loved to interact with a variety of people,” said Youseph. Yazdi reached out to “black organizations, white organizations, church organizations trying to make the case that the Shah was an enemy of democracy,” according to Youseph.

Harrell Tillman, the first African-American judge in Texas, became a personal lawyer for the Yazdi family. An FBI document from the time of the revolution also identified Tillman as the attorney for the “Ayatollah Khomeini people” in Houston.

Ruhollah Khomeini appointed Yazdi to be his representative in America several years before the revolution. Yazdi supervised the collection of funds, traveled to Najaf every year, and eventually joined Khomeini during his exile in Paris. Azadeh and Professor Noorbakhsh both insisted that Yazdi warned Khomeini not to make Iran an enemy of the United States. “Of course, after the revolution, the story changed. Ayatollah Khomeini broke his promises,” in Professor Noorbakhsh’s words.

Designer and founder of the IRGC, and initiator of Jerusalem Day

In his memoirs, Yazdi remembered attending a meeting with an American businessman named Leonard Freeman as Khomeini's translator. Freeman had come to Paris to talk to Khomeini about the fear of a military coup and bloodbath and civil war in the Shah’s absence; the fear of “the Communists and Tudeh” taking power; delaying in the revolutionary leader’s return to Iran; and the future of U.S.-Iranian relations and American property in Iran.

According to a U.S. State Department cable from 24 January 1979, Freeman and an Iranian-American businessman named Mojtaba Nourbakhsh were passing messages from Khomeini to American diplomats.

However, the two businessmen were not U.S. government agents. Rather, Nourbakhsh presented himself as Khomeini’s representative. In the cables, U.S. officials seemed confused, because Yazdi “forcefully” told the U.S. Embassy in Paris that Nourbakhsh and Freeman were not representing Khomeini.

Yazdi played a role in establishing the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and drafting the constitution of the Islamic Republic. In his memoirs, he mentioned that he wrote a strategic plan for Khomeini, which included a referendum to change the monarchy to the Islamic Republic. Later, during a dispute with Ahmad Khomeini, Yazdi boasted in his own defense that he was “a founder of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, the initiator of Jerusalem Day, the original designer of many revolutionary bodies.”

Yazdi gave up his American citizenship after becoming Iran’s deputy minister of revolutionary affairs, but his family continued to live in Houston. An FBI memo from 31 May 1979 includes details about an alleged plot by “mercenaries” and “communists” to kidnap Yazdi’s wife and children, as well as threats against the Yazdi family made by a “young Jewish boy” angry about Yazdi handing over the Israeli embassy to Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat.

The FBI memo concludes that the kidnapping plot was the imagination of “a wealthy Iranian, having extensive interest in the oil industry in Iran and wanting to ingratiate himself.” (Youseph called it “typical Iranian sycophantic behavior.”) The FBI dismissed the threat from the Jewish boy as a prank. The dangers seemed more serious to the Yazdi family, who continued to face threats long after the revolution.

Youseph said the Yazdi family lived in a “predominantly Jewish neighborhood” and “had excellent relations with all of our neighbors, but there’s probably always going to be, in every community, a group that is prone to violence.” He emphasized that the idea of receiving a death threat was much more unsettling in the time before the Internet.

“My parents sheltered me from a lot of it. I didn’t know until I was in my twenties that the FBI was being called so many times,” said Azadeh, who grew up in Houston. “I started to realize some things in high school.” When she was eighteen years old, an Israeli man confronted her three times in menacing ways, and attempted to run her off the road with his car the third time, she said.

Meanwhile, Yazdi fell out with the Islamic Republic. He resigned from the cabinet in protest over the taking of American hostages, and continued to lead the Freedom Movement of Iran from inside the country. Yazdi was imprisoned by the Islamic Republic several times over the next few decades.

Yazdi died in 2017. Today, many Iranians blame Yazdi and his associates for the Islamic Republic’s repression due to the role he played in supporting Khomeini and bringing the revolution to victory. But his family and friends consider him a person who was seeking democracy and had “taken risks and said things that go against his immediate self-interests.”