View source for SAVAK

{{Short description|1957–1979 Iranian secret police agency}}
{{redirect|Savak|the band|Savak (band)}}
{{Infobox government agency
| agency_name     = Bureau for Intelligence and Security of the State
| native_name_a   = {{lang|fa|سازمان اطلاعات و امنیت کشور|rtl=yes}}
| native_name_r   = {{Transliteration|fa|Sâzmân-e Ettelâ'ât va Amniyyat-e Kešvar}}
| seal            = SAVAK.svg
| seal_caption    = Seal, incorporating the words "S.A.V.A.K. 1335" in the bottom (1335 being the [[Solar Hijri calendar|Solar Hijri]] equivalent of 1957 [[Common Era|CE]])
| formed          = {{Start date|1957|03|20|df=yes}}
| superseding1    = [[Prime Ministry Intelligence Office]]
| dissolved       = {{end date|1979|02|12|df=yes}}
| headquarters    = [[Tehran]], [[Pahlavi Iran|Iran]]
| employees       = 5,000 at peak<ref name="auto">Andrew Scott Cooper, The Fall of Heaven: The Pahlavis and the Final Days of Imperial Iran Hardcover – July 19, 2016 {{ISBN|0805098976}}, p. 231</ref>
| minister1_name  = 
| minister1_pfo   = 
| chief1_name     = [[Teymur Bakhtiar]] (first)
| chief1_position = 
| chief2_name     = [[Nasser Moghaddam]] (last)
| chief2_position = 
| parent_agency   = 
| child1_agency   = 
| website         = 
| footnotes       = 
| agency_type     = [[Secret police]]
}}

The '''Bureau for Intelligence and Security of the State''' ({{langx|fa|سازمان اطلاعات و امنیت کشور|<nowiki>Sâzmân-e Ettelâ'ât va Amniyyat-e Kešvar</nowiki>}}), shortened to '''SAVAK''' ({{langx|fa|ساواک}}) or '''S.A.V.A.K.''' ({{langx|fa|س.ا.و.ا.ک}}),<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://2001-2009.state.gov/r/pa/ho/frus/nixon/e4/72108.htm|title=Summary|first=Bureau of Public Affairs|last=Department Of State. The Office of Electronic Information|website=2001-2009.state.gov}}</ref> was the [[secret police]] of the [[Pahlavi Iran|Imperial State of Iran]]. It was established in [[Tehran]] in 1957 by national security law,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Historical Documents - Office of the Historian |url=https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v27/d184#:~:text=Iranian%20intelligence%20organization%20SAVAK%20was,,%20gendarmerie,%20and%20military%20intelligence. |access-date=2025-02-10 |website=history.state.gov}}</ref> and continued to operate until the [[Iranian Revolution|Islamic Revolution]] in 1979, when it was dissolved by Iranian prime minister [[Shapour Bakhtiar]].

The French intelligence service, the '''Service de Documentation Extérieure et de Contre-Espionnage''' ('''SDECE''', predecessor of today’s '''DGSE'''), assisted in establishing and training '''SAVAK''' during its formative years in the mid-1950s and early 1960s. French instructors provided courses in surveillance, counter-subversion, interrogation techniques, and political intelligence gathering—expertise refined during the Algerian War.<ref name="Abrahamian1999">{{cite book |last=Abrahamian |first=Ervand |title=Tortured Confessions: Prisons and Public Recantations in Modern Iran |publisher=University of California Press |year=1999 |isbn=978-0520218450}}</ref><ref name="Cooper2016">{{cite book |last=Cooper |first=Andrew Scott |title=The Fall of Heaven: The Pahlavis and the Final Days of Imperial Iran |publisher=Henry Holt and Co. |year=2016 |isbn=978-0805090970}}</ref><ref name="Guisnel2012">{{cite book |last=Guisnel |first=Jean |title=La DGSE : Les missions secrètes de la République |publisher=La Découverte |year=2012 |language=fr |isbn=978-2707172400}}</ref>

According to a declassified [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] memo citing a classified [[U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee]] report, the CIA played a significant role in establishing SAVAK, providing both funding and training.<ref>{{Cite web |title=CIA'S ROLE IN FORMING SAVAK {{!}} CIA FOIA (foia.cia.gov) |url=https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp90-00552r000505290007-5 |access-date=2025-06-19 |website=www.cia.gov}}</ref> The organization became notorious for its extensive surveillance, repression, and torture of political [[dissident]]s. The Shah used SAVAK to arrest, imprison, exile, and torture his opponents, leading to widespread public resentment. This discontent was leveraged by [[Ruhollah Khomeini|Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini]], then in exile, to build popular support for his Islamic philosophy.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ghosh |first=Palash R. |date=2012-03-20 |title=Iran: The Long Lasting Legacy of the 1953 U.S./CIA Coup |url=https://www.ibtimes.com/iran-long-lasting-legacy-1953-uscia-coup-214329 |access-date=2025-06-19 |website=International Business Times |language=en-US}}</ref>

At its peak, SAVAK reportedly employed approximately 5,000 agents operating under the [[Pahlavi dynasty]].<ref name="auto" /> Iranian-American scholar and ex-politician [[Gholam Reza Afkhami]] estimates that SAVAK had between 4,000 and 6,000 members,<ref>Gholam Reza Afkhami, ''Life and Times of the Shah'' (University of California Press, 2009, {{ISBN|978-0-520-25328-5}}), p. 386.</ref> while [[Time (magazine)|''TIME'']] stated in a publication on 19 February 1979 that the agency had 5,000 members.<ref name="TIMEsavak">[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,912364,00.htm SAVAK: "Like the CIA". Feb. 19, 1979] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090621235127/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,912364,00.htm |date=2009-06-21 }}.</ref>

== History ==

=== 1957–1971 ===
After the [[1953 Iranian coup d'état]], Prime Minister [[Mohammad Mosaddeq]] was removed. He was originally focused on [[nationalizing]] Iran's oil industry but had also set out to weaken the [[Shah-an-shah|Shah's]] power. After the coup, the monarch, [[Mohammad Reza Pahlavi|Mohammad Reza Shah]], established an intelligence service with police powers. The Shah's goal was to strengthen his regime by placing political opponents under surveillance and repressing dissident movements.<ref>[[Nikki R. Keddie]] and [[Yann Richard]], [https://books.google.com/books?id=tTqPdDNgfYoC ''Modern Iran: Roots and Results of Revolution''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140726161634/http://books.google.com/books?id=tTqPdDNgfYoC&printsec=frontcover&dq#PPA134,M1 |date=2014-07-26 }} (Yale University Press, 2006), p. 134.</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Intelligence - Iran, Nuclear, Diplomacy {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/intelligence-international-relations/Iran#ref796186 |access-date=2025-02-10 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=McGhee |first=Braedon |title=The Double-Edged Sword: Examining the Contradictory Nature of SAVAK and The U.S.- Iran Cliency Relationship |journal=History in the Making}}</ref> According to ''[[Encyclopædia Iranica]]'':

{{blockquote|A U.S. Army colonel working for the CIA was sent to Persia in September 1953 to work with General [[Teymur Bakhtiar]], who was appointed military governor of Tehran in December 1953, and immediately began to assemble the nucleus of a new intelligence organization. The U.S. Army colonel worked closely with Bakhtīār and his subordinates, commanding the new intelligence organization and training its members in basic intelligence techniques, such as surveillance and interrogation methods, the use of intelligence networks, and organizational security. This organization was the first modern, effective intelligence service to operate in Persia. Its main achievement occurred in September 1954, when it discovered and destroyed a large communist [[Tudeh Party]] network that had been established in the Persian armed forces.<ref>M. J. Gasiorowski, eds., ''Neither East Nor West. Iran, the United States, and the Soviet Union'', New Haven, 1990, pp. 148–51</ref><ref name="iranica">{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20090622031811/http://www.iranica.com/newsite/index.isc?Article=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.iranica.com%2Fnewsite%2Farticles%2Funicode%2Fv5f3%2Fv5f3a002.html Central Intelligence Agency in Persia]}} ''[[Encyclopaedia Iranica]]''. Retrieved 26 July 2008.</ref>}}

In March 1955, the Army colonel was "replaced with a more permanent team of five career [[Central Intelligence Agency]] (CIA) officers, including specialists in covert operations, intelligence analysis, and counterintelligence, including [[Major general (United States)|Major General]] [[Norman Schwarzkopf Sr.|Herbert Norman Schwarzkopf]] who "trained virtually all of the first generation of SAVAK personnel". In October 1956, news of the intended establishment of an agency was reported by state media and in 1965, this agency was reorganized and given the name ''Sazeman-e Ettela'at va Amniyat-e Keshvar'' (SAVAK).<ref name="iranica" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Moravej |first=K. |date=2011 |title=The SAVAK and the Cold War: Counter-Intelligence and Foreign Intelligence (1957–1968) |url=https://pure.manchester.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/32469873/FULL_TEXT.PDF |website=}}</ref> These in turn were replaced by SAVAK's own instructors in 1965.<ref>N. R. Keddie and M. J. Gasiorowski, eds., ''Neither East Nor West: Iran, the United States, and the Soviet Union'' (New Haven, 1990), pp. 154–55; personal interviews.</ref><ref>[http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=norman_schwarzkopf_sr__1 Profile: Norman Schwarzkopf Sr.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110422181500/http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=norman_schwarzkopf_sr__1 |date=2011-04-22}} History Commons</ref>

SAVAK had the power to censor the media, screen applicants for government jobs, and "according to a reliable Western source,<ref>''New York Times'', 21 September 1972.</ref>{{which|date=June 2020}} use all means necessary, including torture, to hunt down dissidents".<ref name="Iran">Ervand Abrahamian, ''Iran Between Two Revolutions'', p. 437</ref>{{clarify|date=June 2020}}<!--ISBN needed--> After 1963, the Shah expanded his security organizations, including SAVAK, which grew to over 5,300 full-time agents and a large but unknown number of part-time informers.<ref name="Iran"/>

In 1961, the Iranian authorities dismissed the agency's first director, General [[Teymur Bakhtiar]],<ref name=pars>{{cite web|title=National security|url=http://www.parstimes.com/history/national_security.html|work=Pars Times|access-date=24 August 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130515172515/http://www.parstimes.com/history/national_security.html|archive-date=2013-05-15|url-status=live}}</ref> and he later became a political dissident. In 1970, SAVAK agents assassinated him, disguising the deed as an accident.

[[General]] [[Hassan Pakravan]], director of SAVAK from 1961 to 1966,<ref name=pars/> had an almost benevolent reputation, for example dining on a weekly basis with [[Ruhollah Khomeini|Ayatollah Khomeini]] while Khomeini was under house arrest, and later intervened to prevent Khomeini's execution on the grounds that it would "anger the common people of Iran".<ref>[http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~iohp/pakravan.html Harvard Iranian Oral History Project] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080229061120/http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~iohp/pakravan.html |date=2008-02-29 }} Transcript of interview with Fatemeh Pakravan conducted by Habib Ladjevardi 3 March 1983.</ref> After the [[Iranian Revolution]], however, Pakravan was among the first of the Shah's officials to be executed by the Khomeini regime.

Pakravan was replaced in 1966 by General [[Nematollah Nassiri]], a close associate of the Shah, and the service was reorganized and became increasingly active in the face of rising communist, socialist, and Islamist militancy and political unrest.

Throughout the 1960s, some agents in SAVAK started to consider financial corruption as a matter of financial security  and monitored not only the fiscal activities of the political and economic elite of Iran, but also the royal family. [[Mohammad Reza Pahlavi]] was reportedly angered by these SAVAK reports due to its contents and the belief that the security agents were prying into private matters beyond their purview.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Milani |first=Abbas |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8V1UhqWhKRwC&pg=PA19-IA1 |title=The Shah |date=2011-01-04 |publisher=Macmillan + ORM |isbn=978-0-230-11562-0 |pages=19 |language=en}}</ref>

===Siahkal attack and after===
A turning point in SAVAK's reputation for ruthless brutality was reportedly an [[Siahkal incident|attack on a gendarmerie post]] in the Caspian village of [[Siahkal]] by a small band of armed [[Marxists]] in February 1971, although it is also reported to have tortured to death a Shia cleric, Ayatollah Muhammad Reza Sa'idi, in 1970.<ref>Momen, Moojan, ''An Introduction to Shi'i Islam'' (Yale University Press, 1985), p. 255.</ref><ref>Bill, James A., [https://archive.org/details/eaglelion00bill/page/181 <!--  quote=Muhammad Reza Sa'idi. --> Tragedy of American-Iranian Relations] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160518105818/https://books.google.com/books?id=FNBpbh-mDcoC&lpg=PA181&ots=i2JgJHF267&dq=Muhammad%20Reza%20Sa'idi&pg=PA182 |date=2016-05-18 }}(Yale University Press, 1989), p. 181–82</ref> According to Iranian political historian [[Ervand Abrahamian]], after this attack SAVAK interrogators were sent abroad for "scientific training to prevent unwanted deaths from 'brute force.'" Brute force was supplemented with the [[bastinado]]; sleep deprivation; extensive solitary confinement; glaring searchlights; standing in one place for hours on end; nail extractions; snakes (favored for use with women); electrical shocks with cattle prods, often into the rectum; [[cigarette burns]]; sitting on hot grills; acid dripped into nostrils; near-drownings; mock executions; and an electric chair with a large metal mask to muffle screams while amplifying them for the victim. This latter contraption was dubbed the Apollo—an allusion to the [[Apollo (spacecraft)|American spacecraft]] of the same name. Prisoners were also humiliated by being raped, urinated on, and forced to stand naked.<ref>Ervand Abrahamian, ''[http://www.escholarship.org/editions/view?docId=ft3s2005jq&chunk.id=d0e5364&toc.depth=1&toc.id=d0e4549 Tortured Confessions]'' (University of California Press, 1999), p. 106.</ref> Despite the new 'scientific' methods, the [[torture]] of choice remained the traditional bastinado used to beat soles of the feet.  The "primary goal" of those using the bastinados "was to locate arms caches, safe houses and accomplices ..."<ref>Abrahamian, ''Tortured Confessions'', p. 106.</ref>

Abrahamian estimates that SAVAK (and other police and military) killed 368 [[guerrilla]]s including the leadership of the major [[Urban guerrilla warfare|urban guerrilla]] organizations ([[Organization of Iranian People's Fedai Guerrillas]], [[People's Mujahedin of Iran]]) such as [[Hamid Ashraf]] between 1971–1977 and executed up to 100 political prisoners between 1971 and 1979—the most violent era of the SAVAK's existence.<ref>Abrahamian, ''Tortured Confessions'', pp. 103, 169.</ref>

{{blockquote|One well known writer was arrested, tortured for months, and finally placed before television cameras to 'confess' that his works paid too much attention to social problems and not enough to the great achievements of the [[White Revolution]]. By the end of 1975, twenty-two prominent poets, novelist, professors, theater directors, and film makers were in jail for criticizing the regime. And many others had been physically attacked for refusing to cooperate with the authorities.<ref>Abrahamian, ''Iran Between Two Revolutions'', pp. 442–43.</ref>|}}

The repression was softened thanks to publicity and scrutiny by "numerous international organizations and foreign newspapers." [[Jimmy Carter]] became [[president of the United States]] and he raised the issue of [[human rights in the Imperial State of Iran]]. Overnight prison conditions changed. Inmates dubbed this the dawn of "jimmykrasy".<ref>Abrahamian, ''Tortured Confessions'', p. 119.</ref>

== Directors ==
{{Officeholder table start
| showorder          = y
| showimage          = y
| image_title        = Portrait
| officeholder_title = Director
| showtermlenght     = y
| showparty          = n
| showdefencebranch  = n
}}
{{Officeholder table
| order             = 1
| image             = Temyourbachtiar.jpg
| military_rank     = [[Amir (Iranian Army)|Timsar]]
| officeholder      = [[Teymur Bakhtiar]]
| officeholder_sort = Bakhtiar, Teymur
| born_year         = 1914
| died_year         = 1970
| term_start        = 1957
| term_end          = 1961
| timeinoffice      = {{age in years|1957|1961}} years
}}
{{Officeholder table
| order             = 2
| image             = General Hassan Pakravan in uniform.jpg
| military_rank     = Timsar
| officeholder      = [[Hassan Pakravan]]
| officeholder_sort = Pakravan, Hassan
| born_year         = 1911
| died_year         = 1979
| term_start        = 1961
| term_end          = 1965
| timeinoffice      = {{age in years|1961|1965}} years
}}
{{Officeholder table
| order             = 3
| image             = Nematollah Nassiri.jpg
| military_rank     = Timsar
| officeholder      = [[Nematollah Nassiri]]
| officeholder_sort = Nassiri, Nematollah
| born_year         = 1911
| died_year         = 1979
| term_start        = 26 January 1965
| term_end          = 6 June 1978
| timeinoffice      = {{age in years and days|1965|1|26|1978|6|6}}
}}
{{Officeholder table
| order             = 4
| image             = NasserMoghaddam.jpg
| military_rank     = Timsar
| officeholder      = [[Nasser Moghaddam]]
| officeholder_sort = Moghaddam, Nasser
| born_year         = 1921
| died_year         = 1979
| term_start        = 7 June 1978
| term_end          = 12 February 1979
| timeinoffice      = {{age in years and days|1978|6|7|1979|2|12}}
}}
{{Officeholder table end}}

== Organization ==
SAVAK was divided into 9 directorates:<ref>Harald Irnberger. S. 29</ref>
* First General Directorate: Cadres, Courses, Ceremonies, Correspondence and Secretariat
* Second General Directorate: Foreign Intelligence
* Third General Directorate: Internal Security
* Fourth General Directorate: Security Within SAVAK 
* Fifth General Directorate: Technical Affairs
* Sixth General Directorate: Administration
* Seventh General Directorate: Liaison with other Agencies 
* Eighth General Directorate: Counterintelligence
* The Ninth General Directorate: Archives, Passport Department

== Number of employees ==
Over the years, the question of the number of employees of SAVAK has been the subject of debate by many historians and researchers. Given the fact that Iran has never disclosed data on the number of employees of the secret agency - many historians gave conflicting figures for the number of SAVAK personnel - 6,000,<ref>Sullivan, William H., Mission to Iran, New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1981, pp. 96–97.</ref> 20,000,<ref>Sullivan, William H., Mission to Iran, New York: W. W. Norton & Company, (1981), p. 97.</ref> 30,000 and 60,000.<ref>Graham, Robert, Iran: The Illusion of Power, New York: St. Martin’s Press, (1978), p. 146.</ref>

In one of his interviews, on February 4, 1974, the Shah stated that he did not know the exact number of employees of SAVAK. However, he estimated their total number to be less than 2,000 employees.<ref>Gérard de Villiers: Der Schah. (1976), Seite 396 und 410.</ref> To the frequently asked question about “torture and atrocities” in SAVAK, the shah answered negatively, designating newspaper reports about the “arbitrariness and cruelty of SAVAK” as a lie and slander.<ref>Gérard de Villiers: Der Schah. (1976), Seite 408.</ref> Leaflets circulated after the Islamic Revolution indicated that 15,000 Iranians officially served in SAVAK, not to mention the many unofficial employees.

== Operations ==
During the height of its power, SAVAK had virtually unlimited powers. It operated its own detention centers, such as [[Evin Prison]].  In addition to domestic security, the service's tasks extended to the surveillance of Iranians abroad, notably in the [[United States]], [[France]], and the [[United Kingdom]], and especially students on government [[stipend]]s. The agency also closely collaborated with the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] by sending their agents to an air force base in [[New York (state)|New York]] to share and discuss interrogation tactics.<ref>Fisk. ''Great War for Civilisation'', p. 112.</ref>

[[Teymur Bakhtiar]] was assassinated by SAVAK agents in 1970,<ref>Reeva S. Simon, Philip Mattar, Richard W. Bulliet. Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East: A-C. Macmillan Reference USA, (1996), p. 294.</ref> and [[Mansur Rafizadeh]], SAVAK's United States director during the 1970s, reported that General Nassiri's phone was tapped.<ref>Rodney Carlisle. "Encyclopedia of Intelligence and Counterintelligence".  (2005), p. 325.</ref> Mansur Rafizadeh later wrote of his life as a SAVAK man and detailed the human rights violations of the Shah in his book ''Witness: From the Shah to the Secret Arms Deal: An Insider's Account of U.S. Involvement in Iran''. Mansur Rafizadeh was suspected to have been a double agent also working for the CIA.<ref>Henry Robinson Luce. "Time", Volume 129. Time Incorporated, (1987), p. 327.</ref>

SAVAK was additionally involved in supporting [[Jamiat-e Islami]] militants during the [[1975 Panjshir Valley uprising]] and [[1975 Laghman uprising]] in the [[Republic of Afghanistan (1973–1978)|Republic of Afghanistan]], in collaboration with the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] and the Pakistani [[Inter-Services Intelligence|ISI]], although [[Afghanistan–Iran relations|Afghan–Iranian relations]] later improved in 1976 under [[Mohammad Daoud Khan]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=MSc |first=Engineer Fazel Ahmed Afghan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hzIDCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT371 |title=Conspiracies and Atrocities in Afghanistan: 1700–2014 |date=2015-06-12 |publisher=Xlibris Corporation |isbn=978-1-5035-7300-0 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web| title=The Afghan communists | url=https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Chapter-1-3.pdf | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190923203807/https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Chapter-1-3.pdf | archive-date=2019-09-23}}</ref> Two days before the [[Saur Revolution]] in 1978, the [[KGB]] were informed of the coup by [[Afghan Army]] leaders [[Mohammed Rafie]] and [[Sayed Mohammad Gulabzoy]]. As a result, the [[KGB]] mistakenly informed its operatives in [[Kabul]] that SAVAK tricked the [[People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan|PDPA]] into starting a rebellion, expecting it to be crushed and for the rebels to fail.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Jalali |first=Ali Ahmad |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1353/book51632 |title=A Military History of Afghanistan: From the Great Game to the Global War on Terror |date=2017 |publisher=University Press of Kansas |doi=10.1353/book51632 |isbn=978-0-7006-2408-9}}</ref>

According to Polish author [[Ryszard Kapuściński]], SAVAK was responsible for: Censorship of press, books, and films; Interrogation and often torture of prisoners; and Surveillance of political opponents.<ref>Kapuściński, Ryszard, ''[[Shah of Shahs (book)|Shah of Shahs]]'', pp. 46, 50, 76</ref>

==Victims==
Writing at the time of the Shah's overthrow, ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine on February 19, 1979, described SAVAK as having "long been Iran's most hated and feared institution" which had "tortured and murdered thousands of the Shah's opponents".<ref name="TIMEsavak"/> The [[Federation of American Scientists]] also found it guilty of "the torture and execution of thousands of political prisoners" and symbolising "the Shah's rule from 1963–79." The FAS list of SAVAK torture methods included "electric shock, whipping, beating, inserting broken glass and pouring boiling water into the rectum, tying weights to the testicles, and the extraction of teeth and nails".<ref>[https://fas.org/irp/world/iran/savak/index.html Ministry of Security SAVAK] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121004210413/http://www.fas.org/irp/world/iran/savak/index.html |date=2012-10-04 }}, Federation of American Scientists.</ref><ref>{{cite book |last= Tragert|first=Joseph|date=2003 |title=The Complete Idiot's Guide to Understanding Iran|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bz-yhg4D0XIC&pg=PA101|publisher=Alpha|page= 101|isbn=978-1592571413}}</ref>

== Fardoust and security and intelligence after the revolution ==
{{Further|Human rights in Iran|human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran}}

SAVAK was closed down shortly before the overthrow of the monarchy and the coming to power of [[Ruhollah Khomeini|Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini]] in the February 1979 [[Iranian Revolution]]. Following the departure of the Shah in January 1979, SAVAK's more than 3,000 strong central staff and its agents were targeted for reprisals. However, it is believed that Khomeini may have changed his mind and may have retained them into the new [[Ministry of Intelligence (Iran)|SAVAMA]].<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1980/06/07/khomeini-is-reported-to-have-a-savak-of-his-own/dfc8e0a4-85b5-4a35-9723-c8a57caabae6/ |title=Khomeini is Reported to Have a SAVAK of His Own - the Washington Post |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |access-date=2017-02-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170315180405/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1980/06/07/khomeini-is-reported-to-have-a-savak-of-his-own/dfc8e0a4-85b5-4a35-9723-c8a57caabae6/ |archive-date=2017-03-15 |url-status=bot: unknown }}</ref> [[Hossein Fardoust]], a former classmate of the Shah, was a deputy director of SAVAK until he was appointed head of the Imperial Inspectorate, also known as the Special Intelligence Bureau, to watch over high-level government officials, including SAVAK directors. Fardoust later switched sides during the revolution and managed to salvage the bulk of the SAVAK organization.<ref>Robert Dreyfuss, Hostage to Khomeini 1981 and The Devils Game: How the United States Unleashed Fundamentalist Islam, 2004</ref> According to author Charles Kurzman, SAVAK was never dismantled but rather changed its name and leadership and continued on with the same codes of operation, and a relatively unchanged "staff."<ref name="britannica">[http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/289760/intelligence/233700/Iran Intelligence (international relations) : Iran] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081013194700/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/289760/intelligence/233700/Iran |date=2008-10-13}}. (2008). In ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]''. Retrieved July 26, 2008.</ref><ref>Charles Kurzman, ''The Unthinkable Revolution'' (Harvard University Press), p. ?</ref>

SAVAK was replaced by the "much larger"<ref>Abrahamian, ''History of Modern Iran'', (2008), p. 176</ref> SAVAMA, ''Sazman-e Ettela'at va Amniat-e Melli-e Iran'', also known as the Ministry of Intelligence and National Security of Iran.<ref>The ministry is also referred to as '''VEVAK''', ''Vezarat-e Ettela'at va Amniat-e Keshvar'', though Iranians and the Iranian press never employ this term, using instead the official Ministry title.{{Citation needed|date=March 2008}}</ref> After the Iranian Revolution, a museum was opened in the former [[Towhid Prison]] in central [[Tehran]] called "Ebrat". The museum displays and exhibits the documented atrocities of SAVAK.

==See also==
{{Portal|Iran}}
*[[Second Bureau of Imperial Iranian Army]]
*[[Prime Ministry Intelligence Office]]
*[[Ministry of Intelligence (Iran)]]
*[[Basij]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{commons category|SAVAK}}
*[https://fas.org/irp/world/iran/vevak/ Ministry of Intelligence and Security VEVAK – Iran Intelligence Agencies] at website of Federation of American Scientists
{{SAVAK}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Savak}}
[[Category:SAVAK| ]]
[[Category:Defunct Iranian intelligence agencies]]
[[Category:Mohammad Reza Pahlavi]]
[[Category:Government agencies established in 1957]]
[[Category:Political repression in Iran]]
[[Category:Organisations of the Iranian Revolution]]
[[Category:1957 establishments in Iran]]
[[Category:1979 disestablishments in Iran]]
[[Category:Secret police]]
[[Category:Anti-communist organizations]]