|
Former campus radical
in California now heads
Iran's terror infrastructure
|
Special to World Tribune.com
GEOSTRATEGY-DIRECT.COM
Wednesday, January 23, 2002
Mahdi Chamran Savehi is a professional revolutionary Ñ Islamic style, but he holds a Ph. D in nuclear physics from an American university.
He has combined Islamic fervor with a scientific eye for detail and
development. Like most Iranian agents, he is thorough, lethal and so low key that there are no known photographs of him in the public domain.
|
|
Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, is relying on a former California campus radical to exploit the Taliban's defeat to Iran's advantage.
Mahdi Chamran Savehi
Age: 61
Education: Ph.D. in nuclear physics
Organization: Islamic Revolutionary Guards
Whereabouts: Iran
|
Savehi is a key architect of Iran's terrorist infrastructure, a network
that extends from Teheran to Lebanon, the Balkans, Africa and South America.
Involved in Islamic terrorism since the 1950s, Savehi as a California campus radical helped establish
Red Shi'ism, an organization meant to overthrow the Shah of Iran. When
simple force proved ineffective, Savehi turned to recruitment. In 1968, he
helped found the Muslim Student Association of America. This organization
churned out the Islamic insurgents who more than a decade later overthrew
the Shah's regime.
The U.S.-led war in Afghanistan has been an Allah-sent opportunity for
Iran's regime. Savehi might have made a career out of hating America, but he shared
the view with other aides of Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei that the
destruction of the Taliban regime has weakened Teheran's Pakistani rival and
opened the way for Iranian domination of Afghanistan. The limited Iranian
help to the U.S.-led war has also allowed Teheran to accelerate its nuclear
and missile programs without too much fuss from Washington.
For much of his life, Savehi worked with his brother, Mostafa, regarded
as a brilliant organizer and revolutionary. Mostofa is known as the
founder of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards, the unit that led the
Khomeni revolution and halted the advanced of Iraqi troops in the 1980-88
Iran-Iraq War. Mostafa established links with Sunni and Shi'ite groups,
including Palestinian insurgency groups in Lebanon. The two brothers parted
company in 1982 when Mostafa was killed in the war with Iraq.
Like other key Iranian revolutionaries, Mahdi Chamran Savehi is a
scientist trained in the United States. He has a doctorate in nuclear
physics, acquired during his studies in California during the early 1960s.
The United States provided him with the technical education; the Soviet
Union imbued him with weapons training and expertise that has served Teheran
well during its current drive for nuclear weapons capability.
Savehi may owe his education to the United States, but his career has
been spent in sworn opposition to the American way. For more than 20 years,
Savehi Ñ as a member of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps's high
command Ñ has sought to drive U.S. troops and naval vessels out of the
Persian Gulf. For Iran, this is imperative in its quest for regional
dominance. The U.S. military presence in such countries as Kuwait, Saudi
Arabia and Bahrain has prevented Iran from spreading its influence in the
region.
During the 1980s, Savehi's job was to confront U.S. naval vessels in the
Persian Gulf. The U.S. Navy was correctly assessed as being a key element in
Washington's policy to support Iraq in its war against Iran. The navy was
ensuring Iraqi oil exports while Iran's oil installations were in ruins.
At first, Savehi tried open war on the United States. That approach
backfired when U.S. naval vessels retaliated by destroying Iranian oil
installations in the Gulf. The result was a subtler approach that focused on
forming an Iranian strategic capability that included nuclear weapons,
intermediate- and long-range as well as cruise missiles.
Here, Savehi found his terrorist background as useful. Western
intelligence sources said he drew on his
Soviet and later Russian sponsors for military and nuclear technology.
Savehi also hired Russian, Belarus and Ukrainian scientists to build Iran's
nascent military industry. The scientists from the former Soviet Union
helped salvage aging U.S. aircraft, that for years had been out of action due to
the lack of spare parts. He also was given a senior position in Iranian
intelligence that authorized him to spend vast amounts of money to acquire
technology for nuclear and missile projects.
For Savehi, Iran's strategic programs combined terrorism with weapons of
mass destruction. His agents in Bosnia helped scour Central and Eastern
Europe for components and technology for Teheran's strategic weaponry. The
agents also organized terrorist cells that ensured Iran's influence in the
underbelly of Europe, which comprised Albania, Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo.
A major achievement has been making the payroll every month despite Iran's
economic woes.
Savehi can also count Lebanon as a success. As a leading member of
Iran's terrorist infrastructure, Savehi was authorized to support Hizbullah
until it reached the position as the leading organization in Lebanon.
Hizbullah leaders met often with Savehi in his Teheran office and drafted
annual programs for training and operations. Savehi helped Hizbullah grow
from a Lebanese-based movement into a worldwide network that provided Iran
with a cover for terrorist operations abroad.
Savehi is watching the Iranian leadership grow older and weaker and has
quietly promoted himself for public office. He is on the military general
staff and has fashioned himself as an expert in culture. His newly-acquired
expertise could be just the thing that allows him to eventually reenter the
United States as head of an Iranian delegation.
|
