British officials had at least five meetings with a former Iranian army Colonel who sought to overthrow the regime in Tehran and promote a “military government”, declassified files show. The Colonel, Nasrullah Tavakoli, said in 1991 that he had been in contact with MI6 “since 1980”, the documents show.
Tavakoli, who was close to Ayatollah Khomeini during the 1979 Islamic revolution that overthrew the pro-Western Shah, had at least four meetings with Britain’s former ambassador to Iran, Sir Denis Wright, during 1987-1992. In one meeting in January 1991, Wright told the Foreign Office in a letter about Tavakoli’s contacts with “our friends”, a euphemism for MI6. He wrote: “T [Tavakoli] told me in confidence that since 1980 he had, on visits to London, contacted our friends on a phone no. [sic] they had been given and they would send someone round to his hotel or flat to discuss the situation in Iran”. He added that “This time, however, there had been no answer to the phone number. Perhaps the friends should be told this”.
Tavakoli told Wright during their lunch together that “the situation, economic and political, was going from bad to worse” in Iran and that “sooner or later the regime must go and a new government formed in which the clergy would play no part.”
Wright informed the Foreign Office of Tavakoli’s view that “While eventually a democratic government was desirable the first step must be a military one. Tavakoli clearly sees himself as heading this military government”.
The Colonel claimed that “his past opposition to the Shah, having spent 26 months in prison in 1973/74, and good relations with Khomeini under whom he was chief of staff for a time, makes him acceptable to the armed forces”. He said that “it was essential before he and his friends moved that they should have the blessing, guidance and support (implying arms) from the UK”, Wright wrote. RELATED Britain’s long history of spying on Iran He wrote: “I listened sympathetically but pointed out that the Iranians must work out their own salvation; we were no longer a world power… any British involvement with opposition forces would only be to their detriment in the long run just as our alleged support for Reza Khan [ie, the Shah] had never been forgotten nor forgiven by many Iranians”.
Wright informed the Foreign Office he had first met Tavakoli in February 1987 after a suggestion from a “staunch anglophile living in Tehran”. His write-up of the meeting was welcomed by Rob Young, the head of the Foreign Office’s Middle East Department, who replied to Wright saying “this kind of information is always of great value, given the difficulties of finding out what is actually going on within the Iranian regime.” Young forwarded Wright’s letter to the British embassy in Tehran.
‘Get rid of the ruling mullahs’
Two years later in October 1989 – a period for which the Archives do not contain information – Tavakoli was invited to the Foreign Office to meet Wright and Young. The files make clear that “MED [Middle East Department] have no record of the meeting”.
Wright’s next meeting with Tavakoli in January 1991 was followed by one in January the following year. Wright then informed senior Foreign Office diplomat David Gore-Booth that Tavakoli “sung his old song of how unhappy everyone was in Iran, how important it was to get rid of the ruling mullahs, and the need for British help (but he didn’t say how).”
He added: “He asked me to arrange for him to see someone at the FCO [Foreign and Commonwealth Office]…. I made no promises as I am not at all sure that you will feel he is worth seeing again”.
However, Gore-Booth replied to Wright suggesting a meeting between Tavakoli and Simon Buckle, a desk officer in the Middle East Department.
Buckle subsequently agreed to meet Tavakoli, telling Gore-Booth: “I do not expect anything of great substance to emerge, but in view of the unsettled internal situation in Iran as [then President] Rafsanjani tries to push through reforms, I think it would be appropriate for me to see him.” RELATED How Britain helped Iran’s Islamic regime destroy the left-wing opposition In 1979, for example, Wright was despatched by prime minister Margaret Thatcher to meet the Shah in exile after he was overthrown, to explain her decision not to grant the former dictator asylum in Britain.
During Wright’s time in Tehran, and subsequently, Britain had given substantial military and diplomatic support to the Shah’s repressive regime.
Nevertheless, the files do not indicate that Wright was acting covertly for the Foreign Office in meeting an Iranian coup plotter. His letters also suggest he wasn’t all that impressed with Tavakoli, in addition to telling him that Britain could not help him.
MI6 is opaque and it is not possible to find further information on the extent of its dealings with Tavakoli. The murky episode is interesting in light of the willingness of UK officials to be secretly in touch over several years with a would-be military leader boasting high-level connections in Tehran.
Tavakoli told Wright in their meetings that he was Ayatollah Khomeini’s “chief of staff” during the 1979 revolution. Other evidence suggests he was the chief aide to Iran’s first post-revolutionary military leader, General Muhammad Vali Qarani, in early 1979, before being forced to resign over pro-American remarks he made.
Tavkoli was detained for opposition to the regime in 1993, the year following his last known meeting with Sir Denis Wright. Tavkoli has since passed away.
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