AN AUGURY OF REVOLUTION: THE IRANIAN STUDENT ...

the demonstrations. It was also expected that Arab and Ethiopian students would participate in
demonstrations in New York and Washington. 408
The ISAUS formed committees to better prepare themselves for the shah’s visit, and
contacted Iranian students in New York and other major cities to encourage their participation in
the demonstrations. Members of the ISAUS also informed the American press of the purposes of
the demonstrations and to contact police to secure permission and designate areas for the
protests. For visual effect, the students discussed the possibility of producing pictures of the
shah to burn and deface in other ways, and of marching in front of the U.N. with chains wrapped
around themselves to show solidarity with political prisoners in Iranian jails. 409 This information
was obtained by a spy within the ISAUS who worked for SAVAK, and given to the Iranian
Embassy in Washington. The Iranian Foreign Ministry Fourth Political Division Chief Kazemi
then passed the information on to the American Embassy in Tehran. 410
SAVAK’s activities in the United States greatly increased by the late 1960s, including the
recruitment of student spies. 411 The ISAUS recognized that the main objective of SAVAK
activities abroad was to infiltrate student organizations. 412 By the mid-1970s it became apparent
that there were hundreds of Iranians who were recruited to spy on anti-regime students. One
informant, who later published an account of his activities, said that they reported to SAVAK
408 Telegram from American Embassy in Tehran to Secretary of State William P. Rogers, “Shah Visit Planning –
Security Measures,” 9 October 1969, Records of the Department of State, Central Foreign Policy Files, 1967-1969,
Box 2216, Folder POL 7 IRAN (12/1/69), RG 59, NA.
409 Very elaborate demonstrations began to take place by the 1970s. One protest in San Francisco in 1973 consisted
of a mock gallows scene. To see a picture of this, refer to Fred Lowe, “Iranian Students Acquitted,” The Guardian,
Vol. 25, No. 44 (29 August 1973), 9.
410 AE Tehran to Rogers, “Shah Visit Planning – Security Measures,” 14 October 1969, RG 59, NA.
411 For an interview with one of the founders of the CIS in which SAVAK infiltration is discussed, refer to Sullivan,
“Interview with ‘Professor Ali’ (pseudonym), in Exiled Memories, 187.
412 ISAUS, On the Violation of Human Rights in Iran (Report to the Subcommittee on International Organizations,
U.S. Congress), (College Park, Maryland: Iranian Students Association in the United States, 1976), 8.
98