Saafak is an acronym for the Saazmana Eftelaato amnieta Keshvak, which is essentially the intelligence and security organization of Iran. It was formally founded in 1957 under the direct supervision of the CIA and with help from Israeli Mossad. Eventually, Saafak grows to being enormously feared secret police force that has something like 5,000 agents.
Featuring Eskandar Sadeghi-Boroujerdi and Golnar Nikpour on the history of modern Iran. This is the third episode in our four-part series. We pick up in the wake of the US-British 1953 coup against Mossadegh, assess the Shah's repression and attempts to manufacture consent through passive revolution, and then close by laying out the 1979 Islamic Revolution in all of its wild complexity.
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