US and Israel Help Iran Create SAVAK Secret Police

US and Israeli intelligence officers assist Iran in establishing SAVAK, a feared secret police force later blamed for torture and execution of thousands of political prisoners.

As part of Cold War strategy to keep Iran firmly in the Western camp, the United States and Israel helped Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi build a domestic intelligence organization known as SAVAK (Sazman-e Ettela'at va Amniyat-e Keshvar). The agency was trained by the CIA and Israel's Mossad and became notorious for brutal repression of political opponents, intellectuals, and dissidents. Amnesty International documented widespread use of torture. SAVAK's abuses fueled the popular resentment that eventually toppled the Shah in 1979, directly contributing to the anti-American character of the Islamic Revolution that followed.