1. Arteshbod Hossein Fardoust was an Iranian military officer who was the deputy head of SAVAK, the Iranian intelligence agency during the Pahlavi era.
20 Facts About Hossein Fardoust
1. 2.
Hossein Fardoust was a childhood friend of the last Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
3.
Hossein Fardoust first developed a friendship with the young crown prince when he was permitted to attend the private school established on the grounds of the palace to instruct the sons of court favourites, and later joined the crown prince, Ali Reza Pahlavi, and Mehrpour Teymourtash when they were dispatched to the Institut Le Rosey in Switzerland for further schooling.
4.
The Special Intelligence Bureau of Iran or, in Persian daftar-dar, allowed Hossein Fardoust to be the ultimate holder of raw intel and provider of reports to the Shah.
5.
Hossein Fardoust admits to have penned down all the reported data by SAVAK, Les Deuxiume Bureau of the Army, etc.
6.
When Mohammad Mosaddegh became Prime Minister in April 1951, Hossein Fardoust was one of the first to leave Iran under pressure from Mosaddegh.
7.
Hossein Fardoust went to Paris and began to study law.
8.
In Paris, Hossein Fardoust turned to an Iranian carpet dealer named Saberi and asked him to lend him money to finance his stay in France.
9.
Prime minister Fazlollah Zahedi received a reliable report from the Iranian military intelligence that Hossein Fardoust worked for foreign intelligence services.
10.
Until the mid-1970s, Hossein Fardoust met with the Shah daily to personally inform him of the key details of intelligence reports.
11.
Hossein Fardoust retained his post, but now was forced to submit written reports to the Shah daily.
12.
Hossein Fardoust obviously used the last few years of his tenure to establish close ties with those generals of the Iranian armed forces who criticized the Shah and played a decisive role in the first stage of the Islamic revolution in the decomposition of the old power structures of the monarchy.
13.
Some authors note that Hossein Fardoust played an important role in the return of Ayatollah Khomeini from exile and in driving the Shah's military and security personnel to the side of the revolutionaries.
14.
Hossein Fardoust was arrested, was in prison for some time, but, to everyone's surprise, he was not sentenced to death.
15.
In 1985, General Hossein Fardoust was removed from all posts and imprisoned in December, where he was charged with cooperation with the KGB of the USSR.
16.
Hossein Fardoust described and denounced the life of the Shah, his court, and the corruption and dependency of the government he had served in.
17.
Three weeks after the interview appeared, the government announced that Hossein Fardoust had died from "old age and other natural causes".
18.
The book, entitled Khaterat-e Arteshbod-e Baznesheshteh Hossein Fardoust, expanded on the themes of corruption and conspiracy in the Shah's court and government.
19.
Hussein Hossein Fardoust, did not remain for very long at the head of SAVAMA: in December 1985, he was accused of being a Soviet agent who was duly paid by the KGB and was stripped of his duties.
20.
Hossein Fardoust died two years later, apparently from a heart attack.