Former Iranian Double Agent Speaks in Toronto

Iran, the chief exporter of terror throughout the Middle East and the rest of the world, is the greatest global threat today - a threat that increases with the imminent possibility of Iran becoming a nuclear power.

This was the grim message delivered by a heavily disguised Reza Kahlili, (not his real name) to a hushed audience the evening before Erev Rosh Hashanah.

As a member of Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guards, Kahlili spied for the CIA as a double agent.

He spoke through an electronic voice distortion device while wearing a blue surgical mask, sunglasses and a baseball hat.

He stressed the importance of understanding Islam. “This is driving them. They are not afraid to die. They would kill millions [for their ideology.] They would destroy the world because then the Mahdi, the 12th Shiite Imam, will then appear on his white horse, kill the infidels and raise the flag of Islam over the world.”

Before becoming president, Ahmadinejad , then mayor of Tehran, secretly spent millions to build a road especially for the Mahdi that led to a mosque. Once he become president, he allocated millions more to enhance the mosque for the reappearance of the Mahdi. He and others like him are “willing to foment universal war, chaos, and famine to bring it about,” Kahlili writes in his just published book, A Time to Betray: The Astonishing Double Life of a CIA Agent Inside the Revolutionary Guards of Iran.

Ahmad Vahidi, who was involved in the bombing of a Jewish community centre in Buenos Aires in 1994 and many other terrorist acts, is Iran’s Minister of Defence. “He oversees Iran’s ballistic missile and nuclear programs, with one goal in mind: to obtain the bomb.”

Iran’s defence ministry has in recent weeks displayed several new military projects, including submarines, surface to surface missiles and drones. The country’s first domestically made drone has a range of 1,000 kilometres and is armed. Production plans for two high speed boats to be armed with missiles and torpedoes were recently unveiled by the Revolutionary Guards Corp. Tehran continues to forge ahead with its atomic program despite UN sanctions. While denying it is producing a bomb, it has upped its uranium enrichment program and barred UN inspectors

Hoping that the Obama administration would be tougher on the Islamic government of Iran than its predecessors, especially given what they knew about the regime’s nuclear activities, he was bitterly disappointed.

“Obama had a great opportunity with last summer’s uprising,” he said. “The government was close to collapse. Instead he sent a letter to Ayatollah Khamenei saying, “We don’t intend to interfere in Iranian affairs.”

“I knew the regime would see Obama’s entreaties as a sign of weakness and that this would embolden them to take radical steps.”

“Once again, American politicians refused to see that the mullahs were not men of reason and that their animosity toward America was rooted in the interpretation of a prophecy that called for the annihilation of the West and all non-Muslims.”

Iran trains and sends spies to countries around the world, and Canada is the first country of entrance for many of them, claims Kahlili. Hundreds of agents have entered Canada and go on later to the United States. “Many come on student visas because they’re easier to obtain,” he said.

Kahlili was born in Tehran to a close-knit upper middle class family. He studied computer science at the University of California during the ‘70s and returned to Iran shortly after the Revolution. Like many other young idealistic people at the time, he was eager to rebuild his country in what appeared to be a Persian renaissance. “Khomeini preached democracy and freedom and we all bought it.”

Because of his computer skills, he was asked to join the powerful Revolutionary Guards.

“But Khomeini broke every promise he made to the Iranian people. He shut down universities, imprisoned students, tortured and killed. The people who are ruling Iran, rape, torture and kill to stay in power,” he said in a press conference. “If they have a nuclear bomb they will use it to confront the West.”

Disillusioned and emotionally shattered, especially after witnessing the atrocities at Evin prison, including the torture, rape and killing of his friends, he returned to America to offer his services to the CIA, becoming “Wally” a spy for the CIA. “In my role as Wally, I would gather facts and information that only an insider with my connections could possibly access,” he writes in his book.

“There is no longer the leisure of time,” he said. “Sanctions are a fantasy. Drastic action is needed, even bombing the Iranian Guard bases. We can’t allow them to get their hands on nuclear bombs.” Above all, he advocates supporting the Iranian dissidents to help regime change.

“If the West cuts all economic ties with Iran, isolates it diplomatically and blocks its shipping and air transport, it [the regime] can be changed,” he said.

Avi Benlolo, CEO of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre in Canada who sponsored the lecture, urged people to lobby the Canadian government to charge Iran with incitement to commit genocide. “It would be the first time that genocide would be prevented.”

Kahlili ends A Time to Betray with a faint ray of hope. “While the regime is standing tough, I truly believe their iron rule over Iran is coming to an end. The Iranian people have announced to the entire world that they want the liberties that are their birthright. They are not going to accept anything less.”

Kahlili now lives in California with his wife and children and continues to contribute in the struggle to bring down the present regime in Iran.