135: Chapter 132 Committee

August 22, 1981, Tehran, Supreme Defense Council.

Eleven people were seated in the conference room.

Mousavi sat at the head of the table, with Rafsanjani on his right and the Minister of Defense on his left. The others were representatives from various military institutions and the Revolutionary Guard, as well as two special observers from Ayatollah Khomeini's office—the presence of these two was an arrangement made by Ayatollah Khomeini after receiving the letter forwarded by Rafsanjani.

Reza sat in the middle of the right side, carrying no documents, only a thin notebook.

He had been "invited" to attend. Mousavi's phrasing was, "We invite you to explain the actual operations of frontline intelligence." The sentence itself was fine, but Reza knew the focus of today's meeting was that proposal. "Explaining the situation" was a chance for him to speak, but also an occasion for him to be questioned.

Mousavi spoke first, stating the logic of the proposal: during the ceasefire, Iran's actions required restraint; if intelligence operations went out of control, they could provide a pretext for Iraq to restart the war; standardizing the approval process was a respect for the spirit of the ceasefire agreement and a protection of Iran's international image.

After this logic was laid out, a few people nodded, but Reza remained expressionless.

Then Mousavi said, "Mr. Reza Pahlavi, what is your opinion?"

Reza did not speak immediately.

He took a sip of water, set the cup down steadily, and then said, "I have a question I would like to ask everyone present first."

Everyone looked at him.

"If there is intelligence right now telling me that a Scud Missile launcher of Saddam Hussein is at a specific location, and I find that this intelligence needs to go through an approval process, taking at least forty-eight hours to get a response—may I ask, in those forty-eight hours, will that launcher still be waiting for me in the same place?"

There was silence for about five seconds.

Mousavi said, "Mr. Reza, this is an extreme case—"

"It is not an extreme case," Reza said, his tone flat, without rising inflection, "This is an actual situation I handled last week."

The atmosphere in the conference room shifted, and several people looked at each other.

Rafsanjani did not speak; his eyes darted back and forth between Reza and Mousavi.

Reza took a folded piece of paper from his notebook, unfolded it, and pushed it to the center of the table:

"This is the intelligence provided by Jassim—Saddam Hussein has deployed three Scud Missile launchers eighty kilometers north of Tikrit; the coordinates are here. Within six hours of receiving the intelligence, I completed the intelligence verification, location confirmation, threat assessment, and tactical analysis, and made the decision to hold off on action and continue monitoring."

He paused: "If this decision had to wait for the Presidential Palace's approval, the only three things I could do are: wait, wait, and wait. By the time the approval came down, the launchers would have long since moved, and the intelligence trail would be dead."

Mousavi's expression did not change significantly, but the way his hands were crossed changed, and his fingers gripped tighter.

"The purpose of this proposal is not to interfere with frontline judgment," he said, "it is to establish a standardized filing and review mechanism. It is not asking you to wait for approval before acting, but rather to report in a timely manner after acting—"

"That is not how it is written in the original text," Reza said, "The original text says 'prior approval'."

He took out a copy of the proposal, turned to the second page, the third article, pointed his finger at the key sentence, and passed it to the person nearest him, letting it circulate around the table.

Mousavi watched the document drafted by his own people circulate around the table; when his staff wrote it in Tehran, they probably did not expect Reza to bring the original text for comparison.

After reading it, Rafsanjani said softly, "It is indeed 'prior approval'; this wording needs to be reconsidered."

This sentence was spoken very lightly, but everyone in the conference room heard it.

Ayatollah Khomeini's two observers—one was taking notes, the other sat expressionless—remained silent throughout. Their silence itself was a stance.

Mousavi reorganized his words: "Then, Mr. Reza, what kind of mechanism do you think is appropriate?"

This question was a retreat for Mousavi—he had shifted from "pushing the proposal" to "discussing the plan," which meant the proposal itself had already been shaken.

Reza had long prepared the answer:

"First, immediate handling of frontline intelligence does not require approval; what is needed is to submit a written report to the Presidential Palace within twenty-four hours after the handling is complete. Second, proactive operations involving crossing the ceasefire line, such as infiltration into Iraq or strikes against Iraq targets, require filing with the Presidential Palace—not approval, but filing. This means I tell you what I am going to do, not wait for you to tell me whether I can do it. Third, intelligence handling related to Scud Missile threats is to be listed separately as the highest priority level and is not subject to any delay mechanism."

He finished speaking and closed his notebook.

"This is the boundary I can accept," he said, "If this boundary is acceptable, we can reach an agreement today; if not, I will need to report my position directly to the Supreme Leader."

When the four words "Supreme Leader" landed, there was an extremely subtle change in Mousavi's eyes.

Of the two observers, the one taking notes stopped writing, glanced at Reza, and then resumed writing.

No one in the conference room spoke, waiting for Mousavi to give an answer.

Mousavi was silent for nearly twenty seconds.

"The filing mechanism," he said, "is acceptable. The special handling of intelligence related to Scud Missile threats is acceptable. But for the twenty-four-hour written report, I need to adjust it to twelve hours."

"Twelve hours." Reza accepted this number and did not bargain further.

Mousavi nodded, glanced at his staff, and signaled him to record it.

Just like that, in the conference room, the proposal was rewritten line by line. The original text drafted by Mousavi's staff was essentially replaced by Reza's three principles.

The meeting ended after one hour and twenty minutes.

In the hallway, Rafsanjani and Reza walked side by side for a while.

"You brought the original text; you had it prepared long ago," Rafsanjani said, and this was not a question.

"A proposal is a document, and documents should be read word for word," Reza said, "If the wording is correct, there is nothing to worry about."

Rafsanjani chuckled softly: "Mousavi's staff will be more careful when writing documents next time."

"That wouldn't be bad," Reza said.

The two parted at the end of the hallway. Reza did not stay overnight in Tehran; he returned to Ahvaz that afternoon.

On the plane, he recorded today's results in his notebook:

"Proposal rewritten, filing replaces approval, twelve-hour report. An acceptable result."

Then he wrote another sentence below:

"Mousavi is not stupid; starting today, he will find another way to restrict me. Next time, he won't use documents; he will use something else."

The plane flew south through the clouds; outside the window was an expanse of gray-white clouds, and below the clouds was the land of Iran, plateaus, salt flats, and the Ahvaz he could not see.

He put away his notebook and closed his eyes.

Before landing, his mind was already thinking about the water station progress report sent by Mahdavi, how to write the receipt for Jassim's next letter, and also Nasser—that Iraqi corps commander who advocated continuing the fight; Hassan's preliminary report had not yet arrived.

There were too many things spinning.

But this one today, it could be considered done.