180: Chapter 177 Temptation

"Your Excellency Reza," Karimi said, "what have you decided?"

Reza thought for a moment.

"We won't arrest him for the time being," he said.

"What?"

"We won't arrest Mirza," Reza said. "We'll let him continue working. But we need to know all of his activities—every person he meets, every phone call he makes, every report he writes."

"I understand your thinking," Karimi said, "but there are risks. If he sends out new intelligence, Iraq will gain a new advantage."

"We control the intelligence he sends out," Reza said. "We let him know what we want him to know."

"A double agent."

"Exactly."

Karimi thought for a moment.

"He doesn't know we've arrested his contact," he said.

"Correct. We'll keep the contact alive and have him continue to pretend to meet with Mirza."

"This is a complex arrangement."

"Complex, but feasible," Reza said. "This is our only chance. If we handle it well, we can turn the tables and use Mirza to guide Iraq's offensive in the direction we want."

Karimi nodded.

"I'll make the arrangements."

"Also," Reza said, "the intelligence Mirza sends out might contain information about me. I want to know what he has reported."

"I'll check."

"And one last thing," Reza said. "Only you and I are to know about this. Plus the agents and the contact, who are currently controlled by your people. Other than that, no one—including Fatima, the Supreme Leader, or Ayatollah Khomeini—must know."

Karimi hesitated for a moment.

"Not even the Supreme Leader?" he asked.

"Not for now," Reza said. "We'll tell him after we've used Mirza to accomplish a few key things."

Karimi looked at Reza.

He knew this was a very dangerous decision. If the Supreme Leader found out later that Reza knew about a spy but didn't report it immediately, he would be furious.

But he also understood Reza's judgment.

"I understand," he finally said.

Three in the morning.

Reza returned to his office.

He didn't sleep.

He was writing a plan.

What to use Mirza for, how to do it, and the timeline.

This plan had to be extremely precise. Once discovered, he would face immense consequences.

But he had to take this risk.

He wrote for a while and then stopped.

A question occurred to him.

How did Mirza become a spy?

According to the agents, Mirza had worked for Iraq for several years. The Iranian Revolution was in 1979. The Iran-Iraq War began in 1980. If Mirza had worked for Iraq for 'several years,' then he might have been a spy even before the revolution.

In other words, Mirza was a spy recruited during the Pahlavi era.

After the revolution, he successfully disguised himself as a revolutionary and entered the Supreme Leader's office.

This was a very careful deployment.

But this meant Mirza wasn't an ordinary agent. He was a professional spy. He might have been from SAVAK—Pahlavi's secret police—and then taken over by Iraq.

Or he could be from the CIA.

If he was with the CIA, it meant the United States had been monitoring the highest levels of Iran from the very beginning.

The thought made Reza feel cold.

He picked up the phone.

"Karimi."

"Yes."

"Still working?"

"Yes."

"Regarding Mirza's background," Reza said, "pay special attention to his experiences before the revolution. Look into his relationship with the Pahlavi regime and his connections with foreign intelligence agencies."

"I'll do that."

The phone hung up.

Reza continued writing.

March 25th, morning.

Fatima entered the office. She brought the plan for the preemptive strike.

"I finished it overnight," she said. "A detailed proposal."

She opened the plan.

"Our target," she said, "is the Iraqi troop concentration north of Basra. This is the main starting point for the Iraqi offensive into the south."

"How many troops?"

"We can commit one hundred thousand. Sixty thousand are from the Revolutionary Guard, and forty thousand are regular army."

"Iraqi defenses?"

"There are about eighty thousand Iraqi troops in that area. But they are preparing for an offensive, not a defense. Their deployment is an offensive one. This gives us an opportunity."

"When will it be launched?"

"April 2nd."

"Why that date?"

"For several reasons," Fatima said. "First, the Soviet anti-electronic warfare equipment should have arrived by then. Second, our ammunition and fuel supplies will be completed by that time. Third, it's a night with a full moon, so visibility will be high. Our aircraft can better support the ground troops."

Reza looked at the plan.

"It looks very complete."

"I used a lot of manpower to create this plan," Fatima said.

Reza suddenly had an idea.

"Fatima," he said, "have you sent this plan to the Supreme Leader's office yet?"

"Not yet. I'm showing it to you first."

"Good," Reza said. "Don't send it for now. I'll meet with the Supreme Leader in person first."

Fatima was stunned for a moment.

"Why?"

Reza thought for a moment. He couldn't tell her the reason.

"I have my own considerations," he said. "Do as I say."

"Alright."

Fatima left.

Reza sat in his chair.

He had just prevented Mirza from obtaining this plan.

But he couldn't prevent Mirza from accessing intelligence forever. If he made it too obvious, Mirza would suspect he had been discovered.

He needed to let Mirza continue thinking he was trusted.

He had to give Mirza false intelligence.

Reza needed to carefully plan exactly what kind of false intelligence to provide.

He picked up the phone.

"Karimi."

"Yes."

"I want to make a fake offensive plan," Reza said.

"Fake?"

"Yes," Reza said. "Similar to the real offensive plan, but with a different target. We'll let this fake plan enter Mirza's field of vision."

"How do you want Iraq to miscalculate?"

"I want them to think we're going to attack Basra," Reza said. "In reality, according to Fatima's real plan, we're going to attack the concentration area north of Basra. It's a small difference in words, but for Iraq, the deployment would be completely different."

Karimi thought for a moment.

"I understand," he said. "If Iraq thinks we're going to directly attack the city of Basra, they'll withdraw troops from the northern concentration area to defend the city. That way, it'll be easier for us to attack their concentration area."

"Exactly."

"I'll prepare the fake plan."

"One more thing," Reza said. "In the fake plan, we'll mark some details—details that only the Supreme Leader's office can see. That way, we can confirm if Mirza has passed this plan along."

"Watermarking it."

"Yes."

The phone hung up.

Reza began to personally draft the fake offensive plan.

As he wrote every word, he was thinking about how Mirza would read it. How Mirza would report it to Iraq. How Iraq would react.

This was a battle of wits.

Whoever was smarter would win.