25: Chapter 25 Khomeini

Trust is accumulated, not argued.

"Over the next two months, we have three things to do." Reza put away the calendar. "First, accelerate military stockpiles. Before August 1978, the goal of twenty guided missiles, three thousand mines, and five thousand militiamen remains unchanged. I will personally oversee things on Fatima's end."

"Second?"

"Second, accelerate political positioning. Ayatollah Shariatmadari in Tabriz must be secured before February 18th. Something big will happen in Tabriz that day. If we've established contact with Ayatollah Shariatmadari beforehand, the street forces in Tabriz will be ours; if not, those forces will be absorbed by Ayatollah Khomeini."

"And the third?"

"Third—and most importantly—I need to establish contact with Ayatollah Khomeini himself."

Hassan's expression changed.

"Ayatollah Khomeini? He's in France. How do we contact him?"

"There's no need to contact him directly. Just contact his agents in Iran."

Although Ayatollah Khomeini is in Neauphle-le-Château on the outskirts of Paris, France, he has a vast underground network within Iran—through cassette tapes, secret messengers, and the mosque system, his instructions can reach every province in Iran within forty-eight hours.

The core nodes of this network are several high-ranking clerics—Ayatollah Khomeini's most trusted "domestic agents."

The most critical one among them is Beheshti.

Ayatollah Mohammad Hossein Beheshti.

In the history of his previous life, Beheshti was the second most powerful figure after the Iranian Islamic Revolution—he founded the "Islamic Republican Party," controlled the judicial system, and was the "organizational architect" of Ayatollah Khomeini's regime. On June 28, 1981, Beheshti was killed by a bomb from the People's Mojahedin Organization during a party meeting, along with seventy-three high-ranking party and government officials.

That was the most serious internal bombing in the history of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

But in January 1978, Beheshti was still alive, secretly organizing Ayatollah Khomeini's domestic forces in Tehran.

Reza did not plan to contact Beheshti.

Beheshti was too smart and too ambitious to be swayed. His loyalty to Ayatollah Khomeini was absolute—at least until the revolution succeeded.

Reza wanted to contact someone else.

Hashemi Rafsanjani.

The President of Iran in his previous life. A shrewd businessman, a pragmatic politician, and a natural fence-sitter. Rafsanjani was the "least pure" person around Ayatollah Khomeini—he believed in religion, but he believed in interests even more. He supported Ayatollah Khomeini, but always left himself a way out. He participated in the revolution while simultaneously maintaining "underground business dealings" with business figures from the Pahlavi regime.

Such people are the easiest to exploit during a revolution.

Because they are always calculating—which side has a better chance of winning?

If Reza could make Rafsanjani see that "cooperating with me has more potential than being tied to Ayatollah Khomeini," this shrewd businessman-politician would become a nail Reza planted in Ayatollah Khomeini's camp.

He didn't need him to betray Ayatollah Khomeini. He just needed him to "lean slightly" at a critical moment—such as the distribution of power after the revolution's success.

"Rafsanjani is currently in Tehran, running a construction company," Reza said to Hassan. "On the surface, he's a businessman, but in reality, he's Ayatollah Khomeini's main financial operator in Tehran—a third of the revolutionary funds pass through his hands."

"How to make contact?"

"We don't need to initiate contact. After the events in Qom, Ayatollah Khomeini's people will accelerate the expansion of their alliance—they need money, guns, and the support of local power players. Rafsanjani will come to 'recruit' people on behalf of Ayatollah Khomeini. We just need to—"

Reza smiled slightly.

"Let him know that there is a prince in Khuzestan Province willing to 'cooperate'."

"How do we let him know?"

"Through Professor Professor Mortazavi. Professor Mortazavi has extensive connections with the Tehran intelligentsia, and the intelligentsia is not completely isolated from the religious circles. Have Professor Mortazavi spread the word—'Prince Reza of Khuzestan Province is very dissatisfied with the Shah, has money and men, but suffers from a lack of political allies.' This kind of news will seep into Rafsanjani's ears like flowing water."

"And then wait for him to come to us?"

"Exactly. Let him come to us. At the negotiating table, the party that takes the initiative is always at a disadvantage."

Hassan nodded. But he still had a concern.

"Your Highness, if Rafsanjani comes, he will certainly 'examine' you on behalf of Ayatollah Khomeini. He will test you—whether you truly support the Islamic Revolution or have your own ambitions. If he sees that you want to replace Ayatollah Khomeini..."

"He won't see it," Reza's tone didn't hesitate for a second. "Because when I meet him, I will say exactly what he wants to hear—'I am willing to support His Excellency Ayatollah Khomeini's leadership, provided I am given a reasonable position after the revolution.' Translated, this means 'I want a piece of the pie.' Rafsanjani himself is that kind of person—someone who wants a piece of the pie. He will instinctively trust someone like himself."

"And then?"

"And then—once the revolution succeeds, we show our cards."

Hassan was silent for a few seconds.

"Your Highness, sometimes I feel... that following you is a terrifying thing."

"Why?"

"Because you calculate human hearts too accurately. I can't help but wonder—have you calculated me the same way?"

Reza looked at him.

There was a two-second pause.

Then he said, "I have calculated you. On the night two and a half years ago when you decided to follow me, I saw right through you."

Hassan's body stiffened slightly.

"Do you want to know the result?"

"...Yes."

"The result is—you are the only person in my life I don't need to calculate. Because your loyalty wasn't calculated; it was your own choice. When a person chooses loyalty, it is more reliable than any calculation."

Hassan's Adam's apple bobbed.

He didn't speak.

He turned and left.

When he reached the door, his back was noticeably straighter than when he had entered.

Reza watched him leave, the gentle expression on his face receding inch by inch.

He hadn't lied.

But he hadn't told the whole truth either.

He did trust Hassan—among everyone, Hassan was the one he trusted most. But "highest trust" did not equal "total trust."

In his previous life, Chen Feng had worked in the military-industrial system for twenty years and had seen too many cases of "absolute loyalty" crumbling before power. His principle was to maintain five percent suspicion toward anyone. Not because the other person wasn't trustworthy, but because one hundred percent trust meant one hundred percent vulnerability.

That five percent suspicion was the final insurance policy he kept for himself.

The next forty days.

Reza sprinted on three fronts simultaneously.

Military line—Fatima's missile guidance system adaptation work entered the mass production stage. Twenty technicians transferred from the Abadan Refinery underwent two weeks of "delay testing" by Karimi; eighteen were confirmed "clean," and two were isolated and sent back.

After the eighteen new technicians joined the Cyrus Workshop, the production speed of missile bodies doubled. By the end of January, three more Persia-1 Type guided missiles were assembled, waiting for Fatima to calibrate their gyroscopes one by one.

The production of Anti-tank mines had surpassed eight hundred per month. Nearly five thousand were stockpiled in the warehouse.

Regarding the militia, Hassan used the mosque network and tribal relations to form twelve "Self-Defense Groups" in the Arab-populated areas of western Khuzestan Province—each group consisting of fifty to one hundred people. Ostensibly civilian armed forces "protecting farmland from harassment by Iraqi smugglers," they actually received semi-military training from instructors of Reza's Guard.