He’s the kind of guy who heads to Tehran, Baghdad, or Beirut just as others take the “63” bus to their psychiatrist on Boulevard Saint-Germain. But not everyone is Robert Baer, a former – but is one ever truly former in this profession? – CIA spy who long served as the Middle East chief for the Central Intelligence Agency based in Langley.
The goal of the book is to explore this “imperial impulse of Iran,” a country described as a “rising star” by the author. Logically, the author dedicates the introductory part of his work to this “Iranian paradox,” highlighting not only its overall complexity – the mix of ethnicities, the millennia-old history – but also pondering why the Mullahs seek both to “humiliate and work with the United States.” Indeed, any visitor inevitably wonders about the true intentions of the religious leaders who are capable of having soldiers march over an American flag painted on the asphalt on “Rouz Artech” (Army Day), yet demand payment exclusively in dollars in international hotels. Aware of the potential difficulties of directly approaching the shores of Iran, the author prefers a “peripheral” exploitation of information, akin to the Iranian proverb that goes, “speak to the doors so that the walls may hear”: to understand Iran, explains Robert Baer, one must in fact go through Lebanon, Iraq, and Afghanistan.
If it contains numerous instructive developments, the work does not seek to conceal the author’s own contradictions, despite his familiarity with the country from his many local and regional wanderings: reflections of the cultural and historical intricacies of ancient Persia, they are understandable even to those who manage to survive the deadly attraction that this country can exert. Even more uncertain is the bet for those who additionally speak the language.
The author is both capable of grasping and elucidating characteristic traits of Iranian thought, such as the enigmatic mix of hatred and fascination towards America, or the age-old patience of the Iranian people who operate on a completely foreign logic of space and time. He also accurately describes how the Revolutionary Guard – sepah-e pasdaran – has become an “exclusive brotherhood, almost a rite of passage for any politically ambitious Iranian.” However, he fails to mention the cost of this forced “enthusiasm”: the foundation of this institution becomes particularly fragile and permeable to Iran’s social ills, which now breeds mistrust among a good portion of its officers and leaders.
Moreover, he expresses his astonishment – purely American? – for example, at the regime’s tolerance for opium consumption, forgetting that it is a traditional cultural practice that has never been interrupted: it was not uncommon, even during the Shah’s era, to give children infinitesimal doses of this psychoactive substance to treat a toothache or minor health issues. The arrival of the Islamic revolution changed nothing, and perhaps even the use of opium and other drugs has amplified due to economic difficulties and a spike in youth unemployment.
Elsewhere, the author explains that restaurants remind him of the “Soviet mode”: “bad food and poor service.” However, it is well-known that Iranians have long preferred home dining where they feel more comfortable and can accompany their meal with homemade alcohol, wine, or vodka. The only notable exception, especially in summer, is the festive outdoor dinners of Farazod or Darband where families enjoy gargantuan kebabs under the benevolent shade of “tut” (giant mulberry) leaves, refreshed by the cool water of surrounding cascades. If the author has not experienced these places, he has not fully understood Iran. “Iran, a closed society?” muses Robert Baer. Like their distant “cousin” Phoenicians from Lebanon, Iranians are incredibly curious…and informed about Western trends, a sign of a natural attraction and sympathy towards foreigners, which, however, may find difficulties in expressing itself within the political context of the Islamic regime.
Furthermore, the author provides a lengthy, critical development on Ahmad Chalabi, a former leader of the Iraqi opposition reputedly close to the CIA—and also the Iranians—with whom the author apparently has some serious scores to settle. His predictions about Iran establishing an oil monopoly have not materialized, though they foretold the mobilization of Sunnis against the rising power of their Shiite neighbor. The author is always too sure of himself when he also claims that Iraqi Sunnis will never regain power, a statement contradicted by the results of the latest regional elections in that country. “Can Iran be summed up as a theocracy?” Robert Baer eventually asks, answering negatively: in this nebula of security services and military institutions themselves led by clergy, it is, he explains, the sovereign ministries under the supervision of the Guide that hold power.
