Author reveals details as U.S. spy in Iran

A TIME TO BETRAY: The Astonishing Double Life of a CIA Agent Inside the Revolutionary Guards of Iran. By Reza Kahlili. Threshold Editions/Simon & Schuster. 340 pages. $26.

The publisher assures us that this is the true story of a CIA agent working inside the Iranian Revolutionary Guards. Accepting those assurances, it is easy to understand why the names of the author, his family, friends, and presumably his several CIA handlers have been changed.

Reza Kahlili asserts that it was also necessary to adjust the details of some events so as to preclude discovery. Additionally, it is reasonable to assume that the fine hand of the CIA had some editorial authority. It is actually somewhat surprising that the CIA even permitted the release. While accepting the truth of the fundamental story, some events and relationships seem to be more the work of his screenwriter than the author himself. Hopefully, he has retained the film rights.

That said, the story is entirely believable and tracks well with known history. There are some revelations nearly buried in the engrossing story that were not common knowledge; such as his statement that Iran has been pursuing a nuclear weapon for 25 years. Previously unknown facts about Lockerbie, the Iran-Iraq war and the Iran-Contra affair are also revealed.

Kahlili grew up in a high-rent district of northern Tehran. He and two boyhood friends evolved in three diametrically different political directions. Kahlili went to UCLA for a degree in computer systems engineering, a skill later needed by the Revolutionary Guards.

After returning to Tehran for his father's funeral, he found that Iran was moving in a direction he vowed to combat. At great personal risk he decided that he could best influence events by spying for the U.S. Since his wife and family were adamantly opposed to the mullahs and the now fundamentalist government, his double life created great stress in his personal life.

While the story is greatly affected by the classic literary dilemma of resolving terribly conflicting motives, it would be right at home on the pages of today's current events.