Front for the Liberation of Iran (FIL), Iran Liberation Front (ILF) or the Saviour Front () was an Iranian monarchist organization based in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, which sought to restore the

Pahlavi dynasty The Pahlavi dynasty () is an List of monarchs of Iran, Iranian royal dynasty that was the Pahlavi Iran, last to rule Iran before the country's monarchy was abolished by the Iranian Revolution in 1979. It was founded in 1925 by Reza Shah, Reza S ...

following the

Iranian Revolution The Iranian Revolution (, ), also known as the 1979 Revolution, or the Islamic Revolution of 1979 (, ) was a series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynasty in 1979. The revolution led to the replacement of the Impe ...

. It was led by Ali Amini, former

Prime Minister of Iran The prime minister of Iran was a political post that had existed in Iran (Persia) during much of the 20th century. It began in 1906 during the Qajar dynasty and into the start of the Pahlavi dynasty in 1923 and into the 1979 Iranian Revolution ...

, who announced establishment of the group on 19 January 1982.

Agreement with National Resistance Movement of Iran

In July 1983, the organization signed an agreement with the National Resistance Movement of Iran, another French-based organization led by

Shapour Bakhtiar Shapour Bakhtiar (, ; 26 June 19146 August 1991) was an Iranian politician who served as the last Prime Minister of Iran under the rule of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. In the words of the historian Abbas Milani: "more than once in the tone of a jere ...

over shared policies, which included installing Reza Pahlavi. By 1984, personal conflicts had reduced effectiveness of this alliance, according to Anoushiravan Ehteshami.

CIA funding

The

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...

(CIA) reportedly funded the organization since 1982, paying a monthly stipend of $100,000. The money included $20,000–$30,000 for the expenses of a radio named ''Radio Nejat'' () which was broadcast from Egypt to Iran four hours a day. The radio's greatest achievement in September 1986, when the CIA overrided Iranian domestic TV frequencies, sending the 11-minutes speech of Reza Pahlavi. When the news of CIA money circulated media in the United States, France and Iran, Amini who felt his reputation was damaged, withdrew from politics. Amini was replaced by Manouchehr Ganji in 1986.

References

{{Iran defunct parties Counter-revolutionaries Monarchist organizations Political organizations based in France 1982 establishments in France