A young student in the US when the Iranian Revolution happened in 1979, Reza Kahlili rejoiced and hurried back to his native country, but he soon found that "every promise that Khomeini had made was vividly a lie." In the early 1980s, he made contact with the CIA, agreeing to risk his life and his family's wellbeing as a spy within Iran. He discusses with Peter how he burrowed inside the regime's elite Revolutionary Guard to report what he found, balancing his constant fear against his Persian patriotism.

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