Free The Tehran Initiative by Joel C. Rosenberg Page A

to say exactly.”
    “And you think Iran is behind the attack in New York today?”
    “I don’t have proof, Dad, but yes, that’s where I think the trail of evidence will eventually lead.”
    “So you’re going back into Iran tonight?”
    “Well, no, not exactly. I’m flying to DC tonight to meet my colleagues at Langley and compare notes and develop a plan. And then we’ll see.”
    “But they’re probably going to send you back into Iran?”
    David nodded, his stomach in knots, and there was another long, uncomfortable pause.
    “Dad, I’m not even sure I should stay with the Agency.”
    “What are you talking about?”
    “I’m thinking of stepping down.”
    “Why?”
    “I want to be with you and Mom. I want to help you, not leave you all alone. And honestly, I’m not sure whether I really—”
    But his father cut him off. “No, no, David; you have to go. You have to. Your country needs you, especially now.”
    “But, Dad, there are others who—”
    But Dr. Shirazi would have none of it. “I’m so proud of you, David.”
    “You are?”
    “Of course. Your mother would be too.”
    David bit his lip. This wasn’t a reaction he’d even considered.
    “Honestly, I wish I was young enough to do the same thing.” Dr. Shirazi smiled faintly and put his arm on David’s shoulder.
    “Join the CIA?”
    “Of course.”
    “But why?”
    “Because America saved my life, and your mother’s. The CIA and the State Department saved our lives. I’ll never forget what Jack Zalinsky and Charlie Harper did. They risked their lives to get us out of Iran. They adopted us into this country. Don’t get me wrong, Son; I love Iran for giving me birth, but I’m disgusted by what the mullahs are doing to the people. I loathe Ayatollah Hosseini and President Darazi. I despise everything they stand for. They’re suffocating Iran’s economy. They’re devouring Iran’s children. They’re strangling Iran’s future, and they don’t care. They’re cult members and murderers, both of them. They deny the Holocaust, and they want to murder six million Israeli Jews. And that’s not even their main goal. Israel is just the small devil. America is the big devil. Hosseini and Darazi want to annihilate us all. They want to murder Christians along with Jews, plus every Muslim who doesn’t believe what they believe. They want the whole world to bow down and worship the Twelfth Imam, all to bring about their Caliphate and the end of the world. They are evil, David, sheer evil. Someone has to stop them. Someone has to go in there and cut through all their lies and all their defenses and find a way to put an end to all this madness. And believe me, David, if I were younger, I would join the CIA and go back to Iran and put a bullet through both their heads. I thought about that many times over the years, but I’m ashamed to say I never had the guts to do it. But I will die a happy man—your mother will die a happy woman—if that someone is you. At least our lives will have meant something. At least we’ll have done something right.”

9
    Tehran, Iran
    Hosseini set down the folder and turned on the television.
    He soon found himself glued to Iran’s state-run news channel, showing alternating coverage of the Twelfth Imam’s inaugural address in Mecca only four days before and the news out of Manhattan. As he stared at the mesmerizing images and listened to the reporting and analysis, Hosseini found himself in near disbelief. For decades he had prayed for this moment—dreamed of it, studied for it, prepared for it. But though he didn’t dare confide this to any of his subjects or staff, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran wasn’t sure if he had ever fully believed such a moment would truly happen in his lifetime, much less that he would be so intimately involved. It was one thing to believe oneself to be living in the end of days, but it was quite another to be certain.
    As a child, his parents and teachers