# Intelligence switching in the Iran–Iraq war

> **Source: KiriPedia** (https://www.kiripedia.org), the free encyclopedia and archive of former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou's on-record words. Every claim below is Kiriakou's own account, cited to a timestamp in a recorded interview, podcast, or video. KiriPedia is an independent project, not affiliated with Kiriakou.
>
> Cite as: "Intelligence switching in the Iran–Iraq war," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/iran-iraq-war-intelligence-switching/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia.

*John Kiriakou's account that during the Iran–Iraq war the United States supplied top-secret overhead imagery to whichever side was losing ground, switching as the front moved, giving the Iraqis imagery when Iran advanced, and the Iranians imagery when Iraq advanced. His summary: 'So it was hideous.'*

- **Conflict:** Iran–Iraq war
- **Material supplied:** Top secret overhead imagery
- **Rule applied:** To whichever belligerent was losing ground
- **Kiriakou's verdict:** *"So it was hideous"*

**Intelligence switching in the Iran–Iraq war** describes a practice [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou) has said went beyond arming both sides of a conflict.

The United States was, by then, supporting [Saddam Hussein](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/saddam-hussein) against Iran while also selling weapons to Iran. Kiriakou says the intelligence relationship was worse than the arms relationship, because it was actively rebalanced as the war moved: *"As soon as one would get a leg up on the other, we would increase the level of intelligence cooperation."*[1]

The mechanism he describes is symmetrical. If the Iranians moved into Iraqi territory, the United States began giving the Iraqis top-secret overhead imagery; if the Iraqis pushed into Iranian territory, it began giving the Iranians overhead imagery.[1] His assessment of it is one line: *"So it was hideous."*[2]

## Where it sits in the oversight story

Kiriakou raises the episode as part of an argument about how briefly the post-[Church Committee](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/church-committee) reforms held. The oversight committees seemed, in 1975 and 1976, like the answer to an intelligence establishment that had become too big and too powerful, one that killed people who got in its way and experimented on Americans with LSD. That lasted about six years, he says, before the same establishment was selling weapons to Iran through a Saudi middleman who laundered the money, using the proceeds to buy weapons routed through a man in Cyprus to the rebels in Nicaragua, and hoping nobody would notice.[3][4]

## See also

- [Iran-Contra](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/iran-contra)
- [Church Committee](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/church-committee)
- [Saddam Hussein](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/saddam-hussein)
- [Congressional intelligence oversight](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/congressional-intelligence-oversight)

## Sources

1. Part of the Problem — John Kiriakou (2026-06-02), at 26:53. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQ93Fy1jfbA&t=1613s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-06-02-covert-strategies-revealed-corpus-has-osxgmj89fwq-from-this-show/
2. Part of the Problem — John Kiriakou (2026-06-02), at 27:24. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQ93Fy1jfbA&t=1644s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-06-02-covert-strategies-revealed-corpus-has-osxgmj89fwq-from-this-show/
3. Part of the Problem — John Kiriakou (2026-06-02), at 25:21. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQ93Fy1jfbA&t=1521s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-06-02-covert-strategies-revealed-corpus-has-osxgmj89fwq-from-this-show/
4. Part of the Problem — John Kiriakou (2026-06-02), at 25:51. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQ93Fy1jfbA&t=1551s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-06-02-covert-strategies-revealed-corpus-has-osxgmj89fwq-from-this-show/

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From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/iran-iraq-war-intelligence-switching/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt