# Mohsen Rafighdoost

> **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: "Mohsen Rafighdoost," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/mohsen-rafighdoost/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia.

*Iranian journalist and political figure whom John Kiriakou identifies as a co-founder of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the propaganda voice behind the audio tapes distributed in Iran before the 1979 revolution; interviewed on the PBD Podcast, he conceded that the Shah's regime held only 3,000–3,500 political prisoners rather than the 100,000 opposition figures claimed at the time and that the Shah was, in his own judgment, a better man than Ayatollah Khomeini.*

- **Role:** Co-founder, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps
- **Per Kiriakou:** The propaganda voice of the Iranian Revolution

**Mohsen Rafighdoost** is an Iranian journalist and political figure whom [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou) identifies as a co-founder, alongside Ayatollah Khomeini, of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps after the 1979 Iranian revolution.[1] Kiriakou describes him as the voice that recorded the intro to the pre-revolution propaganda tapes smuggled into Iran to turn the population against the [Shah](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/reza-pahlavi).[2]

On the PBD Podcast, Kiriakou notes, Rafighdoost, brought on as *"the propaganda guy"*, was asked point-blank whether the opposition's claim that SAVAK killed 100,000 people had been a lie. In Kiriakou's account of the exchange he heard on tape, Rafighdoost replied that *"many documents have come out"* since, and that *"it was only 3,000, 3,500"* political prisoners under the [Shah](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/reza-pahlavi), not 100,000.[3][4] Rafighdoost went further and offered his personal verdict that *"Shah was a better guy than Khomeini,"* and that the Shah's belief in modernisation of Iran was *"definitely better than [the] Islamic Republic."*[4][5]

Kiriakou treats the admission as evidence that a founding figure of the Islamic Republic's security architecture had, four decades on and speaking against interest, effectively conceded that a foundational revolutionary talking point about the [Shah](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/reza-pahlavi)'s prison population had been an exaggeration by roughly a factor of thirty.[3]

## See also

- [Reza Pahlavi](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/reza-pahlavi)
- [Iran 12-Day War](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/iran-12-day-war)
- [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou)

## Sources

1. #783 — Ex-CIA Officer Confronted Over Zionist Accusations (2026-04-23), at 10:49. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1p_B72s6Ix0&t=649s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-04-23-pbd-podcast-ex-cia-officer-confronted-over-zionist-accusa/
2. #783 — Ex-CIA Officer Confronted Over Zionist Accusations (2026-04-23), at 11:22. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1p_B72s6Ix0&t=682s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-04-23-pbd-podcast-ex-cia-officer-confronted-over-zionist-accusa/
3. #783 — Ex-CIA Officer Confronted Over Zionist Accusations (2026-04-23), at 11:54. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1p_B72s6Ix0&t=714s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-04-23-pbd-podcast-ex-cia-officer-confronted-over-zionist-accusa/
4. #783 — Ex-CIA Officer Confronted Over Zionist Accusations (2026-04-23), at 12:24. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1p_B72s6Ix0&t=744s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-04-23-pbd-podcast-ex-cia-officer-confronted-over-zionist-accusa/
5. #783 — Ex-CIA Officer Confronted Over Zionist Accusations (2026-04-23), at 12:56. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1p_B72s6Ix0&t=776s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-04-23-pbd-podcast-ex-cia-officer-confronted-over-zionist-accusa/

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