Welcome to a new episode of pplpod! In this episode, we dive into the explosive political catalyst of the Iranian Revolution by examining a pivotal 1978 propaganda article.

On January 7, 1978, the Ettela'at newspaper published a highly controversial piece titled "Iran and Red and Black Colonization" under the fictitious pseudonym Ahmad Rashidi Motlagh. The article was allegedly drafted at the Imperial Court and deployed by Prime Minister Amir-Abbas Hoveyda as a weapon to attack religious opponents of the ruling regime. It viciously targeted Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, portraying him as a faithless adventurer and a foreign agent with ties to British colonial centers. The piece alleged a sinister alliance between communist forces, referred to as "red," and religious Islamist ...