The greatest uprising since the Iranian Revolution of January 1979 is happening right now. It looks like a scene from the movie Braveheart, when Scotland cried “Freedom” during the First War of Scottish Independence against King Edward of England, led by Sir William Wallace.
Evangelical Bible believers see it as a battle between principalities and powers. “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, against the world rulers of this darkness, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12).
They see a similar battle that happened in Persia during Daniel’s day in the Bible, against a demon spirit called the Prince of Persia, described in the Book of Daniel, chapter 10, a demonic spiritual force opposing God’s purpose. It was a cosmic battle of spiritual warfare in which the angel Michael, the guardian angel of Israel, battled demonic forces.
Farah Pahlavi, Empress of Iran, held my book, Jimmy Carter, the Liberal Left, and World Chaos, in her hands in her home in Georgetown twenty-six years ago. The book documented president Jimmy Carter’s plan to overthrow the Shah of Iran.
She said, “It is absolutely true what you’ve written. He came to Tehran on New Year’s 1977 and told the King, ‘You will release political prisoners, give freedom of the press and freedom of religion, and you will allow Khomeini to come back. If you don’t, you will not get replacement parts for your helicopters and planes. I have the authority to do this under a human rights provision.’”
“When he left, my husband said, ‘If I agree, the Russians will invade Afghanistan, Iraq will attack Iran, an Islamic Revolution will be born in Iran, and who knows what horror will come upon the earth.’” She said, “Carter believed that Khomeini would be great for human rights because he was a cleric and could become a Gandhi-like figure.”
The day before my meeting with Farah Pahlavi, I met in the home of General Robert Huyser, former Deputy Commander-in-Chief of European Command and Jimmy Carter’s special emissary to Iran. He told me he was sent to Tehran to foment a military coup. Huyser’s job was to inform the generals that Carter was in favor of democracy in Iran and to persuade the military leaders to remain in Iran and work with the United States, assuring them that the US would protect them.
Huyser, with tears running down his face, told me in his home, “They all died because of me. They could have saved the country from the revolution, but Carter would not let them. They died believing in us.” Of the eighty top generals, more than seventy were tortured and executed, along with hundreds of lower-ranking officers. Almost seventy-five percent of the senior officers were killed.
‘Carter had abandoned an ally’
I flew to France and met with President Valéry Giscard d’Estaing. He told me something similar. “President Carter called for a meeting on the French island of Guadeloupe in the Caribbean with the leaders of Britain, France, and West Germany. The United States had decided not to support the regime of the Shah and was working to overthrow him.” He said “Carter had abandoned an ally.”
Khomeini became the VIP darling of the Western media. France had become a command center for the launch of the Islamic Revolution. Khomeini gave over one hundred media interviews during his four-month stay in Neauphle-le-Château, France, and hosted over one thousand Iranian visitors a day. Two of Khomeini’s visitors were Farouk Kaddoumi, PLO department head, and a Libyan representative of Muammar al-Qaddafi. 
His compound was surrounded by representatives of covert agencies from the major powers: the CIA, British MI6, Russian KGB, and the French intelligence organization SDECE. I later found out that funds were also being sent to Khomeini from the United States while he was in France to help him overthrow the Shah.
On September 23, 1980, I was in the home of Isser Harel, founder of Israeli intelligence Mossad, in Tel Aviv. I asked him three questions. First: “Do you think Jimmy Carter will win the election against Ronald Reagan?” Carter was ahead in the polls. Harel said, “The Iranians will have something to say about that. When Ronald Reagan puts his hand on the Bible, the hostages will be released.”
I then asked him what would happen to Sadat. He said, “We have saved his life several times, but at an opportune time, the Muslim Brotherhood will kill him.”
My third question was whether terrorism would ever come to America. He said, “The terrorists have the power but not the will. You have the will but not the power. All of that can change in time. You kill a fly and rejoice. We kill one, and a hundred come to the funeral. Your first terrorist attack will be in New York City, your tallest building.”
The deadlock between the United States and Iran seemed insurmountable until January 15, 1981. Just days before Carter was to leave office, Iran agreed to the terms. US bank officials worked marathon sessions. New documents were drawn up, and the Bank of England was approved as the repository of the escrow funds. Shortly after 4:00 a.m. on Inauguration Day, January 20, 1981, the Carter administration relinquished $7.977 billion to the Iranians. The transfer required fourteen banks and the participation of five nations acting concurrently.
As I watched Ronald Reagan place his hand on the Bible to be sworn in, a news flash announced that the hostages were being released. My phone rang. It was the senior advisor to Prime Minister Begin, Dr. Reuben Hecht, who had been in the meeting with me and Isser Harel. He said, “Harel is a prophet. It’s happening exactly as he said.”
Mike Evans is a New York Times #1 bestselling author of 119 published books and a Nobel Peace Prize nominee. He is the founder of the Friends of Zion Heritage Center and recently led an initiative that brought 1,000 evangelical pastors to Israel to combat antisemitism.
