Vladimir Kuzichkin was a KGB major, the secret agency of the Soviet Union. In the fall of 1981, he secretly met with British agent Ian McCredie in a bathroom in Tehran, Iran. To avoid being detected by Iranian listening devices, water ran in the sink and bathtub while a radio played to cover the voices of the two. The meeting occurred just two years after the Islamic Revolution, and both risked imprisonment, torture and possibly execution if discovered.
Kuzichkin had contacted the United Kingdom to offer information of potentially enormous value. He revealed that Soviet-backed communists were preparing to seize power in Iran and invite the Red Army to enter the country. This move would give Moscow access to the oil fields and ports of the Persian Gulf.
The plan would represent a major threat to the West, leaving the Western alliance in check in the Middle East. The Soviet Union already occupied Afghanistan, a country neighboring Iran, which made the situation even more concerning for Western governments.
