SAEDNEWS: In the dead of winter 1977, Iran’s Supreme Leader awoke to a violent SAVAK assault—only to witness his wife’s daring intervention that safeguarded clandestine revolutionary documents.
According to Saed News, in late winter of 1977 (Dey 1356 in the Iranian calendar), agents of SAVAK—Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi’s feared secret police—launched a pre‑dawn raid on the modest Tehran home of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Having risen at the knock of the door roughly an hour before Fajr prayers, Khamenei confronted a six‑man squad armed with submachine guns and revolvers. Mistaking them initially for leftist insurgents, he slammed the door shut, only for the intruders to batter through the reinforced glass panel above.
As the agents violently beat Khamenei between the outer entrance and the inner chamber, his twelve‑year‑old son Mustafa watched in terror through a thin partition. Once handcuffed, Khamenei insisted the agents release his bonds so his family would not see him manacled. Inside, they ransacked every room, from the kitchen to the lavatory, and confiscated scores of books, papers, and notes—many never recovered.
Amid the chaos, Mrs. Khamenei executed a remarkable act of resourcefulness. Slipping into the adjoining study—unnoticed by the intruders—she collected secret revolutionary leaflets from beneath the carpet and concealed them, preserving a vital link in the underground network. The raid paused only when the dawn call to prayer arrived: Khamenei performed his prayers in the emptied library, and one agent joined him, before the search resumed. His parting reassurance to his children, delivered without subterfuge—“I am about to travel”—underscored the quiet courage that would soon define Iran’s revolution.
