Sadegh Tabatabai: An Unsuccessful Ambition in Iranian Politics

Sadegh Tabatabai passed away at the age of 72 due to cancer. He was a well-known figure in Iranian politics but left no positive political legacy. His name was tied to the provisional government at the beginning of the revolution, and his distinct appearance and attire showcased moderate figures. With the consolidation of the Imam line in 1981, he withdrew from the political arena and went behind the scenes to assist the regime in arms deals and secret negotiations. During the 1980s, he did not protest against political repression. At that time, he served in the office of Ayatollah Khomeini, whose brother-in-law was the main orchestrator. However, his arrest in Germany for drug possession and the opening of a financial case in the Revolutionary Court caused him to fade into the background and lose any governmental position. During Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's leadership, he had no political activity. In the 2009 presidential election, whispers of his presence in Mohsen Rezaei's campaign were heard, but it did not materialize. In the later years of his life, he made headlines by publishing his memoirs and recounting stories from the early revolutionary years. Overall, Sadegh Tabatabai's political retirement began early. He held a PhD in biochemistry with a focus on enzymology and genetics from the University of Aachen in Germany. He completed his doctoral thesis with Professor Gerhard Fleiderer, a biochemist. His scientific activities were short-lived, lasting only a few years. He was also skilled in music. He began learning music at a young age under the recommendation of his uncle, Imam Musa Sadr, and later studied Western music in Europe. Upon returning to Iran after the revolution, he was able to associate with prominent figures in Iranian music and enhance his musical skills. With the recommendation of Professor Ahmad Abadi, he spent several years under the tutelage of the renowned Iranian musician Fakhri Malekpour, completing his piano training and learning the playing techniques of Morteza Khan Mahjubi. In addition to his special expertise in playing the piano, he had skills in flower cultivation, history, photography, filming, calligraphy, and painting. Some experts in traditional Iranian music believe he played a negative role in linking music to political power and creating divisions among the greats of traditional Iranian music. However, the condolence message from Mohammad Reza Shajarian and the reference to Tabatabai's support for masters, artists, musicians, and poets indicate a positive view from some traditional music figures regarding his artistic and cultural efforts. An Unsuccessful Attempt to Connect Contradictions: Sadegh Tabatabai was born into a traditional clerical family. His father, Ayatollah Seyyed Mohammad Baqir Soltani Tabatabai, was a traditional cleric from the Tabatabai Sayyid lineage who also had cautious innovations. His mother was the daughter of Ayatollah Seyyed Sadr al-Din Sadr, one of the three leading clerics who held the leadership of the seminary before Ayatollah Borujerdi's arrival in Qom. Thus, Imam Musa and Seyyed Reza Sadr were his famous uncles. Seyyed Mohammad Baqir Sadr was his maternal uncle. Ali Akbar Sadeghi, father of Seyyed Mohammad Khatami's wife, and Ali Hajati Kermani were other maternal uncles. His mother was the granddaughter of Ayatollah Seyyed Hossein Tabatabai Qomi, and thus Ayatollah Seyyed Hassan Qomi was her maternal uncle. His sister's marriage to Seyyed Ahmad Khomeini also connected the Soltani Tabatabai family with the Khomeinis. Such familial ties are common among scholars in Qom and Iraq. Ayatollah Seyyed Hassan Qomi was a well-known opponent of Ayatollah Khomeini and spent many years under house arrest. Although Sadegh Tabatabai's father was in the close circle of Ayatollah Khomeini, he never engaged in political activities or provided strong support for the regime. However, Tabatabai's attempts to connect unrelated issues and overlook fundamental distinctions characterized his political activities throughout his career. He was drawn to political and religious activities due to his fascination with his uncle Imam Musa Sadr. However, during his student activities, he founded the Islamic Students Association in Aachen, Germany, and later established the Union of Islamic Associations in Europe, collaborating with similar organizations in the United States, aligning more with what is now called the national-religious movement. Although he was never a member of the Freedom Movement, he maintained close relationships with Mustafa Chamran, Sadegh Qotbzadeh, Ali Shariati, Ibrahim Yazdi, Hassan Habibi, and Abolhassan Banisadr. At the same time, he was in contact with political clerics such as Ayatollah Khomeini, Ayatollah Beheshti, Ali Hajati Kermani, Seyyed Mahmoud Doa'i, and Mohammad Mojtahed Shabestari. His main activity was supporting Musa Sadr's efforts in Lebanon. During the Lebanese Civil War, he worked with his uncle and the Movement of the Deprived in Lebanon. He also attempted to transform the disparate figures of Musa Sadr, Ruhollah Khomeini, and Mohammad Baqir Sadr into a triangle. However, the significant differences and ideological rifts among them did not allow for this. Musa Sadr was not considered a favorable figure among most revolutionary figures in Iran. It is enough to note that if Ayatollah Seyyed Mahmoud Taleghani was present at a meeting where Musa Sadr was present, he would immediately leave the meeting. Conflicts with leftist communist political activists in Europe and Lebanon were another prominent aspect of Sadegh Tabatabai's pre-revolutionary activities. He was a regular member of the Confederation of Iranian Students for a while but left due to conflicts with leftist forces. After the revolution, with the victory of the revolution, he rose to high government positions. Serving as the spokesperson for the provisional government and overseeing the prime minister's office until the formation of the Rajai government was Sadegh Tabatabai's most significant political role. His defeat in the presidential election, where he received only 50,000 votes, was also his greatest failure. In the early years of the revolution, he tried to navigate between the Freedom Movement and Ayatollah Khomeini. This position and his differences with the so-called Imam line led him to have no position in the government and the three branches of power after 1981. However, his familial connection to Ayatollah Khomeini, particularly his close relationship with Ahmad Khomeini, allowed him to take on side missions. With Ayatollah Khomeini's green light, through his connections with Hans-Dietrich Genscher, the then-West German Foreign Minister, he was able to open a new path for behind-the-scenes negotiations for the release of hostages. However, his direct negotiations with Warren Christopher, the Deputy Secretary of State in Jimmy Carter's administration, went nowhere. The most controversial aspect of Sadegh Tabatabai's political and governmental activities was his involvement in arms trafficking during the Iran-Iraq War. Through the relationships he established during his stay in Europe and his travels to Lebanon, he was able to enter arms trafficking and supply part of Iran's military needs. Tabatabai established a company in Germany to conduct military trafficking under its cover. During his years in West Germany, he made various deals to supply weapons. However, he was never prosecuted in West Germany for these transactions, and no case was filed against him. Some Western media have accused him of connections with mafia gangs. His activities abroad led to criticisms within the country. Mohammad Montazeri made a speech against him in the last days of his life, and Rafsanjani explained in his memoirs that Rajai and Khamenei had protested in the Supreme Defense Council that he had hired an Italian secretary in his company. He denied this claim in a meeting with Rafsanjani. Sadegh Tabatabai also sought to create favorable conditions for oil contracts between European companies and the Islamic Republic. However, the expansion of military exchanges led him to be under suspicion of overpricing, personal gain, embezzlement, and mismanagement of public funds. Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani mentioned in his memoirs that Tabatabai provided information regarding $56 million and being deceived in a weapons purchase. Eventually, under the insistence of Colonel Seyyed Lotfollah Atabaki, one of the officials of the Revolutionary Army's prosecutor's office, and the report from the Army's logistics deputy commander, Sadegh Tabatabai was summoned to the Revolutionary Court of the Army. Tabatabai claimed that a conspiracy had been orchestrated against him. The case involved the purchase and delivery of 200 American M106 rifles, which the Army's logistics officials protested were fewer than the number purchased. According to Rafsanjani's memoirs, Seyyed Ahmad Khomeini requested his referral to the court. Ayatollah Khomeini also asked him to oversee Tabatabai's case in court. Ultimately, with Ayatollah Khomeini's intervention, the case was taken from the Army's prosecutor's office, and Mohammad Mohammadi Qomi, known as Rey-Shahri, took over the case. Ayatollah Khomeini told Rey-Shahri: 'You handle it. I don't know the army's story, and I know you.' Rey-Shahri investigated and ultimately acquitted Sadegh Tabatabai. However, since then, there has been a serious suspicion that this case was diverted from its natural course through Ayatollah Khomeini's influence. Another major scandal was the discovery of 1.7 kilograms of opium in Tabatabai's suitcase at Düsseldorf Airport in Germany. Sadegh Tabatabai was accused by the West German judiciary of trafficking drugs into the country. He was later released on bail. Iranian embassy officials announced that he had diplomatic immunity and was a special envoy of Iran. This issue became controversial in Germany. Initially, the court rejected documents regarding Tabatabai's diplomatic status. However, he had a diplomatic passport. Eventually, the court accepted his legal immunity but sentenced him to three years in prison in absentia. Sadegh Tabatabai claimed that the West German Supreme Court acquitted him and attributed the incident to a conspiracy by Iraq along with the former Soviet security system, involving elements affiliated with the Tudeh Party, who allegedly placed the package containing opium in his suitcase. He attributed the main reason for this to efforts to convince the French government at the time to sell weapons to Iran and halt military transactions with Iraq, which the Iraqis discovered and conspired against him, disrupting Iran's relations with France. Tudeh Party activists in Iran rejected this claim, asserting that through the influence of the Iranian embassy and Tabatabai's close relations with the West German government, he escaped punishment. They claimed that the incident involving Tabatabai's suitcase containing opium is recorded as a court case in the German police archives, and he accepted in court that the package of opium belonged to him. Some foreign sources even claimed he had connections with international drug cartels. The veracity of this claim cannot be verified based on available information. Some security and law enforcement officials in West Germany had hypothesized that Tabatabai was using drugs to pay for weapons. However, Tabatabai's claim of acquittal remains ambiguous. Hashemi Rafsanjani mentioned in his memoirs: 'Mr. Sadegh Tabatabai came. He consulted about the pursuit of his case in Europe. He wants the expenses of his case.' At another point, he said: 'German officials have asked Mr. Tabatabai to help rescue their hostages in Lebanon. He said he would like to be acquitted in that country, and the case closed, so he could act.' While Sadegh Tabatabai was arrested in the winter of 1982, and his initial three-year prison sentence was issued in 1983. If he was acquitted, there would be no reason for him to request the closure of the case and his acquittal from German officials in 1987. The political dimensions of this case are significant, and uncovering the truth requires time and the release of related confidential documents. From this point onward, Sadegh Tabatabai received no further responsibilities or missions in the Islamic Republic and faded into the background. There was only a rumor that through his mediation, Hossein Khomeini returned from the United States to Iran and ended his activities to change the regime. Overall, Sadegh Tabatabai remained unsuccessful in the political arena of Iran and could not achieve a significant position. He also had little influence. From the beginning, he was enamored with Islamism and Islamic governance but did not have a favorable view of jurisprudential Islam. He was not traditional either. His lifestyle was modern. Although he had good relations with the members of the Freedom Movement during his student years and activities in Islamic associations in Europe, he was critical of Engineer Bazargan's non-radical approach. After the revolution, in the early years, he opposed extremism. However, later he reconciled with the ruling authoritarian forces and did not create any obstacles for them, accepting to play a role in a system established by his relatives. In the final analysis, Sadegh Tabatabai was not among the main actors and forces of the Islamic Republic. His miscalculation regarding his political weight and eclectic political approach, which did not consider a specific place for himself in the political geography of Iran, led to him not being taken seriously by political factions in Iran after the revolution. The issues of drug possession and allegations in military transactions also completely closed his political file. Had it not been for his familial connection with Seyyed Ahmad Khomeini, he might have faced a dark fate.