TEHRAN, Iran — Reactions are still pouring in over the BBC Persian Service’s June 1 story on the founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, based on recently declassified CIA documents. The British broadcaster cites a 1980 CIA analysis, titled “Islam in Iran,” released in 2008 that claimed Khomeini had reached out to the administration of President John F. Kennedy in 1963. The BBC article also reports that Khomeini contacted the White House just before the fall of the Shah of Iran in 1979.

Al-Monitor did not have access to the declassified documents and was not able to independently verify them. The BBC has, however, made “Islam in Iran” available to the public.

CIA documents are reported to show that Khomeini sent a secret letter to President Jimmy Carter in January 1979 in which he proposed that if the US president used his influence with the Iranian military to drop its opposition to his takeover, he would calm the situation in Iran. Khomeini also reportedly promised that US interests and nationals in Iran would be protected.

Khomeini was arrested in 1963 after voicing fiery criticism of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. At a speech in the holy city of Qom on Ashoura, Khomeini slammed the shah’s land reforms and accused him of serving Israel’s interests while undermining Islam and Muslim clerics. Khomeini also warned the shah that he would come to regret his actions. According to a CIA cable cited in “Islam in Iran,” Khomeini sent a rare message of support to the Kennedy administration, explaining that he was not opposed to American interests in Iran. The cable names theologian and cleric Haj Mirza Khalil Kamarei as Khomeini’s messenger.