While the United States (and the Carter Administration) praised the Shah’s leadership, the Shah’s security apparatus Sâzemân-e Ettelâ’ât va Amniat-e Kešvar (SAVAK), funded and created by the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), worked hard to manufacture a cult of fear through the torture and surveillance of every day Iranian people. Along with the CIA, Israel’s intelligence agency MOSSAD also assisted, enabled, and enhanced SAVAKs repressive capabilities. Considering the Shah’s brutal track record of human rights abuses, Carter’s toast symbolized the commitment of the United States government to turn a blind eye to its client states’ actions as long as that state continued to advance the United States’ national security interests.
