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Information on the ministry is often difficult to obtain. The organization was intended to replace SAVAK, Iran's intelligence agency during the rule of the Shah, but it is unclear how much continuity there is between the two organizations—while their role is similar, their underlying ideology is radically different. It is suspected that the new government was initially eager to purge SAVAK elements from the new organization, but that pragmatism eventually prevailed, with many experienced SAVAK personnel being retained in their roles. Former SAVAK staff are believed to have been important in the ministry's infiltration of left-wing dissident groups and of the Iraqi Ba'ath Party.

The formation of the ministry was proposed by Saeed Hajjarian to the government of Mir-Hossein Mousavi and then the parliament. There were debates about which branch of the state should oversee the new institution, and the other options apart from the presidency were the Judiciary system, the Supreme Leader, and Sepah . Finally, the government could get the approval of Ayatollah Khomeini to make it a ministry, but a restriction was added to the requirements of the minister, needing him to be a mujtahid.

The ministry was finally founded on August 18August 18 is the 230th day of the year (231st in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 135 days remaining. Events 293 BC Oldest known Roman temple to Venus founded, institution of Vinalia Rustica begins. 1587 Virginia Dare, granddaughter of Gov, 1984This page is about the year 1984. For other uses of 1984, see 1984 (disambiguation). 1984 is a leap year starting on Sunday (link shows calendar). Events January January 1 Brunei becomes a fully independent state January 1 AT&T is broken up into 22 indepe, abandoning many small intelligence agencies that were formed in different governmental organization. The four ministers since the founding of the ministry, have been Mohammad Reyshahri (under Prime Minister Mir-Hossein Mousavi), Ali Fallahian (under President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani), Ghorbanali Dorri-Najafabadi (under President Mohammad KhatamiHojjat ol-Eslam Seyyed Mohammad Khatami ( Persian: ; born October, 1943 in Ardakan) is the fifth and current President of Iran. He has been president since August 2, 1997, and his second term will end on August 2, 2005. He is a member of the Central Counc, resigned after a year), and Ali Younessi (under President Khatami).