"This man changed the world." "He took Iran and made it an inspiration for a new, uncompromising strand of Islam." "Our bosses couldn't cope with the idea of an 80-year-old Ayatollah, which they didn't even know what an Ayatollah was, who lived on garlic and onions and yoghurt, directing a revolution that was about to topple America's most important ally." "HE SPEAKS NATIVE TONGUE" "His Iran broke all the rules of diplomacy." "It unleashed forces the West still cannot handle." "It has undermined the West's hold on the Middle East." "Iran is deliberately causing maximum problems." "Iran is a threat to world peace." "I will do everything in my power to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon." "Everything in my power." "This series tells the inside story of how, for 30 years, Iran has baffled and defeated Western leaders." "Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini spent 14 years banished from his native Iran." "From neighbouring Iraq he waged a holy war against the Shah of Iran." "In the autumn of 1978, Iraq's leader, Saddam Hussein, presented the Shah with a startling choice." "HE SPEAKS NATIVE TONGUE" "The Shah was cautious." "In those days, we felt that if somebody gets rid of Khomeini, he will become like a martyr and he'll become even greater." "Mohammad Reza Pahlavi had ruled Iran for almost 40 years." "He lived in a world apart from his people." "He was kept in power by a vicious security service and the fifth largest army on earth, equipped with American weaponry." "He ignored calls for democracy." "He let the nation's vast oil wealth go only to the few." "He promoted Western culture, enraging millions of Muslims." "Many groups resented the Shah." "They came together under Khomeini's banner." "The Shah's government banned public gatherings." "During one rally in Tehran, troops shot more than 100 demonstrators dead." "From Iraq, Imam Khomeini was causing havoc in Iran." "The Shah declined Saddam's offer to kill him, but agreed to his being expelled." "Khomeini sought refuge in Kuwait." "Khomeini chose never to visit Paris, even though he set up home 18 miles away." "A supporter lent him a house in the village of Neauphle-le-Chateau." "Word went out to his followers round the world." "Khomeini was now in easy reach of the world's media." "So, there is no alternative to fighting?" "Khomeini's success in stoking the revolution embarrassed the French president, an ally of the Shah." "President Giscard sent the official responsible for high-profile foreign visitors to issue a warning to the Ayatollah." "In fact, Khomeini's house was a veritable production line, copying and distributing his pronouncements." "In Iran, anyone carrying Khomeini's words risked arrest." "The whole country ground to a halt when strikes, begun by the left, received Khomeini's blessing." "The military commanders drew up proposals to end the chaos." "America was caught off guard." "For 30 years, the Shah had stood shoulder-to-shoulder with American presidents against the spread of communism and anti-Western movements in the Middle East." "Iran, because of the great leadership of the Shah, is an island of stability in one of the more troubled areas of the world." "Now, just ten months later, President Carter's words rang hollow." "'The question is beginning to arise, how long the present government here 'can last with almost daily fighting on the streets of Iran.'" "It was a question the American ambassador and his deputy needed to answer." "We were invited to this party." "We both went around, quite separately, talking to the various generals and admirals." "When I asked General Rabib how things were going, he said, "No problem at all"." "I went over to Admiral Habibollahi and asked the same penetrating question, "How are things going?"" "Here we were, the country was in turmoil, and there was not one significant mention of political problems, disorder or anything." "I could not sleep that night." "In the morning I hustled over to the embassy." "I went in and said, "Mr Ambassador, this is not going to work"." "He smiled and threw to me a pile of yellow lined paper with writing on it." "On top was, "Thinking The Unthinkable"." "The ambassador's report to Washington spelled it out." "The Shah's regime was in peril." "The President called an emergency meeting." "Our presumption was that the United States' policies would be better off if the Shah did stay in power." "We were concerned that if the Shah falls, the whole thing could become extremely unstable, not just in Iran but in the region." "But over how to save the Shah, the President's advisers were divided." "Secretary Vance and I both felt that the best chance the Shah had to maintain his position was to go the direction of reform." "To have early elections." "To take human rights steps that would gain the confidence of his people." "You first re-establish order, thereby asserting your authority, and shortly thereafter initiate reforms having proven that you're in charge." "Brzezinski felt we should make it very clear to the Shah that we would not object in any way if he decided to really crack down very hard and use what Brzezinski came to call" "The Iron Fist." "Their message to the Shah was not clear." "It urged him simultaneously to get tough with the protesters, and to offer them concessions." "The Shah summoned the ambassador." "Ambassador Sullivan had to say, "I have no instructions on this," ""Your Majesty", which left the Shah very confused." "The King of Kings went on TV and embraced the revolutionaries." "The Shah announced that he and his family would soon be taking an extended holiday." "The Americans decided they had to act." "Our intention was to make sure that the Shah's support was firm and to make sure that Iran didn't come apart." "I said to the President that we ought to explore the question of what will be the behaviour and the attitude of the Iranian military." "President Carter turned to a general who had served in Iran." "My instructions were to... ..give United States' assurances to the military of Iran that we would support them." "His mission was to go out and see if the Iranian military had the stomach to attempt a coup and to suppress the revolution." "The general had to get the military to defend the throne while the Shah was away." "You had to have plans, you know?" "The immediate thought of these generals and admirals was to do what you're talking about, that they'd take control." "But when asked how, they were speechless." "In his haste, the American general had failed to pay the usual courtesy call on the Shah." "He cautioned me only as a Shah could do, and you'd have to know him and see him looking at you through his glasses with this penetrating look, that I should not forget who the King of Kings was." "I saw him only once, when he accompanied the American ambassador to come and enquire about the date of my departure, and even the hour of my departure." "That's all I discussed with General Huyser." "Before his holiday, the Shah appointed a new Prime Minister, a moderate and former opponent of his regime, Shapour Bakhtiar." "I hope that we can settle all dispute and misunderstanding between the King and the nation, we hope." "Soon after, the Shah and his wife left Iran." "I had to take little tranquilliser." "I usually never took tranquillisers, but I had to take one not to cry or to feel sad." "On that plane, I was looking back and thinking," ""Is it the last time I am seeing my land?"" "The Shah had fled a popular uprising once before, in 1953." "Then, America and Britain had engineered a coup which put him back on the throne." "Now, Western leaders were at a summit in the Caribbean." "This time they agreed the Shah was a lost cause and their only hope for a pro-Western Iran was his new Prime Minister." "President Carter asked President Giscard to help persuade Khomeini to keep away from Iran." "Khomeini called on his supporters in Iran to give the soldiers flowers." "Many soldiers were conscripts and followers of Khomeini." "They deserted in droves." "The revolutionaries set up reception centres to receive them." "A section of the military was determined to stop Khomeini by any means." "In France, Khomeini's advisers agonised over the right moment to return." "I will not forget the hospitality of the French government and the French people and their sense of liberty." "During the flight, a German TV reporter was allowed into Khomeini's private cabin." "Sadeq Tabatabai, a favourite relative of Khomeini, was being entrusted with the draft constitution that embodied Khomeini's vision for an Islamic Republic of Iran." "It was a dangerous document." "They needn't have worried." "As he came down the steps, Khomeini brought 2,500 years of monarchy in Iran to an end." "The man given the honour of driving Khomeini had taken on more than he had bargained for." "Khomeini's people parted the crowd so a helicopter could come and rescue him from his own followers." "The revolutionaries now attacked police stations and military bases." "Each time they captured one, they seized more weapons." "After ten days, the beleaguered military chiefs met." "They argued through the night." "Next morning, one of Khomeini's lieutenants took a phone call." "The Shah's Prime Minister fled the country." "Many of the Shah's inner circle were summarily executed." "The part that was difficult, I must say, on the nerves, was getting up and looking at the morning paper and to see people that you'd known for a long time just lying on a slab with bullet holes throughout their body." "America feared its embassy could become a target." "It reduced its staff from over 2,000 to under 100." "Then the Shah asked if he could settle in America." "I advised strongly against an early admission of the Shah and warned that if we did, it was such a sensitive matter that there could be considerable violence, demonstrations, agitation against the United States." "President Carter agreed." "My presumption was that I would not let him come into the United States." "I argued that he should be allowed because we treated him as an ally in good times and I felt it was our responsibility to treat him as a former ally, but a friend, in bad times." "'The President said, "Well, let me ask you one question.'" ""If we do this," ""and there's some fear," ""our employees in our embassy in Iran are taken hostage," ""then what will your advice be?"" "And the room fell dead." "And he said, "I thought so"." "Meanwhile, Khomeini was fulfilling his dream." "Iranians voted by referendum to make Iran an Islamic Republic." "The new government called for the Shah to be sent back to stand trial." "Country after country refused him entry, so for months he wandered the globe, then he appealed again to President Carter." "One afternoon, I got a message that the Shah was confirmed to have terminal cancer, and asked if he could come into New York for diagnosis and treatment." "The Shah had kept his cancer secret for four years." "His doctors had told his wife, but she, too, never mentioned it, even to her husband." "I had a feeling that he didn't want anybody to know and I wanted to respect his wish." "That is why I never asked him." "This time, Carter agreed to admit the Shah." "America's man in Tehran informed Foreign Minister Yazdi." "He had advised strongly for months before that about the difficulty of any kind of gesture towards the Shah or his family." "I was well aware of that." "HE SPEAKS NATIVE TONGUE" "I will never forget the words he gave me." "We will do our best." "He did not say, "We will guarantee your security."" "He said, "We will do our best."" "Iran's foreign minister was on his way to Algiers for Independence Day." "So was Carter's top adviser, Dr Brzezinski." "I urged Foreign Minister Yazdi to have a talk with Brzezinski." "I knew what that might mean." "It would elevate the dialogue up to a point where it mattered." "After the celebrations, they met in Brzezinski's suite." "I told him that, first of all, we had no designs to use the Shah against the new regime in Iran." "As I remember, I pointed out to him that the Shah was an ill man." "I didn't see the need for any procedure of this sort which would be, in a sense, negatively reflecting on the veracity of the US government." "A small group of students now took centre stage." "What they did next would poison relations between Iran and the West to this day." "The student leader arranged to meet four colleagues at Tehran University." "One who opposed was Mahmoud Ahmadinejad," "Iran's future president." "Clerics and communists had been allies of convenience in the revolution." "Ahmadinejad feared the communists gaining ground." "The three who wanted to seize the American Embassy went ahead without him." "They approached a cleric close to Khomeini." "72 hours later, students gathered outside the embassy." "At first, this demonstration seemed to me to be an interruption." "That it was going to really mess us up on getting our timetable, you know?" "It's amazing how you don't worry about the right things at the wrong time." "And then when..." "It happened very quickly." "These hordes started to scale the walls." "The acting ambassador was told just after leaving a meeting in the Foreign Ministry." "I had to turn around rather quickly and go back to the Foreign Ministry, find help from where it mattered and that was the Foreign Minister himself." "I said, "I know you warned me against this, but I need help."" "Only Khomeini could sort this out, but he was in the holy city of Qom and he was taking his daily nap." "By now, hundreds of students had entered the embassy compound." "Vastly outnumbered, the US marines held their fire." "They asked me, "What should we do?"" "And I said, "Given what you've told me," ""the degree of chaos that surrounds you," ""the control has now slipped away from your hands over there on the compound." ""You should surrender," and I gave that order." "Good evening." "The American Embassy in Tehran is in the hands of Muslim students tonight." "I have received assurances that they will be kept safe and well." "The administration's problem is no-one knows whom to blame for the takeover of the embassy." "Foreign Minister Yazdi has said the Iranian government would do its best to resolve the matter." "The Foreign Minister reached Qom and went straight to Khomeini." "He set off back to Tehran to carry out Khomeini's instruction to end the siege." "At the same time, the students in the embassy set out to get the Imam's blessing to continue it." "The cleric called Khomeini's home and spoke to his friend, Khomeini's son Ahmad." "Khomeini now used the students' takeover to advance his vision for Iran." "The students paraded their captives." "I was taken outside." "The hordes were already out there screaming, "Death to the hostages."" "We were like animals in a zoo." "Khomeini had breached the basic rule that enables diplomats to work in a crisis." "In doing so, he had reversed the decision he gave Foreign Minister Yazdi, who had been at his side since his exile in Iraq." "The Cabinet now met in emergency session." "Khomeini's support of the students had enabled him to sweep the moderates out of government." "A month later, he assumed the new post of Supreme Leader, giving him, in effect, total control." "And the American diplomats remained in captivity." "We sent word to the Ayatollah that if he injured a hostage between Iran and the outside world by blockading their seaports and so forth, we didn't go into detail." "And if he killed any hostages, I would respond with military action." "Is Iran now, in effect, at war with the United States?" "HE SPEAKS NATIVE TONGUE" "TRANSLATOR:" "What do you mean by war?" "If you mean our armies against the United States' armies, no, there is no such war." "If you mean it's a battle of nerves, it is Carter's doing." "But if the President says..." "he refuses to return the Shah, and if the Imam says he will not free the hostages, then what can be the answer?" "THEY SPEAK IN NATIVE TONGUE" "He will not discuss it?" "He's not even going to listen to it." "Khomeini rebuffed all of America's efforts to get the hostages released." "Three months after the embassy takeover," "America imposed sanctions on Iran, freezing its US assets and banning its oil imports." "They had two or three different interrogation teams that worked me over." "I was beaten." "I was hung by my wrists." "Marched into trees and..." "of course, with a blindfold on." "They'd tie me up like a pretzel and come in about every 15 minutes and give me a couple of swift kicks, pull me to my feet, and ask me a bunch of stupid questions." "Good evening." "For the first time since the Iran crisis began 40 days ago," "President Carter has indicated a glimmer of hope in the confrontation..." "The hopes were false and news channels gave a daily reminder of the embassy siege." "The Shah finished his medical treatment and left America, but Khomeini still refused to release the hostages." "It was seen around the world as an America no longer capable of dealing with her real problems." "It humbled the administration in dealing with problems at home." "It had a profound, prevailing, devastating, er... paralysing impact upon our government." "I don't know how much longer we can sit here and see them kept captive while the situation around them does deteriorate." "He saw our honour at stake." "He knew that we had to act and he said so." "We began to figure out how we could extract the hostages from the Iranians." "Their rescue plan would test America's armed forces to the limit." "It required 14 aircraft to cross hundreds of miles of Iran." "After refuelling in the desert, eight helicopters would fly commandos to Tehran where they would storm the embassy." "A second group would seize an air base outside the city." "From here, the hostages would be flown home." "The plan was known only to the President and a few of his top advisers." "The Secretary of State, Cy Vance, was sceptical." "One day I remember he said, "Fritz, the rescue mission won't work."" "And I said, "Cy, how can you say that?"" "He said, "I say it because I was on the Armed Services Committee staff for years."" ""I was over in the Defence Department for years." ""I've been around them a lot." "This will not work."" "When the Secretary of State was out of town," "Carter summoned his top advisers." "We decided to have a national security meeting." "Vance was in Miami." "Warren Christopher was his representative." "The President turned to me and asked me to review the diplomatic options." "Of course, the meeting had taken me totally by surprise." "The subject was so secret that Secretary Vance had never been able to share with me the possibility of a rescue, and so I just dug into the back of my head and tried to review what the diplomatic options were at the present time." "All of the principals, including myself, recommended that we proceed, that the diplomatic and other options were not working." "And we voted unanimously to proceed with the rescue mission." "To get the commandos in and all 52 hostages out required six helicopters." "For safety, they sent eight." "The decision was made earlier that if we didn't have enough helicopters to bring all our hostages out, we wouldn't bring any because the ones remaining would undoubtedly be assassinated." "From an aircraft carrier in the Arabian Sea, the helicopters flew more than 500 miles into Iran." "Keeping low to avoid radar, they flew into a sandstorm." "Two developed faults." "When the others reached the desert rendezvous to refuel, a third was found to be damaged." "That left only five." "At that point we decided to withdraw and we left all our equipment there and brought our people home." "As they took off to leave, a helicopter collided with the refuelling aircraft." "The President was immediately informed." "I was with the President when we got the call and the President said," ""Have there been lives lost?"" "And I saw his face turn white and he said, "I feared that."" "Five airmen and three commandos died in the crash." "A human tragedy, and in election year, a political disaster." "Congress still knew nothing about the mission." "It was the Vice-President's job to inform its leaders before they heard the morning news." "You can imagine those very painful conversations." "Awakened from a dead sleep, being told this and he said, "What?" "What?" "What are we doing?" "Where?" ""When?" "How did we get into this?" ""What do you mean lives lost?"" "I went on television the next morning, beginning at six o'clock I believe, to tell the American people what happened and it was all my fault." "It was my decision to attempt a rescue operation." "It was my decision to cancel it when problems developed in the placement of our rescue team for a future rescue operation." "The responsibility is fully my own." "Although Khomeini crowed, the Islamic Republic's own armed forces were in disarray." "Carter's sanctions stopped them obtaining spare parts." "The Shah's generals had fled or been executed." "Saddam Hussein saw an opportunity." "The Islamic Republic was surrounded by hostile states." "To protect itself, it needed sanctions lifted." "Khomeini was persuaded to open talks with America." "His negotiator met President Carter's on neutral ground in West Germany." "I was really quite surprised." "He was a very good-looking, dapper man in a sport coat and flannel slacks." "So, he looked very Americanised." "With respect to the funds that we had frozen in the United States," "I told him we had about 5.5 billion frozen and we were prepared to assemble those assets and return them to Iran." "On day two, they ran into their only sticking point, the Shah's personal fortune deposited in American banks." "I said, "Look, we have a real problem there." ""Under our constitution we simply can't give back assets that are claimed by others."" "It was September 22, 1980." "It looked as if Carter could get the hostages home in time to boost his chance of re-election in November." "The next day, Iraq invaded Iran." "70,000 troops crossed the border, launching a war which would last eight years and leave a million dead." "Iran's leaders broke off the talks with America." "They suspected Washington was behind the invasion." "They were not totally wrong." "We were warned that the invasion was imminent." "A source told me that he had just been in Iraq, where he had been meeting with Saddam Husain and his senior Iraqi generals and that the Iraqis were going to invade Iran." "This was of course big news and quite an intelligence coup for us." "America did nothing to stop the invasion." "In fact, though it had no diplomatic relations with Saddam's Iraq, it allowed help to reach him." "We understood that what we were telling Saudi Arabia and Jordan about our perceptions of the state of the Iranian military would be passed to Iraq." "How powerful did we think their armoured forces were?" "Could they operate their tanks?" "Could they operate their surface to air missile networks?" "These were the types of information that we would provide to our friends and which we expected they would pass on to Iraq." "Six days into the war, with Iraq's forces in Iran and still advancing, the UN Security Council called for a ceasefire, but made no demand for Iraq to withdraw, giving Iranians a grievance that rankles to this day." "Iran badly needed weapons, but could not buy them as long as it held the American diplomats captive." "Its parliament voted to resume the negotiations with America." "But the news reached Carter too late to save him from defeat in the presidential election." "I promised you four years ago..." "that I would never lie to you, so I can't stand here tonight and say it doesn't hurt." "He now determined to get the hostages home in the two months left before Ronald Reagan took office." "The negotiations moved to Algeria." "The final sticking point was 9.5 billion of Iranian government assets in American banks, frozen by the US government when its embassy was seized." "I said to the Foreign Minister, the most we can assemble is 7.9 billion and I think it's in their interest to accept that because dealing with President Reagan might be much more difficult than dealing with us." "It was the Americans' final offer." "After two days and two nights of negotiation," "I had gone back to my room to shower, and I got a call from the Foreign Minister saying," ""I think we have an acceptance."" "So, I went back and signed in the clothes" "I'd been wearing for three days." "But Iran would not release the hostages until America delivered the money and Carter was leaving office in 36 hours." "There were immense technicalities that had to be dealt with." "Banks in, three, four different countries, all of these escrow accounts." "And we had just about come to the conclusion that nothing could possibly be done." "That they were just going to have to deal with the next administration." "I never went to bed at all." "I stayed up and I was in charge of every detail of the agreement." "The 7.9 billion of frozen Iranian assets now held in banks around the world still had to be retrieved." "One of the key ones was the Bank of England because they were holding about 2 billion of gold bullion that was owned by Iran." "Tell them I would like to know from the chairman of the Bank of England why they have held up our hostage in escrow." "'We had to get Mrs Thatcher' to agree to let that two billion be in the pot." "OK, so the Bank of England has certified their depositary?" "Right on, man!" "That's great." "That's great." "That was one obstacle overcome." "There were more." "Suddenly, the lines went dead." "Nothing was happening." "We found out that there was a US Treasury official who didn't like the deal, whose signature was necessary to move the papers forward, who went home." "'So, the President of the United States said this person is fired,' and so we got past that." "The hostages had been held for 15 months, often in solitary confinement." "Two hours before Reagan's inauguration, they were assembled." "We were all blindfolded." "I can remember my irritation with one of the hostage takers who were pushing us on the bus because we were always being pushed around." "The hostages tore off their blindfolds and saw they were on the road to the airport." "In Washington, the Vice President and President prepared to leave for Reagan's inauguration." "As I left the Oval Office, there was Gary Sick sitting by the President's chair in his own smaller chair on the phone waiting to see if there was any news about the hostages." "I was listening with one ear to the reports coming out of Tehran about where the hostages where and what was going on." "The hostages reached Tehran airport." "Prodded, poked at, screamed at by dozens of hostage takers, prison guards between the bus and the ramp up to the aircraft." "We hadn't seen each other for 444 days." "All of us embracing each other, getting to know each other again." "But the plane sat on the runway." "Carter was despairing because he had hoped at least to get these hostages home while he was president." "We rode in a limousine to the Capitol for the inauguration ceremony." "I had direct communication, obviously, with our intelligence around the world." "I talked to him while he was in the car and said that the hostages were, apparently, at the airport, but we had no evidence that anything had happened." "Repeat after me, I, Ronald Reagan, do solemnly swear." "I, Ronald Reagan, do solemnly swear." "That I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States." "That I will faithfully execute the office of President..." "Carter left for home." "Still no news." "Roughly five minutes after I was no longer president, the Secret Service agent came down and whispered in my ear that the hostages were free." "They had deliberately delayed its release until maybe 20 seconds... ..after Reagan had been sworn in." "It is not often that a foreign leader humiliates and helps secure the electoral defeat of an American president." "Ayatollah Khomeini had laid down a pattern of intransigence that continues to this day and still bamboozles the West." "CHANTING" "Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd" "E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk"