"This programme contains some scenes which some viewers may find upsetting" "Iran's Islamic revolution deprived the West of a powerful friend - the Shah of Iran." "Soon it threatened to destabilise more of the West's oil-rich allies." "So when Saddam Hussein launched a war on Iran, the West supplied him with intelligence and arms." "Saddam had chemical weapons and he used them." "The commanders of Iran's Revolutionary Guard inspected the battlefield." "Iran demanded that the United Nations act." "It's a very hard balance if they're using chemical weapons." "So you want them to stop using the chemical weapons..." "At the same time, you don't want to see Iran win the war." "The hatred between Iran and the West had become so strong that the rules that govern how states behave were set aside." "In this programme, leaders from both sides describe how they made decisions and then tried to undo the damage they had caused." "In 1982, Iran's Revolutionary Guard created what would prove to be the most effective instrument to spread the Islamic Revolution." "The story began when Israel invaded Lebanon." "But first, the Generals had to put their plan to the Supreme Leader - the Imam, Ayatollah Khomeini." "The Generals had to persuade the Imam that helping their fellow Shiah Muslims defeat Israel would spread the Islamic Revolution." "They enlisted the help of a Grand Ayatollah." "This new group would call itself the Party of God, Hezbollah." "Hezbollah became the most effective Lebanese fighting force." "MAN CHANTS, SOLDIERS RESPOND" "America had sent the Marines to Lebanon as part of a multinational force to try to restore order." "I was awakened at about two o'clock in the morning and told that a suicide bomber had bombed our Marine barracks and we lost 243 Marines." "At the same time, he was told another bomber had hit a French barracks, killing 58." "These attacks shook the leaders of both countries." "We woke up the President." "It was the low point of the Reagan presidency, for me, for the President, and all of us." "America had been humiliated three years before when Iran seized the US Embassy in Tehran." "America saw this bombing as a terrorist attack, the largest in its history, and at the hand of Iran." "The Vice President was dispatched to Lebanon." "We're not going to let a bunch of insidious terrorists, cowards, shape the foreign policy of the United States." "For four months, Washington stood firm." "But faced with more threats, the US moved its forces out of Lebanon to ships in the Mediterranean." "We knew we had to take the Marines out." "So we left and I think we left with our dobber down." "I have to hand it to the French, they left too but they marched out with their band playing." "A group calling itself Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for both attacks, but the US and France blamed Hezbollah and Iran." "This success in exporting Khomeini's revolution came at a high price." "America added Iran to its list of state sponsors of terrorism, which brought economic sanctions, making it harder for Tehran to buy arms." "In Lebanon, groups linked to Hezbollah took to kidnapping westerners." "Soon, more than 30 were held hostage." "All their governments searched for ways to deal with the problem." "We believe it's wrong to bargain with terrorists or over hostages, because it only encourages more violence and more kidnapping." "The French President had a more nuanced view." "In March 1986," "President Mitterrand received an ultimatum from the hostage-takers - unless their demands were met, one of the French hostages would be killed." "It was a week before France's parliamentary elections." "France urgently needed a back channel to Iran." "Eric Rouleau was a former Le Monde correspondent in Tehran." "President Mitterrand asked him to use his contacts with Ayatollah Khomeini's inner circle." "Five days later Rouleau was in Tehran, a city at war." "He went straight to the headquarters of the Revolutionary Guard." "They seemed to have a deal that could get the hostages out." "The explanation lay in Lebanon." "The opposition won the French election but it was two more years before the last French hostages came home." "They were greeted by the election winner," "Prime Minister Jacques Chirac." "Chirac has always denied that his party tried to delay the hostage release while in opposition." "MAN SHOUTS" "It was 1988." "Iran was still mired in the war with Iraq." "A year before, the UN Security council had passed a ceasefire resolution that had been accepted by Saddam Hussein." "But Ayatollah Khomeini would have none of it." "Hashemi Rafsanjani was Khomeini's most canny political adviser." "He had been put in charge of the war effort." "After eight years and 800,000 deaths, Rafsanjani judged that the West's continued support for Saddam Hussein made it impossible for Iran to defeat him." "He had to devise a way to make Khomeini accept the need for a ceasefire." "Rafsanjani asked the generals what they needed to be absolutely sure of toppling Saddam." "Rafsanjani prepared to put the case to the Imam." "He spent nights pacing the battlefield." "When he called on the Imam, he took a chance that might have ended his career." "Less than a year later, Khomeini was taken to hospital with stomach cancer." "At his bedside, he regularly received Iran's President, Ali Khamene'i, and Rafsanjani." "With their help he continued to rule the country." "But then he suffered a heart attack." "Ayatollah Khomeini had been one of the few real revolutionaries of modern times, an inspiration to millions." "He had also been a ruthless, tough-minded political leader." "The top 80 Islamic clerics gathered to choose the new Supreme Leader." "They had what follows filmed." "But it was not broadcast for two decades." "The film shows how Rafsanjani guided their choice." "The cleric, who according to Rafsanjani had been chosen by the late Ayatollah, responded with a show of modesty." "The next day Ayatollah Khomeini was buried." "CROWD CHANTS" "Soon after the funeral, Rafsanjani became President - number two in Iran's political hierarchy." "America also had a new President." "I, George Herbert Walker Bush, do solemnly swear..." "High on his agenda were the Americans still held hostage in Lebanon." "APPLAUSE" "His predecessor had got into serious trouble attempting to do a deal that became known as Iran Contra." "We had no relations with Iran, we couldn't negotiate." "We didn't wanna negotiate for hostages anyway." "And that led him to the notion of reaching out in a way to Iran with this subtle statement." "There are today Americans who are held against their will in foreign lands, and Americans who are unaccounted for." "Assistance can be shown here and will be long remembered." "Then the President delivered a carefully-crafted phrase." "Goodwill begets goodwill." "It was a signal." "It was a gesture " ""You do something nice for us," ""and we'll do something nice for you."" "Iran's new President appeared to be on a similar wavelength." "It looked like a moment of optimism." "Then, hostage-takers in Lebanon released a video." "Colonel Higgins, who was an American Colonel, had been in the UN Observatory Force and had been taken and there were pictures of him released, hanging." "And they were just dreadful pictures." "It was a searing experience." "The President feared for the lives of the other hostages." "I think the world is familiar with our policy, but there will be nothing that will be done ever that will create a new incentive for taking somebody else hostage." "But I feel the burden." "We are going to every end possible to try to find and get the return of these Americans to their loved ones." "We explained to him we couldn't pay, we were not prepared to negotiate." "But we wanted help to get our hostages back." "He said he had somebody that he used with Iran, and with Hezbollah and could do it very quietly and very subtly." "The Secretary General's trouble-shooter, Gianni Picco, was sent to see President Rafsanjani." "His mission was to get Rafsanjani to help America to get its hostages back." "It meant asking him to take a big political risk." "It was my first encounter with the Rafsanjani President." "I walked into his office together with Javad Zarif." "We wanted the meeting to remain private so we decided not to have a translator." "I said to him, President Bush de facto asked to help in the release of the American hostages in Beirut." "And that this help... will not go unrewarded." "Rafsanjani was just testing the UN representative." "He soon made his conditions clear." "The President said if the United States expects our assistance then it has to change its hostile policy towards Iran." "Basically, that was it at that point." "Neither the US nor Iran was yet ready for reconciliation." "Then the entire balance of power in the Middle East shifted." "Saddam Hussein opened the way." "When he seized Kuwait, America mobilised a coalition to throw him out." "And, after the war, American forces stayed on, for the first time within easy reach of Iran." "We believe the presence of foreign forces in the region are inherently destabilising." "Furthermore we believe that the presence of foreign forces in the region, particularly those of the United States, have objectives which go beyond the liberation of Kuwait and these are, in reality, sources of grave concern." "So helping to get the hostages released now became a priority for Iran." "Rafsanjani summoned the Commander of the Revolutionary Guard." "The General decided to show Hezbollah where the power lay." "REPORTER:" "And here he is..." "APPLAUSE AND CHEERING" "REPORTER:" "What a moment!" "Coming down the steps..." "with his father." "Over the next two and half months, one by one, the hostages were released." "The last one out was an American reporter, who had been in captivity for six years." "Mr Anderson, your freedom is a victory for all." "Welcome back." "Thank you, sir." "I'm very grateful." "When Terry Anderson was released, the President said, you know, "It lifts a huge burden,"" "not only the human part, of the hostage, but it overshadowed everything we did on the Middle East, and suddenly that cloud was lifted." "# We wish you a merry Christmas... #" "Hostage-taking is hell on a human scale..." "Now Iran waited for America's side of the "goodwill" deal." "The Iranians start calling me and say, "What's happening?" "What's happening?"" "We are in a difficult position at home." "They say the President has helped the Americans, and now where is the thank-you note?" "Gianni Picco said, "The Iranians are expecting a gesture."" "And he said, "We've gotta be fair, because I promised them."" "And I said, "Gianni, I will try."" "I sat down with the National Security Council principals and we discussed it, and I said, "We have a commitment."" "The President was sympathetic to me." "The problem, as I told General Scowcroft in that meeting, was the Iranians were now deeply engaged in other acts of terrorism that made it very, very hard to do anything to improve the relationship." "In the three years since President Bush's promise, many critics of the Iranian regime had been assassinated in the West." "America blamed Iran's leaders, and the Supreme Leader had issued a fatwa calling on all Muslims to kill the novelist Salman Rushdie." "When we said, "goodwill begets goodwill", we did not say," ""If the Iranians release the hostages, no matter what else," ""we're going to respond favourably."" "We said goodwill would beget goodwill." "Doing other acts of terrorism is not my definition of goodwill." "Everyone else said Iran is behaving so badly in so many different ways, that now to reward them by lifting some of the sanctions we had, or making trade deals, or some of the things that the Iranians would have wanted," "is just impossible for us." "And..." "I lost..." "I lost the argument." "Rafsanjani's gamble had not paid off." "For his remaining five years as President, he made no further attempt at political reconciliation with America." "In 1997, Rafsanjani came to the end of his two terms as President." "The Supreme Leader and the establishment had chosen a candidate and they were used to winning." "But some sought an alternative." "They turned to an unusually liberal cleric who was more likely to open doors to the West." "Khatami had encouraged free expression." "This had angered the hardline supporters of the Supreme Leader, but had won him backing among intellectuals and students." "To persuade the Supreme Leader to let him stand against the establishment's candidate," "Khatami put a subtle argument." "Khatami seemed to be facing an uphill struggle." "Iran is huge and he was not well-known outside Tehran." "Khatami won by a landslide, large enough to make him feel he could challenge the core of the Islamic Republic's foreign policy." "The new President would have to tread carefully." "The powers now passed onto him could at any time be overruled by the Supreme Leader." "He launched his new policy towards America by agreeing to an interview with Christiane Amanpour." "Not only was she half Iranian, but she worked for the largest global TV news network." "We got final word, CNN, that this in fact was going to happen." "I was on my first holiday with my very serious boyfriend who happened to be a State Department official." "And I think her due diligence was to find out what the US Government was waiting to hear from the Iranians and she had the US Government right beside her." "So, she did what any journalist would do." "I went into "OK, what shall I ask him?" mode." "And I did what I was supposed to do, which was to identify for her the things the US Government cared about." "And I said to him, "I have to ask about the hostages," ""I have to ask about terrorism and the Middle East peace process."" "For Americans, it was the hostage-taking that put Iran beyond the pale." "I do remember saying to her, if Khatami was really different, he had to acknowledge that Iran had done something wrong here." "As the interview began, Khatami and Amanpour were aware that the American Government would be watching." "NEWSREADER:" "A conversation with the President of Iran." "Would you say that taking the American hostages, at the beginning of the Iranian Islamic revolution falls into the category of early revolutionary excesses?" "INTERPRETER:" "Thank you for your question." "I do know that the feelings of the great American people have been hurt." "And of course, I regret it." "I remember the words, he "regretted" that this had taken place." "He did not apologise, but he explained that this clearly had been a source of contention." "Do you believe that... killing innocent women and children is terrorism, as for instance what happens on the streets of Israel?" "INTERPRETER:" "It is definitely so." "Any form of killing of innocent men and women who are not involved in confrontation is terrorism." "It must be condemned, and we in our turn condemn every form of it in the world." "This provided a really good opportunity to see whether there was some way to use that interview as a launching pad for perhaps some kind of a different relationship with Iran." "You say that you want to talk to the American people." "Are you prepared to sit down eventually and talk to the American Government?" "INTERPRETER:" "Dialogue between civilisations and nations is different from political relations." "Right now, I recommend the exchange of professors, writers, scholars, artists, journalists, and tourists." "So, we understood he wasn't able to bring the regime around to having an official dialogue." "And so our response was, "Fine." ""We'll go for the dialogue of civilisation."" "BELL CHIMES" "The dialogue of civilisation began with wrestling." "The US sent a team to compete in the biggest event in Iran's sporting calendar." "On the plane over they gave us a briefing, kinda told us our dos and our don'ts." "Um, you know, we couldn't walk around in shorts with our shirts off, we couldn't shake hands with the women." "Um..." "Just..." "No political stuff." "It was the first time any official representatives of the United States had entered Iran in the 17 years since the seizure of the US Embassy there." "When we landed there late at night, we all looked at each other, and we gave a big sigh, "Ahh..." "Well, here we go."" "How do you feel about coming to Iran?" "Please." "I feel excited." "What do you think of the Iranian team?" "They're good." "It wasn't what we expected, you know, "Death to America," all those things." "CROWD WHISTLES AND CHEERS" "I walk out in the stadium, kinda look out there and it's just filled." "There was people sitting on the steps." "There was no place to sit." "After the match was over with, he comes over to me, asks me if I'd carry this picture up, you know, and course I look at him and I said, "Am I gonna get in trouble for this?" ""You know, we're not supposed to do anything political."" "And I looked at it and I saw that it was his religious leader, it was the second one, the one that was in power at that time." "And I thought to myself," "OK, it's a religious thing, I don't see any problem with it." "I got up on the stands and just had it down." "So I held mine up in the air, you know." "We both had it up in the air and the crowd just went crazy." "The dialogue of civilisations succeeded in getting its message to the top." "But before dialogue between the states could begin, another allegation that Iran had sponsored terrorism had to be dealt with." "A year before Khatami was elected, a truck bomb had killed 19 American servicemen and wounded 372." "I thought, soon as I heard the news, that I had to consider going to the scene." "So I diverted my plane to Saudi Arabia and I visited the site." "And there was this building, with the whole front of it just sheared off, so you could see into all the rooms." "Floodlights were illuminating it." "It looked like a terrible movie set of devastation." "Good morning." "Let me be very clear." "We will not resist, we will not rest in our efforts to find who is responsible for this outrage, to pursue them, and to punish them." "There was some evidence that Iran had been involved and many people were advocating some prompt action against Iran." "Last night, I directed an FBI team of 40 experts, investigators and forensic experts to go there to work with the Saudi Arabian authorities." "After three years, the FBI believed they had seen conclusive evidence." "The FBI gets access to the prisoners that the Saudis are holding, and we get the smoking gun, that the Iranians were responsible for the Khobar Towers bombing." "And we had to decide what we were going to do about it now." "Some of Clinton's advisors argued for military retaliation." "But the State Department argued that, since Khatami became President," "Iran's support for terrorism had declined." "And the question was how to separate Khatami out from previous actions and not hold him responsible." "We thought it was better to see if he would act against the people responsible, particularly the intelligence chiefs who had sent the bombers, and the people that we believed were involved in the bombing, who had sanctuary in Iran." "So President Clinton sent two aides to see a sultan in France." "The drive was about an hour outside of Paris through the rolling countryside of the Seine River Valley to this magnificent residence." "It was the summer retreat of a good friend to both America and Iran," "Sultan Qaboos of Oman." "I said, "Your Majesty, we come here as envoys from President Clinton" ""with the a message that we'd like you to find a way to deliver"." "We wanted to try to make sure that he was the only one who knew, because hardliners in Tehran were doing their best to prevent him from going forward with his..." "What we understood to be his desire to normalise relations with the United States." "I said the letter explained that the United States wanted to have a positive relationship with Iran, but that there was this problem." "We know that Iran was directly involved in a terrorist operation that killed 19 Americans, and we need some answer from the Iranians that they're going to hold those involved responsible and bring them to justice." "His Majesty said, "We'll do whatever we can."" "Soon after, Oman's Foreign Minister arrived in Tehran with President Clinton's letter." "Iran maintains al-Qaeda was responsible for the Khobar bombing." "No matter who was behind it, to launch the investigation the Americans asked for would mean challenging the most powerful forces in Iran." "We got the response back through the Omanis." "To put it simply, it was disappointing." "But there was one place where American and Iranian interests coincided..." "Afghanistan." "The dominant force there, the Taliban, were Sunni Muslims violently opposed to the Shiah, the ruling group in Iran." "In August 1998, the Taliban were laying siege to the northern town of Mazar e Sharif." "As the Taliban closed in, Iran's Consul there made a desperate phone call to Tehran." "The line went dead." "The Taliban killed nine Iranian diplomats, including the Consul." "Iran prepared to avenge its murdered diplomats." "We understand that Iran has deployed significant numbers of troops and equipment on its border with Afghanistan." "So, clearly, this is a matter of serious concern, and it's something we're watching extremely closely." "To stop the escalation towards war, President Khatami and his Foreign Minister went to the UN General Assembly to try to get the international community to intervene." "Oh, my friend..." "How are you?" "WOMAN:" "Prime Minister...?" "The UN Secretary General already had a working group on Afghanistan." "It was the only place where the United States and Iran had official contact." "Kofi Annan called me up to say that perhaps it was a useful idea, during the General Assembly, to have this group at ministerial level, which meant that I would be in the same room with the Foreign Minister of Iran." "I was very excited about the possibility of having some kind of a breakthrough because this was also the first time anybody at a ministerial level had met with the Iranians." "I went to my side of the table and I smiled nicely." "Secretary Albright was trying to break the ice." "The Iranian Foreign Minister had been UN Ambassador, just the way SHE had been UN Ambassador, and in her opening statement she made a remark to the effect that, isn't it nice that diplomats can go from UN Ambassador to Foreign Minister?" "No reaction." "I thought maybe the translator had not done it right, and so I said it again." "She said, "Some of us have been here and now we're foreign ministers."" "Now, I knew that he looked different, but people change." "You know." "I lost weight." "And so I turned around to my bank of experts, and I said, "Is this Kharrazi?"" "And everyone kinda shrugged their shoulders because we'd left the expert outside the room, cos everybody wanted to be in the meeting and we only had five seats and we actually didn't know who was the Foreign Minister," "or whether this leader of the delegation was in fact the Foreign Minister." "I started making a statement... ..Presenting the views of Iran and also noting the areas where we had similarity of interest." "Kofi Annan said, "Isn't it nice that the Deputy Foreign Minister of Iran was able to join us" ""for this meeting if the Foreign Minister couldn't?"" "And all of a sudden I turned around to the guys behind me and said, "Yeah, now we know."" "We walked out of the conference and Secretary Albright began yelling at all of us." ""How could this have happened?" ""Why didn't we know the Iranians were gonna double-deal us?"" "Why didn't Dr Kharrazi attend this meeting?" "Dr Kharrazi was occupied with the President, as you know, the President has a very heavy schedule and he expresses his regret that he did not attend the meeting." "Certainly, people who expected a ministerial turnout were disappointed, but the meeting wasn't bad, the meeting was constructive, as far as Afghanistan was concerned." "The Americans used their influence in the region to rein in the Taliban." "President Khatami halted the march to war." "As he rose to address the General Assembly, delegates had a chance to see Iran's Foreign Minister and his deputy and to work out which was which." "The President's offer of cooperation against terrorism would soon be put to the test." "Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd" "E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk"