All language subtitles for Damian.Lewis-Spy.Wars.S01E05.Escape.from.Tehran.WEB.h264-CAFFEiNE Eng

(people yelling)
(dramatic music)

(people yelling in
foreign language)

Lewis: In the world of spies,

A cover story and an
alias must be watertight.

This requires more than
just convincing paperwork.

It's how you look, what you say,

The way you act,

And it means staying in
character no matter what.

This is the
remarkable story

Of how one man used
inspiration from hollywood

To school six
frightened diplomats

In the art of
being someone else,

And score a victory for the cia,

In one of the darkest moments
for american foreign policy.

(dramatic music)
(people cheering)

(gun fires)

(crowd shouting in
foreign language)

(dramatic music)

(gentle dramatic music)

(crowd chanting in
foreign language)

Lewis: Iran was in the grip
of an islamic revolution.

(people chanting in
foreign language)

Led by the shia cleric
ayatollah khomeini,

Anti-american
demonstrators had taken

To the streets in
their thousands.

(dramatic music)
(crowd shouting)

Amid the chaos cia
officer, tony mendez,

Entered tehran on
a covert mission.

His task: To rescue a group
of six american diplomats

From almost certain death.

Among the group

Were u.S. Embassy officials
mark and cora lijek.

(gentle music)

Four decades on,

The lijeks lead quiet lives

In a quiet corner
of washington state.

But back in the summer of 1979,

This young married couple
were looking for adventure.

M. Lijek: I had completed my
four years in the army

And went to work for
the foreign service.

I was asked to volunteer
to go to tehran.

I agreed to help reopen
the tourist visa unit.

C. Lijek: I actually was very
excited about it.

My parents had lived
there for four years,

And I'd visited twice before.

Tehran was very cosmopolitan.

Most of the women I saw were
dressed in western clothing,

So it seemed like it'd
be a fun place to go.

Lewis: But the
lijeks touched down

To an iran in turmoil.

(crowd chanting angrily)
(dramatic music)

M. Lijek: Well, I arrived after
a very long and arduous flight.

The airport was chaotic.

Things were unstable and
people were not calm.

(crowd chanting)

I was met by somebody
from the embassy,

So that kind of got me
past the worst of it.

But then we got in the van,

And I noticed that the driver

Just drove through all
the red lights. (laughs)

Washington d.C. Had no idea

What was actually
happening in tehran.

Lewis: In January 1979,

U.S. Ally shah
mohammed reza pahlavi

Had been ousted from power
by the ayatollah khomeini.

(crowd shouting)
(tense music)

The white house was now
friendless in the region,

And completely in the dark

About the actions
of the new regime.

U.S. President jimmy
carter and the cia

Had been slow to react
to the escalating crisis.

Daugherty: The cia
station in tehran

At the time was minuscule,

With just one person basically
keeping the store open

Lewis: Bill daugherty
arrived at the american embassy

In tehran in the immediate
aftermath of the shah's ousting.

He was fresh out of cia training

And thrown in at the deep end.

(coworkers chatting)

Daugherty: It was my first
overseas assignment.

I didn't know anything
about the country.

I didn't speak the language.

I didn't know anything
about their culture.

I knew nothing about islam.

Lewis: Bill daugherty's
mission was to buildup

A cia station that was
operating with a skeleton crew.

He faced an uphill struggle

To cultivate potential
agents and informants.

(coworkers chatting)
(dramatic music)

Daugherty: For an iranian to be
seen with an american

Was not particularly
appropriate.

That individual could go back

And be called a spy
and could lose his job

Or even be arrested or worse

Just for being with an
american government official.

(dramatic music)

The real concern I had
was not making a mistake

And getting caught.

There could have been
enormous consequences

For being caught
doing espionage work.

(dramatic music)

Lewis: The american
embassy in tehran

Was a maze of buildings
in a vast walled

Compound in the
heart of the city.

On the second floor
of the main building

Was the cia station.

Daugherty: I was in my office
writing cables

From what I'd done
the night before.

The demonstration was outside,

And it was larger than usual.

But I was ignoring it.

(woman shouting in
foreign language)

I was told by people
who had been there,

"don't worry about
the demonstrations.

"they happen all the
time," and so I didn't.

(crowd shouting)

Lewis: That morning no one
inside the american embassy

Noticed the demonstration
outside was near boiling point.

(crowd shouting)

Hundreds of students
were heading

Towards the embassy building.

(crowd shouting)

Daugherty: These seemed
to be young people.

We didn't see any weapons.

There was concern,

But the embassy was
supposed to be a fortress.

Lewis: On the other side
of the embassy compound,

Mark and cora lijek
were oblivious

To the imminent danger.

(gentle dramatic music)

(machine whirring)

C. Lijek: We both were
working in the visa section.

M. Lijek: Yeah, okay.

Our building
was not near the front,

So maybe we didn't
hear some of it.

C. Lijek: We couldn't see
what was going on.

We were quite a distance away.

(dramatic music)

Lewis: But by now
the students had begun

To scale the embassy
main gate and walls.

To avoid a bloodbath,

Washington ordered
the u.S. Marines

Guarding the compound
to hold their fire.

Daugherty: We had been told
time and time again

That the embassy was
a secure facility.

Even if the iranians
came over the wall

And tried to attack the embassy,

It was virtually impregnable.

I think it took them about
30 minutes to break into it.

(crowd shouting)

The chief of station then told
me to destroy the documents

That were in the
vault in my office.

(dramatic music)
(crowd shouting)

Lewis: By 10.30 a.M.,

As daugherty began
to shred anything

That could expose the nature
of his work for the cia,

A group of angry students broke

Into the main embassy building.

(suspenseful music)

They seized everyone
they could find

To be paraded before
the baying mob.

The iranian hostage
crisis had begun.

(crowd chanting angrily)

(dramatic music)

Daugherty: They came in
and they started

Blind folding and tying hands.

One of the first ones
that they took away

Was one of the marine
security guards,

And I'll never forget
the look on his face

Because he didn't
wanna surrender.

He wanted to fight.

(dramatic music)

(crowd shouting)

M. Lijek: Somebody claimed
they smelt smoke,

And that they were gonna
burn the building down.

(suspenseful music)

(crowd shouting)

(glass shattering)

People started saying they
heard footsteps on the roof.

(dramatic music)

Lewis: The visa office
was one of the few buildings

In the compound with its
own exit to the street.

M. Lijek: It was kind of
a decision point.

Man: We should leave
the building.

Everybody, come on let's go.

Lewis: In all, 13 embassy
workers made a break for it.

But, in the confusion they
were forced to split up.

(suspenseful music)

M. Lijek: We were all
supposed to go left.

Nobody was supposed to go right.

Lewis: Those
who turned right

Fell into the hands of the
iranian revolutionary guards.

M. Lijek: We went the other way.

We went left.

We went toward the british,

Which was what we
were supposed to do.

(dramatic music)
(guns firing)

Lewis: The safety
of the british embassy

Was just over a mile away.

But the lijek's escape route

Was blocked by
angry demonstrators.

(crowd shouting)
(gun fires)

M. Lijek: The situation was
descending into chaos.

They were now attacking
other embassies.

It was clear that this thing
was getting pretty nasty.

(dramatic music)
(crowd shouting)

Lewis: Alone on the streets
of a hostile city

And with no specialist training,

The fugitive diplomats faced
capture and even death.

Help would come from the
most unlikely of sources.

(dramatic music)
(crowd shouting)

Lewis: In November 1979,

In the wake of the fall of
the u.S. Embassy in tehran,

53 americans had
been taken hostage

By islamic revolutionaries.

The ayatollah refused to
negotiate with president carter,

And he ordered his
men to interrogate

All the american prisoners
to root out cia spies.

(man speaks in foreign language)

Woman: Here was not an embassy.

It was a cia center.

This was a den of espionage

Where they were plotting
against the iranian people.

(dramatic music)

Lewis: Cia
officer bill daugherty

Was now one of the hostages
in the american embassy.

(bill grunting)

Daugherty: I was taken
back to my office

Still blind folded, still tied.

(dramatic music)
(metal clanking)

I could hear them
breaking into safes

All up and down the corridor,

Basically looting the embassy.

(crowd shouting distantly)

There was a, not a student,

But a professional interrogator.

Lewis: Convinced of a cia
plot to crush the revolution,

The ayatollah had sent
in his top interrogator

To break the will
of the americans.

Daugherty: My strategy
was what had been

Thoroughly indoctrinated
into me during my training.

I had a cover story to
explain why I was in iran

And what my job
in the embassy was

As a political military
affairs officer.

Most of it was true.

I didn't have to embellish it.

(dramatic music)

(crowd shouts distantly)

We would start after dinner,

And we would go till
sunrise, so 12, 13 hours,

And they worked very hard
to break down my story.

Lewis: On the
streets of tehran,

U.S. Consular officials
mark and cora lijek,

And their fellow escapees
from the embassy,

Were in urgent
need of sanctuary.

C. Lijek: It's kinda frightening
because we just worried

Somebody would see us.

There weren't that many
foreigners still in iran,

And then I have dark hair.

I probably would've
blended in a little better,

But mark had kind of
dirty blonde hair.

Lewis: In desperation,
the lijeks managed

To make contact with america's

Number two diplomat in the city,

The deputy chief of the american

Mission in tehran,
victor tomseth.

(dramatic music)

Tomseth had been across town

At the iranian foreign ministry

When the u.S. Embassy
had been overrun.

M. Lijek: In those early days,

The foreign ministry
people were still helpful,

So he was allowed
to use the phone,

And, he, for whatever reason,

He kind of took
responsibility for helping us.

Lewis: Tomseth knew
he would be monitored

By iranian intelligence,

So he decided to
call the one person

With whom he could speak freely,

(tense music)

His friend, the embassy
chef, sam sriweawnetr.

(dramatic music)

Sriweawnetr: Victor, speak
thai to me,

Because I think he
cannot speak english

Over there because all
iranian could understand.

Lewis: Tomseth had met sam
when he'd worked in thailand,

And had given sam a job cooking

For the embassy staff in tehran.

Now he asked him
to risk his life

To save the
diplomats on the run.

Sriweawnetr: Victor tomseth
told me,

"sam, I've got something new.

"I need your help.

"I need your help."

I said, "yes,
anything, you tell me."

He said, "now, sam listen
I got the americans.

"can you help them
hide them someplace?"

I said, "yes, yes,
I will do that."

I think its human to help.

That's what I think.

Some people need help
you have to help them.

(dramatic music)

Lewis: Under the cover of
darkness, sam met the lijeks

And guided them to a safe
house belonging to the embassy.

M. Lijek: We ran into the house
trying not to be seen.

Sriweawnetr: They are scared.

I made the curtain
close all the time.

C. Lijek: A lot of
our fears were

Lessened because sam
was there.

He was going to take care of us.

M. Lijek: He could go
out publicly.

He could buy food.

He could buy
cigarettes whatever,

So as long as we had
sam, we had a chance.

Lewis: Yet, all the time,

The threat of capture
was closing in.

(ominous music)

M. Lijek: We had the
"tehran times".

They has pictures on the
front page of the paper.

They were people in blindfolds.

It was immensely
disturbing to me

Because that could
be us down the road.

I kept thinking,
where's our president?

"what is our government doing?"

Lewis: President carter's
plan was to enforce

Both economic and
diplomatic pressure,

To force the ayatollah to
release the american hostages.

It didn't work.

(dramatic music)

And inside the ransacked embassy

The interrogations of american
prisoners were intensifying.

(dramatic music)

Daugherty: He never got excited,
never raised his voice.

The only reason I could tell

That maybe he didn't
quite like an answer

Or two that I might
have given him was that

He would sort of play
with the revolver.

Of course, you can hear those
cylinders go click, click.

(gun clicking)

I did not discount the
possibility of an execution,

And I was certainly
prepared psychologically,

Mentally for that.

I thought about that every day.

Lewis: Three days after

The storming of
the u.S. Embassy,

Secreted in their safe
house across town,

The lijeks began to
realize there would be

No swift solution
to their ordeal.

M. Lijek: It was clear that this
thing was getting pretty nasty.

There was no government any
longer for us to negotiate with

Other than the
ayatollah personally.

So clearly the situation
was descending into chaos,

And that made our
predicament a lot worse.

(dramatic music)

It was pretty clear that our
absence would be detected.

I mean it was impossible
for it not to be detected.

It was only a matter
of for how long.

(dramatic music)

Lewis: By now iranian
revolutionary guards

Were examining embassy records

For evidence of u.S. Safe houses

Where fugitive diplomats
could be hiding.

Sam sriweawnetr sensed the
mounting tension on the streets.

Sriweawnetr: When I go shopping
buy some food,

A lot of thing I see are bad.

C. Lijek: Sam actually
got worried

And thought somebody
might be coming.

That I think really
heightened our nervousness.

His fear you know
was infectious.

Sriweawnetr: I feel not safe for
them and not safe for me either.

If they catch the five
americans, they're gonna die.

If me, they catch
me, I'm gonna be die.

We have to help them
out, get out of here.

Lewis: So the lijeks turn
to the one western nation

Whose embassy was not in the
ayatollah's crosshairs: Canada.

(dramatic music)

Zena sheradown's husband,

Veteran diplomat john sheardown,

Was the canadian's chief
immigration officer

In tehran at the time.

He was the lijeks
next port of call.

Sheardown: My husband said,
"you are all welcome

"to come and stay with us."

All you're thinking is,
"are we gonna be able to

"get them upstairs without
being spotted by the

"revolutionary guards who
are up and down the street?"

M. Lijek: When we left I think
sam took it almost as an insult,

Because we couldn't tell
him where we were going

For his protection
as well as ours.

Lewis: The lijeks made
it out in the nick of time.

Sriweawnetr: All the militants
come two hours after that.

They come to my apartment,

"where's the american,
where's the american?"

(suspenseful music)

With a gun pointed to me.

M16 points in my face.

Then I say, "no, I
live here by myself.

"nobody here," I tell them that.

(dramatic music)

They keep looking around,
but I clean up already.

After that, they left.

(gentle dramatic music)

Lewis: By now the ljieks and
their fellow fugitives

Had been smuggled from
their embassy safe house

And driven to the
sheardown's home.

C. Lijek: The car I remember
pulled into the garage,

And then he rushed
us inside the house.

Sheardown: We got some
scotches and sodas

Right away for everybody.

We all needed a stiff drink,

And we started to get
to know each other.

(dramatic music)

Lewis: The sherdowns
figured they had

The perfect cover to keep
the americans diplomats safe.

Sheardown: I don't think they
would suspect us.

Not the canadians they
keep to themselves.

They wouldn't say
boo to a goose.

Lewis: They sent
word back to ottawa,

That the fugitive diplomats
had arrived safely with them.

Gar pardy was cia liaison for
the canadian foreign office.

Pardy: The first reaction was,
"god, we've got them,

"and at least they're
reasonably safe."

(dramatic music)

But then the realization that

This could go on for
some period of time.

Lewis: It dawned on
the canadian officials,

The longer they hid their
american colleagues,

The greater the chance of
canada becoming embroiled

In the wider conflict
in the region.

Pardy: The iranians themselves
were probably starting

To realize that there
were some people

That were not accounted
for in the 52,

And they would be
starting to sharpen

Their own investigation,
if you like,

Their own looking for the six.

And then what do you
do at this point?

Lewis: At the
american embassy,

Bill daugherty was under
increasing pressure

To give up key documents.

(suspenseful music)

Daugherty: I got a lot of
questions as to why

I was in this office
with this big vault.

Lewis: The vault contained

All the cia intelligence reports

Bill had been working on when
the embassy had fallen,

Names, dates, and places.

Daugherty: I kept telling them,
"no, I can't open the vault."

(dramatic music)

Lewis: Daugherty now
believed the iranians

Were unlikely to execute him
until he'd opened the safe.

(suspenseful music)

Frustrated by how long he had

Withstood brutal interrogation,

The revolutionaries
now upped the ante.

Daugherty: I wasn't necessarily
under the belief

That they would actually
execute me right away.

But then they said, "well,
we'll get the secretary

"and bring her up here,"

And that's when there
was decision time.

(ominous music)

Lewis: If he refused
to open the safe now,

The iranians made it clear they
would execute his secretary.

Daugherty: Look there
was nothing

In that embassy
worth dying for.

Not a thing.

(suspenseful music)

I said, "okay, the
combination's in my wallet."

I'd shredded all the documents.

(suspenseful music)

I thought, "oh, I'm
really in trouble now."

Lewis: Undeterred,
the revolutionaries

Brought in
teams of carpet

Weavers to piece together
the fragments of paperwork.

(dramatic music)

Lewis: It was only a matter of
time before they'd work out

That bill was cia.

But that wasn't the
only information

The iranians would get
from the paperwork.

For the six
u.S. Fugitives

Hiding at the home of a
canadian embassy official,

The tension was about to
ratchet to breaking point.

(dramatic music)

Lewis: By January 1980,

The iranian hostage
crisis had escalated.

The ayatollah's carpet
weavers had reassembled

Thousands of pages of
shredded cia documents,

Exposing the identities
of u.S. Agents

And their informants in tehran.

(dramatic music)

At the canadian embassy,
roger lucy observed

How this stoked the
hatred toward america.

Lucy: The atmosphere in the city

Was getting more and more tense

As the students pieced together

More gems from the not-very-well

Shredded paperwork at
the american embassy.

More and more iranians
were getting arrested

Because they'd been mentioned
in some american's memo.

Of course, that was
almost a death sentence

For people who got mentioned
in these dispatches.

(dramatic music)

Lewis: Trapped in the home of
a canadian embassy official,

Mark and cora lijek, and their
fellow u.S. Embassy workers,

Were feeling the pressure.

(tense music)

C. Lijek: We couldn't go out

Because we just worried
somebody would see us.

M. Lijek: People would
ring the doorbell.

We'd have to lock
ourselves in the den.

Anything unusual, even
the phone ringing,

It was just, "who's
that calling?"

Even if you tried
to be rational,

You can't totally get
it out of your head.

C. Lijek: We thought somebody
might be coming,

And we were afraid they
might be coming any minute.

Sheardown: All we would try
to do is survive,

Survive from one
day to the next.

We were on the alert.

Every time I heard
a car stop in front,

Especially at night,

I would get up and look
to see who was out there.

I hardly slept,

Probably awake for
most of the time.

Eventually it does take a toll.

Yeah, I think, I
was a bag of nerves.

How would it end?

(tense music)

(gentle dramatic music)

Lewis: On the 71st day of
the hostage crisis

The united nations
security council

Proposed crippling economic
sanctions against iran.

But the soviet union
saw an opportunity

To further weaken american
influence in the region,

And vetoed the motion.

With no diplomatic
solution in sight,

The situation was becoming

More dangerous by the day.

(dramatic music)

M. Lijek: I felt abandoned.

I thought that there
had to be some options.

That the u.S. Government,

A super power, has been
humiliated by the ayatollah.

Lewis: In ottawa, the
canadian government

Was becoming
increasingly nervous

Of hiding u.S. Fugitives,

And being dragged into
an american crisis.

(dramatic music)

Pardy: Suddenly the canadian
press were counting the numbers.

The fact that there
were more americans

Within the american embassy
than the 52 accounted for.

And the journalists were
putting all of this together,

And that's when the realization

Was we needed to do something
fairly quickly for the six.

(dramatic music)

Lewis: If the canadian
media had worked out

There were some western
diplomats unaccounted for,

It was only a matter of time

Before the iranian
revolutionaries did the same.

Pardy: There was
that realization,

"god, what do we do here?"

Lucy: That's when the
cia were called in,

And things started to get,

I guess you might say,
considerably more professional

When it came to the noble
art of exfiltration.

Lewis: To get the american
diplomats out,

The cia would have
to send a man in,

A man with a very
special skillset.

(gentle dramatic music)

Baglio: When it came to who
should the cia go to

In the operation to
help these six americans

Who were hiding out in tehran,

"how can we get them out?

"who is the expert?"

It was tony.

Lewis: Tony mendez was
the cia's exfiltration expert.

His specialty:

Rescuing clandestine agents
and political refugees.

Baglio: Tony knew how to

Get people in and out of
tough spots.

He'd done this
many times before.

He knew the dangers.

He knew what needed to be done.

Lewis: Over the course
of his 14 year career,

Mendez became the
cia's undisputed

Master of forgery and disguise.

Baglio: One of the things that
tony brought to his work

Was this idea of looking outside

The traditional
areas of expertise.

So, he wasn't looking at defense
contractors and scientists.

He was going to hollywood.

(upbeat music)

He was working on
the sets of movies

Learning the techniques.

Lewis: Mendez applied
his hollywood skills

To clandestine trade craft.

He turned to costume
designers and graphic artists

To provide agents with
perfect props and disguises.

It transformed the
agency's capabilities.

Baglio: That was the beginning
of making people in the cia

Understand that disguise wasn't

Just a bad wig and
a fake mustache.

This was the ability to
actually turn somebody

Into a completely
different person.

He took disguise
to another level.

(dramatic music)

Lewis: But smuggling six
terrified american diplomats

Out of tehran would be
his toughest mission yet.

Baglio: His first job was,

"how can we get them out?

"who are they let's
come up with a story

"for why they're in tehran."

He knew that at some
point these people

Were gonna have to go
through airport security,

Customs, border controls,

And they had no
clandestine training.

So he was saying,

"we need to create a scenario
that they will believe in,

"that will get them
to buy into it,

"and give them the
confidence to escape."

And then he thought,

"what about a hollywood
location scouting party?"

Everybody knows a little bit
of something about hollywood.

(gentle dramatic music)

Lewis: Tony mendez knew

The more believable
the cover story,

The easier it would be for
the diplomats to stick to.

So, he set up a fake
film production company.

Baglio: Tony decided to name the
company studio six productions.

The connection being the six
americans who are hiding out.

Lewis: Studio six needed
a plausible film script,

So he called an old
hollywood contact,

Award-winning make-up
artist john chambers.

Baglio: At the time john had
been given a script

About a science fiction movie.

One of the locations
was set in a bazaar

In a middle easter country,

And tony thought, "you know,
this could be perfect."

Lewis: Mendez re-named
the script "argo",

And wrote articles for
the hollywood trade press,

To give it the publicity
of a genuine project.

Baglio: Hollywood being a
town of make believe,

It wasn't long before they
actually were sent scripts

From other producers
and writers.

Lewis: By mid-January 1980,

Mendez's cover, studio six
productions, was up and running.

If anyone checked, the company
would appear legitimate.

Now tony mendez could
enter iran using his alias,

A location production scout

Looking for a middle
eastern location

For the hollywood
blockbuster "argo".

(gentle dramatic music)

Baglio: It's actually a huge
risk to him to go into tehran.

If he had been captured,

He was convinced that he
would be tortured and killed.

Lewis: In tehran,
mendez had no backup.

If his cover story was blown,
there could be no rescue.

The ayatollah had tightened
his grip on power,

And there were few in
iran the cia could trust.

Cia agents like bill daugherty

Had been tortured to
give up their contacts,

Who were then being
systematically

Rounded up and
imprisoned or worse.

(tense music)

Daugherty: They named a woman
that I had been seeing.

She was a senior administrator
in the ministry of education.

There was nothing
she could tell us

That would harm their
government, absolutely nothing,

And he said, "oh, we shot her."

(gun firing)

He was so casual about it,

And I was really pissed.

They took a plastic cord
and tied my wrists together.

(dramatic music)

It literally cut off the
blood flow to the hands,

And they waited, and
the hands swelled up,

And the skin became
very, very sensitive,

And then they laid
them on the desk

And hit it with a rubber hose.

(suspenseful music)

(whip smacking)

It was a lot more painful
than I would have imagined.

It was a kurd that did it.

That big beefy kurd,

And he took great
pleasure in it.

And I wanna kill that son
of a bitch to this day.

(gentle music)

Lewis: By the end of
January 1980,

Many washington
politicos believed

The only way to resolve
the hostage crisis

Was to send in special forces.

What they didn't know

Was that cia agent tony mendez

Was already at the airport.

(airplane roaring)

Baglio: Tony's cover
he's flying in

As the location
scouting manager.

He's in charge of
this film production.

He's traveling under an alias.

Lewis: Mendez knew as long
as he could keep his cover,

Iranian security would have no
reason to suspect he was cia.

What he didn't know was

If the diplomats he
was here to rescue,

Would be able to maintain
their cover stories.

By this time, the lijeks
and their fellow fugitives

Had been in hiding for 84
days, living on their nerves.

Baglio: Tony needed to assess
their state of mind.

This was incredibly important.

He was worried.

He didn't know if
they would crack.

He didn't know if
they'd already cracked.

The door opens, the
americans are inside,

And they're waiting for him.

Lewis: Mendez had
less than 36 hours

To transform six diplomats

Into a credible
canadian film crew

And get them on a
plane out of tehran.

Woman: I don't understand.

(dramatic music)

I was supposed to be the
script writer for the movie.

M. Lijek: I was the
transportation coordinator.

We were given enough
information to memorize

That it would withstand
cursory scrutiny,

But not so much that
we'd be all paranoid

About forgetting some detail.

Baglio: And this is when
he brings out

All the things that
he's been able to create

The script, the drawings,
the business cards.

M. Lijek: He'd brought a copy
of the "hollywood reporter",

With an ad for "argo".

C. Lijek: He had people
back in hollywood

Who could be called if someone
were going to check on us.

We had what he called,
"pocket litter."

M. Lijek: A key chain, other
people's business cards

That you'd met along the way.

Of course, the main thing we
had was the canadian passports.

(dramatic music)

Lewis: The
canadian government

Had supplied the
american diplomats

With genuine canadian passports.

Now the u.S. Diplomats had
to become those people.

Baglio: Tony lays out the plan,

And he said, "okay, guys, you
need to practice these roles.

"you need to learn
these identities."

M. Lijek: We weren't
trained for that.

We weren't spies, and we didn't

Have the benefit of
that kind of experience.

But tony stressed that

All we had to do was
follow instructions.

Baglio: Most of the
americans are on board

Except for one, joe stafford.

The concern was, "we all need
to be on the same page here.

"is joe on the same page?

Lewis: Tehran
was joe stafford's

First foreign post with
the u.S. State department.

Now, he was battling
doubts as to whether

He should play along with
the cover story at all.

C. Lijek: Joe stafford
didn't wanna leave.

He felt we were
abandoning the others,

And he made very little effort
to really get into his role.

(dramatic music)

Lewis: Mendez's extraction
plan relied

On everyone playing
their parts convincingly.

And if the revolutionary guard

Spotted a flaw in
anyone's performance,

It was gonna be tony
mendez in the firing line.

(dramatic music)

Baglio: Tony goes in first.

There's a big thing that
he has is trust your gut.

If he doesn't like it,
they're gonna abort.

Lewis: In the early
morning, there were relatively

Few revolutionary guards
on duty at the airport.

Baglio: He gives the signal.

(gentle dramatic music)

Send in the six americans.

M. Lijek: I was scared, you
know, it was a scary thing.

But then there was
tony, and he was smiling

That meant everything
was good, just proceed.

Lewis: The six
diplomats and tony joined

The queue for passport
control at tehran airport.

Crew member of studio
six productions

Heading home from a
location scouting trip.

(gentle dramatic music)

C. Lijek: I was worried
somebody might recognize us.

M. Lijek: When you arrive at
post, you have to submit

A bunch of photographs
to the foreign ministry.

Who knows where those
photographs were.

They could be on the
wall at the airport,

And so that was a
little bit concerning.

Butt, there's no help for it.

You just have to
hope for the best.

Lewis: The canadian
passports were genuine.

But the rest of their
documents were a problem.

Mendez had expertly forged
the diplomats' exit visas.

The trouble was they
were supposed to match

A counterfoil entry visa
at passport control,

A counterfoil that didn't exist.

C. Lijek: The fellow was
supposed to take

The yellow visa paper
out of our passports

And check for the matching
copy in the files.

The guy took the papers,

(suspenseful music)

But he didn't check anything.

Thank you.

Lewis: One by one
the american fugitives

Cleared passport security.

Then in the departure lounge,

They heard an announcement.

Their 7:30 a.M. Flight
had been delayed

(dramatic music)

(voice muttering over pa system)

M. Lijek: So at that point
I'm freaking out.

The longer we're there
the better the chance

Of something going wrong.

Lewis: The plane had
a mechanical problem.

But that wasn't the only issue.

Baglio: The revolutionary
guards tony was hoping

Weren't gonna be there
are now making the rounds.

They're harassing people.

The americans begin to worry

About whether or not this
cover story is gonna hold up,

And tony becomes
a little concerned

That one them might crack.

(dramatic music)

Lewis: By now, the tension

Was taking its toll
on joe stafford,

And he had stopped playing
his part altogether.

M. Lijek: Joe made no effort.

He was reading a farsi newspaper

Before tony took
it away from him.

He kept calling cora
by her real name.

C. Lijek: We were
definitely worried

That joe might give us away.

Baglio: It was clear that
joe was feeling

Guilty about leaving.

He didn't want to leave tehran

While these other americans
were being held hostage.

Lewis: If stafford
blew their cover,

The consequences for
the group were dire.

But for a cia officer, they
were likely to be fatal.

(tense music)

Baglio: Everybody is nervous.

The mood is anxious.

Tony is looking at the scenario

Through the lens of
problems, solutions.

They just have to wait,

And they just have
to keep their cool.

M. Lijek: Tony he inspired
a lot of confidence.

C. Lijek: He said,
"just stay calm.

"we'll just hang here," so
I was able to calm down.

After 30 minutes they announced

That the plane was
ready to be boarded.

Every step was
another step closer.

Lewis: At 8:30 a.M.,
on January 28, 1980,

The lijek's plane finally
left tehran for zurich.

85 days after they'd fled
their besieged embassy,

And accompanied by the
cia master of disguise

Who'd orchestrated their escape,

The american diplomats were
at last on their way home.

C. Lijek: We figured we finally
were safe when they announced

We were out of iranian airspace.

M. Lijek: At that point we
ordered some bloody mary's

And toasted each other.

It was over.

Lewis: Though it was
over for the six,

It wasn't yet over for
the 52 american hostages

Still held at the u.S. Embassy.

(dramatic music)

A few months later,
on April 24, 1980,

A desperate president
jimmy carter

Launched a military
rescue attempt.

(emergency sirens blaring)

It ended in disaster
in the desert.

Eight american
servicemen were killed.

Several more were injured.

Bill daugherty and 51
of his fellow americans

Would remain in captivity in
iran until January 20, 1981,

A total of 444 days.

C. Lijek: It was difficult
knowing they were still there.

That was really difficult.

(gentle music)

Lewis: At the time,
any involvement by the cia

In the lijek's escape
was kept secret,

To avoid reprisals against
the remaining hostages.

Baglio: One of the unique
things about tony

And the individuals like
him who work in the cia,

Is they know that they
will never get credit.

Lewis: But full credit
was given to the canadians

For their heroic
role in the escape.

M. Lijek: Canadians
invested a lot of effort

In keeping us safe
all those months.

C. Lijek: It was a pretty
big risk keeping us there.

M. Lijek: Zena she was
our protector

From the outside world,

The barrier between us and them.

(gentle dramatic music)

Sheardown: I don't regret
any of it.

What would we have felt
like if they were caught?

I don't think I
would have been able

To live with that myself.

(dramatic music)

Lewis: Only when cia files
were declassified

17 years later could
the truth be revealed.

How one man devised a plot

Straight out of a
hollywood movie,

To stage one of the
boldest recuse missions

In the agency's history.

(suspenseful music)

(dramatic music)