khomeini era." and so i got in the complete time of his rule in iran. brian: why the name "in the name of god"? robin: because that's the basis, the justification, for everything iran has done over this decade, carried out in the name of god, be it acts of violence against the united states, the war with iraq, the taking of hostages. both domestic and foreign policy were shaped around god's laws and carried out in god's name. brian: did you ever meet khomeini? robin: no, i didn't. i met several members of his family and talked to them at great length, and they offered some unusual insight, but in the last years of his life, khomeini was never interviewed. it was the first period that when he got back, when noriana falachi and various other people who were there at the time got to see him. brian: who in his family did you meet? robin: i met his son, ahmed, who is a very powerful man in his own right now. i met his daughter, who has some very interesting kind of family -type stories about what it was

even khomeini agreed to the deals. they worked hard to try to resolve the little hostage crisis that continued into the 1990's, and through his ambassador to berlin, tried to create the environment for improved relations with the west in general. even khomeini agreed to some of these steps, even though he regularly spouts the opposite idea. and of course, the letters to the american presidents. on both sides, there have been a string of attempts to reach out. that suggests to me that what is required for an improvement to take place is the discovery of the true need, satisfying mutual needs. they don't even need to be the same needs. iranians and americans have different ideas of what they could get out of iran-contra. the jcpoa is an example of perceived needs being met by just interaction. that can occur if the environment is in place where the stakes for failure are not so high. they are always higher in iran than in the united states. but if that conducive environment can come about, i think there are possibilities

and in a final act of speights, khomeini only allowed final act of spite, khomeini only allow the hostages to leave after ronald reagan was sworn in. the staff were in the west wing and had a connection to the president's appointment secretary as reagan was being sworn in, hoping to tell the president the passages the hostages had been released. unfortunately, they could only tell him they would be released afterward. the operator said, i'm sorry. your administration is over. i can give you that information. this was a clear in to the administration. it was so dramatic because literally the president worked day and night to reach the agreement that was finally reached in terms of the assets we froze, and many other details. it was reached beforehand, but khomeini, in a final jab at the present, would not allow him to have the and if it of having the hostages released on his watch. >> and on that day you were where? >> we waited we were told the night before we were leaving. we were examined by out jerry and doctors. actually we were leaving and there would be we would have a television int

because khomeini thought it was important. he himself took great exception to this and railed against it publicly, not failing to mention that this was a jewish center who was leading the charge, again, as the united states was interfering in iran's internal affairs, and he made a cause celebre out of this. charlie nass, who was at the time the acting d.c.m. at the embassy in tehran said that this basically spelt end of any of his hopes for improvement of the situation, and he shortly thereafter left and was replaced by bruce langen. much better known as a cause of the takeover was the admission of the shas to the united states for medical treatment in october of 1979, and before that time, bruce was present in a cable that he wrote to washington in response to a query in july, so a couple of months ahead of time, in response to a query, what did i think it would mean if the u.s. admitted the shah. he gave some background, and he said subject to this reservation, i conclude that for the shah to take up residence in the u.s. in

speights,inal act of khomeini only allowed -- final onlyf spite, khomeini allow the hostages to leave after ronald reagan was sworn in. wingtaff were in the west to the a connection president's appointment secretary as reagan was being sworn in, hoping to tell the president the passages -- the hostages had been released. onlytunately, they could him they would be released afterward. the operator said, i'm sorry. your administration is over. i can give you that information. to thes a clear in administration. it was so dramatic because literally the president worked day and night to reach the agreement that was finally reached in terms of the assets we froze, and many other details. it was reached beforehand, but a final jab at the present, would not allow him to have the and if it of having the hostages released on his watch. host: and on that day you were where? we waited -- we were told the night before we were leaving. we were examined by out jerry and doctors. actually we were leaving and we would have -- a television interview, the implication being what we said in the television

and what changed it was the race by khomeini. of the student take over of which he did not do in february of 79 because he used this as a political pun steve, to rally support behind his radical fundamentalism i push out his own moderate government. we didn't appreciate this at the time. it was a huge undermining fight between the more pro-democracy secular nationalist in the radical fundamentalist. john perhaps would be appreciated but we did not understand it is the new thing for us. one is the radical, islamic government creative his the first in history we had no idea and yossi and monday of the national thought khomeini is just going to be a figurehead and he'll be on the sidelines giving sermons. not realizing that he wanted to take over the government and make it a radical islamic government. >> will go to ellen in east chicago indiana. >> good morning and thank you for cspan2 and a been watching it for decades and i love the show. i appreciate you being there. my recollection of what happened and i agree this was a huge f

speights,inal act of khomeini only allowed -- final onlyf spite, khomeini allow the hostages to leaveer ronald reagan was sworn in. wingtaff were in the west to the a connection president's appointment secretary as reagan was being sworn in, hoping to tell the president the passages -- the hostages had been released. onlytunately, they could him they would be released afterward. the operator said, i'm sorry. your administration is over. i can give you that information. to thes a clear in administration. it was so dramatic because literally the president worked day and night to reach the agreement that was finally reached in terms of the assets we froze, and many other details. it was reached beforehand, but a final jab at the present, would not allow him to have the and if it of having the hostages released on his watch. host: and on that day you were where? we waited -- we were told the night before we were leaving. we were examined by out jerry and doctors. actually we were leaving and we would have -- a television interview, the implication being what we said in the television and

the rogue gentleman turned out to be ayatollah khomeini.imagine what the world would be like if he knocked him off rather than knocking him down. [laughter] >> [inaudible] from your lips to god's ears. [laughter] i'll tell you another -- imagine this. from the time the shah left iran, south africa was begging the shah to come and go into exile in south africa. south africa has wonderful medical facilities. they promised the shah security, serenity, everything, and the shah didn't do it. shah never did. and the reason was after the britishon kicked the shah out of iran and exiled him to mauritius , his next stop was south africa. and there the he died. and the shah just did not want to die in the same country that his father did.t and that's why he never did go to south africa for sanctuary. and if he did, imagine what the world would be like today. one of the things that the, speakingof of what ifs, one of e things his students never saw was the rise of hezbollah. thezb iranians today have killed almost a thousand americans in acts of terro

he said ayatollah khomeini has released you to your parents.rsi is not that good but certainly i can make out my name. narrator: on july 10, he was taken to the airport. >> i got on that plane and they put me on first class. they started wheeling out this giant breakfast, not for me, but for the first class passengers. and i was starved and famished. i started eating anything and everything that came within grasp. , queen wasn zurich taken to the hospital and his parents were flown in from the united states to meet him. >> i do remember mother coming in, tears in her eyes. things were blurry. narrator: but a day later, queen's condition in hospital had dramatically improved, and he was flown back to the states within a week. [applause] >> i knew i was out. i could tell i was out. but my mind did not really jump to that conclusion. >> i really can't express words what it is like to be back in america again. i really can't say much more. i just wish there were 52 more with me. there are 14 out now and there are 52 more to go. ♪ narrator: july 27,

he was no less than the son of the ayatollah khomeini.e had told him to release the hostages, there is no doubt they would have peered he -- but he didn't. instead he gave him the ayatollah's support. most were students mainly from tehran, zealous and conservative, angry at the government for maintaining normal relations with the united states, so in october, 1979, 30 or 40 of them met to plan in action, against the iranian government and the united states. as incredible as it sounds, the seizure of the u.s. embassy was only supposed to last three to five days. when the government proved incapable of stopping the students in the ayatollah signaled his support publicly, the students found they had started something worth continuing. with massive popular support, including elements of the military, they demanded the return of the shaw as a way to shah as a way to end the takeover. >> the hostages are here because this is the only thing we can have here against america, and we tell them we do have the hostages until they send shaw h here. >>

. >> eight months earlier, the ayatollah khomeini had returned home from exile in france. although a provisional government existed, he became the supreme power in the country. his triumphed return was treated like the second coming of mohammed. the ayatollah's campaign to transform iran into an islamic republic began. the first target was the shah. he was tried in absentia and the sentence was death. >> for 37 years he was killing our people. 7,000 people have died in this country. >> this deep hatred for the shah was well known to the american government. the fact that the u.s. had supported the shah prior to the revolution made the embassy in tehran a high-risk posting. the u.s. man on the spot was bruce laingen. laingen felt strongly that the u.s. should not admit the shah and he explained why in a top-secret letter to the state department. >> i thought that until the revolution had put its own institutions of government in place, until we had put an ambassador in place and thus signaled in that way our acceptance of the revolution, that it would be dangerous to procee

was when the story resurfaced, with a videotape now on the internet, on of all places ayatollah khomeini's website. whenever i go into an iranian store, whenever i meet iranian friends, sometimes i will travel abroad, there may be some iranians there. this happened in istanbul and people will say i remember you, one who met with ho him x y and z. people tell me that they use this interview as an example of the mixture of the use of language and culture to make a very strong point. this was a small triumph. i did not save the world, i did not solve the hostage crisis. but i think what i was able to do was hold the values of our service and our profession. there are certain rules of interaction and to violate those, go against those violates thousands of years of rules of human interaction. when i think about that story i still get some satisfaction from it. >> 40 years ago, students over in the u.s. embassy in tehran and held 52 americans hostage for 444 days. sunday watch american history featuring the american hostage crisis. the guests on washington journal and former irani and author jo

study there but also the founder of these amik revolution ayatollah khomeini spent many years there in exile this city is very important for iran because of the clerical. schools that are there in the history that we share the opinion here is that these attacks are taking place by small groups of people that are being fueled by outside forces removed western countries to try and create a rift between the relationship between iran and iraq their relationship has never been stronger right now there are trade annually is out $13000000000.00 in the ratings are currently providing a 3rd of the country's electricity in iraq so it's very important for this relationship to continue also strategically iraq lies shares a border with syria as well as saudi arabia countries that iran is very interested in maintaining some kind of power or around and so for them this incident is unacceptable and they will do everything they can to pressure on the iraqi government to try and arrest as soon as possible. now north korea seems to have launched an unidentified projectile according to the south korean

of the attack in a shia majority city cannot be understated this is the city where the ayatollah khomeini used to live it's considered to be you know the heart of the shia muslim world and iran thought that it had the population the iraqi shia population on its side in terms of its you know regional policies clearly that's not the case. protesters say rand is exerting t. much power in iraq they want the iraqi government to take action to limit it was it's the 2nd time this month that in a rainy and consulate has been targeted by iraqi protest as 3 weeks ago security forces killed to demonstrate is in the city of karbala. both attacks feed into the why to anti-government protest movement that thing gulf to iraq since october it's unclear you know what options the government in iran has in response to these protests i don't think they have very good options in a so i suspect right now there is deep panic and paranoia in terror on over what happened today in niger. the challenge for iran is how to respond without alienating the shia community upon which it's provide to expand its regional in

heights in fuel prices or authorities responded by shutting down the internet supreme leader ayatollah khomeini has described the protests as a security threat. very little information reaches the outside world from iran authorities have shut down the internet whether there are still protests there and where they may be taking place is difficult to verify. videos from monday evening show angry demonstrators some are demanding that the government step down the protests were sparked by a drastic increase in the price of gasoline u.s. sanctions and mismanagement are the main causes of iran's economic crisis. also by the i have 3 jobs to support myself of course people are upset and now they found a reason to show their dissatisfaction everyone does it in their own way. these beautiful pictures of men who have been arrested are shown on state television they're accused of initiating the protests at the behest of other countries one hard line newspaper reports they could face the death penalty. more than 1000 people are believed to have been arrested in the wake of the protests the un has expressed

he traveled an hour and a half by bus to pay his respects how little not having won it and then khomeini how good they won a. victory that is the flu will really have a mouthful welcome to. the only one of 2 families to speak publicly about the attack the rest of the victims have never been named. no cause or couldn't even know could the ma do the knots think it's only that sick sits in the to do call to law sick initiated. and all corey is thing i'm outta. there either later. so they. come to the beach 7 7 7. they're all going to be awesome they're the only news farewell a new york. in 2020 tokyo will be the in the world to host the paralympic games for a 2nd time. the japanese government. crease awareness for the more than 7000000 japanese living with disabilities. i do training camp for the national team i meet long jump i. will host the next paralympic games your home country. a little bit more nervous. how do you start a training in high school at the time. was growing in his right arm and doctors considering amputation. at all. but if i feel guilty. with no longer spread. paralympi

. >> this is the city where the ayatollah khomeini used to live. considered the heart of the she-muslim world, and iran thought it had the population, the iraqi shield population on its side in terms of its regional policies. clearly that is not the case. >> this is the second time this month that an iranian consulate in shiite-majority city has been targeted by demonstrators. three weeks ago, security forces killed four demonstrators who stormed the consulate in kabul appeared those attacks feed into the wider protest movement. hours later, violence in yet another she-majority city, dozens killed or wounded, and security forces opened fire with live rounds and tear gas to disperse crowds of protesters. iraq's military announced the troops would be dispatched to southern iraq to restore order. antigovernment demonstrations have been raging since early october. protesters are accusing the government of corruption and demanding a complete overhaul of the country's political system. at least 350 people have been killed and thousands wounded since the

study there but also the founder of these amik revolution ayatollah khomeini spent many years there in exile and this city. is very important for iran because of the clerical. schools that are there in the history that we share the opinion here is that these attacks are taking place by small groups of people that are being fueled by outside forces western countries which are trying to create a rift between the relationship between iran and iraq their relationship has never been stronger right now their trade annually is at $13000000000.00 in the ratings are currently providing a 3rd of the country's electricity in iraq so it's very important for this relationship to continue also strategically iraq wise shares a border with syria as well as saudi arabia countries that iran is very interested in maintaining some kind of power or around and so for them this incident is unacceptable and they will do everything they can to put pressure on the iraqi government to try and quell this on the rest as soon as possible let's bring you more on the prisoner exchange deal out of yemen and as we'r

backed shah in 1988 he left the country that exiled cleric ayatollah khomeini returned in triumph then in october the shah was allowed into the u.s. to receive treatment for the cancer that would kill him less than a year later 2 weeks later student protesters stormed the u.s. embassy in tehran and took 90 people hostage including 66 americans they demanded that the u.s. extradite the shah back to iran it refused 52 of those hostages were kept for $444.00 days in that time the u.s. imposed sanctions and frozen radian assets and all diplomatic ties were caught then in january $981.00 the u.s. and iran finally signed an agreement to release the hostages and to unfreeze iranian assets the 52 were flown to germany but relations between the 2 countries have never fully recovered but speak to us in washington he's the iran project director for the international crisis group what is it about this 40th anniversary this hostage crisis all that time ago why is it the both the americans and the iranians have both taken calculated blows at one another on the on this significant adverse or why is i

this gave the ayatollah khomeini faction a lot of credibility, a lot of legitimacy. maybe we shouldn't let them go. so somebody gets stalemate. fairly quickly black americans are given the permission to leave if they chose. women are given the permission to leave if they choose. but the others, no. there's a side story which at the moment of takeover of the american embassy personnel, the great movie that got made by ben affleck and others say there are six at this point escape and run in the streets that's a whole other story. as hostages escaping, taking root in the canadian embassy. but the others are sitting there blindfolded in squalor at this point not being tortured or anything like that.but by no means being housed comfortably. as the days and start to take on work. for the american government it was a really hard set of decisions as to what the leverage point, how do you fix the situation? jimmy carter is very methodical thinker, in a good sense. he goes through every possible avenue of consumer a double consideration to release the hostages peacefully so we

of the attack in a shia majority city cannot be understated this is the city where the ayatollah khomeini used to live it's considered to be you know the heart of the shia muslim world and iran thought that it had the population the iraqi shia population on its side in terms of its you know regional policies clearly that's not the case. protesters say rand is exerting t. much power in iraq they won't directly government to take action to limit it was it's the 2nd time this month that in a rainy and consulate has been targeted by iraqi protest as 3 weeks ago security forces killed to demonstrate is in the city of copula. both attacks feed into the white anti-government protest movement that the gulf to iraq since october so it's unclear you know what options the government in iran has in response to these protests i don't think they have very good options and as so i suspect right now there is deep panic and paranoia in terror on over what happened today in najaf. the challenge for iran is how to respond without alienating the shia community upon which it's relied to expand its regional in

revenues will fall in support for the poor the move is bought by iran's supreme leader the ayatollah khomeini who. they're rioting and call the protesters hooligans let's go live now a political analyst side must stuff a cust chesham always good to have you on the program how unsettled is the situation where you are. hello and thanks for having me you know tehran is calm now of course and all security has been stopped which there were where you know ever since the revolution the iranians have been demanding. actually freedom of expression and that's why they revolted and there have been protests or demands by the people in demonstrations who have been expressing their legitimate concerns and demands and nobody has been bothering them of a since this riots a was revived through the revolution and this is nothing strange but this strange or call the standing point here is that as soon as the rain ian's come out to the man and to call for. legitimate grievances economic grievances we can see very. very outstanding efforts and very clear and obvious efforts by the united states by the m.k. older

revenues will fund support for the poor the move is backed by iran's supreme leader the ayatollah khomeini who described the rioting as sabotage and called the protesters who libyans meanwhile washington has voiced its support for the protests a move that tehran slant is hypocritical. as i said to the people of iran almost a year and a half ago the united states is with you i will not hire people will not be taken advantage of by outsiders who put economic pressure of our nation your iran's economy has been in freefall since the us reimpose sanctions after pulling out of the international nuclear deal last year the national currency has lost around 60 percent of its value on the unofficial markets and inflation hit 42 percent in the year leading up to october aside from fuel prices the crisis has put a huge strain on the health care system with shortages of life saving medication political scientist kevin f.s.e. r.p. believes that us sanctions have had a devastating impact on ordinary people. we are hearing increasing reports not just from you know reliable sources but also from the u.n. a

mr khomeini calls them thugs and mercenaries, and they were innocent bystanders.k the pressure we have seen inside iran, and as we have heard from michael and annalisa, in iraq, syria, yemen, do you think these pressures will cause the regime to change course? the islamic republic has reached the end of its line, and thatis has reached the end of its line, and that is why the people are in the streets, because they realise... as michael said, this has happened every decade. you think it is different? this time, its strategic depth was in yemen and lebanon, but it is losing that. also, when it wa nts to it is losing that. also, when it wants to look forward, what is the programme that it is proposing to irani ands? mr rouhani has submitted two budgets to the parliament instead of one at a time. both are based on non—oil resources and tourism. 0n based on non—oil resources and tourism. on one side, they take two national hostage, and on the other, they want to promote tourism and increase the economic well—being of the population. the people have lost trust. white j

and the suppression and crackdown did begin from the very early on it wasn't following ayatollah khomeini's intervention but following his intervention now the political office of. islamic revolutionary guard corps i.r.g.c. has issued a statement yesterday saying that they will actually intensify and take a harsher approach following what he said so i think. the government's stance is that you know that it has to be stopped at any cost because their experience from what happened in syria and elsewhere is that the moment the protesters gain some sort of victory then it has a kind of domino effect and it will be difficult to stop it so i'm afraid the while and will only increase from the from the security authorities come down martin thank you very much for an obvious as you are at the university of sussex thank you very much thank you. you're watching the news coming up ahead the creation of britain's colonial in iraq to new students in kenya also thousands of people driven from their homes now those victims are looking for compensation and i've taken the case to the united nations. but 1st

the president must have been is planning to read daily he has done that in the past recently in khomeini by election using the military but we are banking on overwhelming him because it will vote can easily be rigged if it's not overwhelming and ultimately if president 70 tries to rig the election that he has been like he has been doing then the people of uganda we rise up and they will stop it let me ask you about what you mean by that because if you are blocked at the ballot box what other ways will you seek truth miss 70 and it's worth noting to our viewers that since independence in the 1960 s. the has never been a peaceful transfer of power in uganda they low as it is today permit me to vie for presidency and if president must have any tries to stop me from vying for the presidency that would be another breach that we shall cross when you get there but what you said a moment ago that the people could rise up are you saying there could be an armed revolution against some 70 if your efforts of the by. box blocked i do not think people could raise up i said people will raise up because

the iranian consulate in jeff you know cannot be understated this is the city where the ayatollah khomeini used to live it's considered to be you know the heart of the shia muslim world and iran thought that it had the population iraqi shia population on its side in terms of its you know regional policies clearly that's not the case and so i think this is a very important development well it's very difficult to see how they can respond because the natural sort of constituency of supporters that iran has relied upon to expand its influence in the middle east has been in in and among shia communities so if it responds with brutal force as it has responded recently within iran over the last week to crush very similar protests. that runs the risk of you know losing tehran support in in in iraq and throughout the broader region so it's unclear you know what options the government in iran has in response to these protests i don't think they have very good options in a so i suspect right now there is deep panic and paranoia in terror on over what happened today in the jeff. in other world news u.

that significant but also the symbolism of where it took place this is the city where the ayatollah khomeini used to live it's considered to be you know the heart of the shia muslim world and iran thought that it had the population the iraqi shia population on its side in terms of its you know regional policies clearly that's not the case the this is the 2nd time this month that an iranian consulate in a shiite majority city has been targeted by the demonstrators 3 weeks ago security forces killed 4 demonstrators who stormed the consulate in the city of karbala both attacks feed into the wider anti-government protest movement that's engulfed iraq since october. by early wednesday violence in the yet another shia majority southern city dozens killed or wounded in nasiriyah when security forces opened fire with live rounds and tear gas to disperse crowds of protesters hours later and military announced the troops would be dispatched to southern iraq to restore order anti-government demonstrations have been raging in iraq since early october with protesters accusing the government of corruption