In 750 A.D., a century after the Arab invasion, a dynasty called the Abbasids rose to power. ibid.
From calligraphy to coins to ceramics, in the battle between two cultures the Persians were making an extraordinary comeback. ibid.
I’m going back to when Persia faced her greatest threat – the greatest conqueror the world had ever known, Genghis Khan. But from death and destruction emerged a golden age. Samira Ahmed, Art of Persia III
If eye-witness accounts are to be believed, up to a million men, women and children were butchered this way. ibid.
It’s 2016 and Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe is travelling home after visiting her parents in Iran. But she’s stopped from returning to London. Nazanin was jailed for five years on spying charges widely denounced as baseless. We think she’s being held hostage. This is the inside story of why it has taken so long to get her and other innocent British prisoners home. Panorama: Hostage in Iran, Darragh Macintyre reporting, BBC 2020
Ana Diamond was also arrested while visiting her family in Iran. She was locked up in the same jail as Nazanin after being sentenced to ten years for spying. She’s a British-Iranian and she’s been a member of the young Conservatives. Ana spent 200 days in solitary confinement. ibid.
Britain had helped the Shah of Iran seize absolute power. But in 1979 the Shah was overthrown by the Islamic revolution. Relations between the two countries have been hostile ever since. ibid.
In recent years the imprisonment of eight British-Iranian dual nationals has been made public. But we think there’s more. ibid.
52 diplomats had been seized from the American embassy in Tehran. They were only freed after the American government agreed to release $8 billion of Iranian assets which the US had seized. ibid.
But there’s a sticking point when it comes to getting the British prisoners out. Once again it involves a debt from a 1970s arms deal. ibid.
There have been secret talks about paying the debt off. ibid.
‘Never ever ever in my life have I seen any transaction so incompetently negotiated as our deal with Iran.’ Trump Takes on the World II, BBBC 2021
He claimed that the Iran nuclear deal gave the regime billions of dollars to finance terrorism. The Europeans were told they had four months to fix it or the US was out. ibid.
In one year Iran will have a nuclear weapon: what, I’m supposed to ignore it? Just sit back and let it happen? Salting the Battlefield 2014 starring Bill Nighy & Helena Bonham-Carter & Rupert Graves & Ralph Fiennes & Ewen Bremner & James McArdle & Judy Davis & Felicity Jones & Valeria Vereau & Saskia Reeves et al, director David Hare, prime minister
Iran: last year’s terror in Iran was unique in the world, even in Iran’s history because at that time all political prisoners were obliged to repent their political beliefs or they were systematically executed. It was in fact a liquidation. Adam Curtis, Inside Story: The Road to Terror, Dr Karim Lahiji, BBC 1989
To many in the West the Iranian revolution seems incomprehensible … There has been a struggle for power that follows the pattern of many other revolutions. ibid.
‘I shall never take power. I only want to return to my country. I understand absolutely nothing about politics.’ ibid. Khomeini
Although the Shah had fled Iran before Khomeini’s arrival he had left behind him a government and an army. ibid.
Assad decided get the Americans out of the Middle East, and to do this he made an alliance with the new revolutionary force of Ayatollah Khomeini in Iran … Khomeini told his followers that they could destroy themselves in order to save the revolution, providing that in the process they killed as many enemies around them as possible. Adam Curtis, HyperNormalisation 2016
And then in 1979 the Iranian revolution showed dramatically America’s policy of backing dictators did not work. The Iranian people rose up and toppled the Shah of Iran. The Shah had one of the largest military forces in the world given to him by the Americans. But it proved helpless in the face of the new Islamist ideology of Ayatollah Khomeini. Many in the West saw Khomeini as the resurgence of a dark almost medieval force. But this was wrong. The Iranian revolution was yet again driven by Western ideas of political freedom. Adam Curtis: The Trap III: We Will Force You to be Free
The Neo-Conservatives were beginning to believe that their ideal of freedom was an absolute. And that this then justified lying and exaggerating in order to enforce that vision. The end justified the means. Although they portrayed the Contras as freedom fighters, it was well known that they used murder, assassination and torture. And also were allegedly using CIA-supplied planes to smuggle cocaine back into the United States. And to finance the Contras, the Neo-Conservatives were even prepared to deal with America’s enemy – the leaders of the Iranian revolution. In 1985 those running the Nicaragua operation held a series of secret meetings with Iranian leaders in Europe. They arranged to sell the Iranians American weapons; in return the Iranians would release American hostages held in Lebanon. Then the money from these sales would be used by those running Project Democracy to fund the Contras. The only problem was that this was completely illegal. And the President knew it. ibid.
Tehran, Iran UFO encounter: September 19 1976: Multiple witnesses observe an anomaly in the skies over the city of Iran … UFOs: Top Secret Alien Files, History 2021
It started with one woman’s act of defiance. Challenging one of the world’s most oppressive regimes by refusing to wear her hijab. Others soon followed. This is the story of women risking their freedom by taking on the rulers of Iran. Iran Unveiled: Taking on the Ayatollahs, ITV 2022
Women are at the forefront of unprecedented opposition to Iran’s ruling clerics after forty years in power. They face a brutal crackdown. ibid.
The White Wednesdays campaign is gaining momentum. ibid.
One by one the Iranian authorities have silenced most of the women protestors of Revolution Street. ibid.
My name is Nazanin Zaghari-Radcliffe. I am a hostage. What they are putting me through is outrageous. I haven’t committed a crime. I have spent nine months in solitary confinement spending every night away from my child. I’ve never done any propaganda against the Iranian regime. I am not a political person. This should end. I haven’t done anything wrong. I should go home. Nazanin, Channel 4 2023
Tehran 2016: ‘You are banned from leaving the country … We have an order for your arrest.’ ibid. Nazanin detained
You’ve got a mum on holiday and they accuse her of being a spy. ibid. husband
A contract to sell the Shah 1,400 tanks … Iran wanted the money back. Britain wanted to hang on to that money. ibid. Duncan Campbell
Nazanin’s fate is entirely bound up in the failure to resolve this debt. ibid. husband
This is a long-running dispute between Iran and the UK. ibid.
A number of innocent people who are being held hostage. ibid.
This is the story of a year inside the Islamic republic. Inside Iran: The Fight for Freedom, ITV 2023
‘The Iranian regime is now facing the biggest protests for years against its hard-line regime.’ ibid. regime
In September 2022, the regime imposed a brutal crackdown on protesters. ibid. caption
‘I help the people who have been protesting in Iran to leave the country.’ ibid. Hemin
Eyewitnesses report seeing Mahsa being beaten by the morality police following her arrest. ibid.
This is the story of a year inside the Islamic republic. Inside Iran: The Fight for Freedom, ITV 2023
‘The Iranian regime is now facing the biggest protests for years against its hard-line regime.’ ibid. regime
In September 2022, the regime imposed a brutal crackdown on protesters. ibid. caption
‘I help the people who have been protesting in Iran to leave the country.’ ibid. Hemin
Eyewitnesses report seeing Mahsa being beaten by the morality police following her arrest. ibid.