The Iran Hostage Crisis

The Great Satan.
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[@seanhanlon1706]

When Simon stands up and walks out of shot, I like to think he's just going to put the kettle on and make a brew before coming back to record The Casual Criminalist or something straight after

[@anhedonicauthor]

Someone made a similar comment on a different video which he replied to, saying after he turns off the camera he most likely turns it back on and sits down to record another Into the Shadows.

[@parypearl382]

I was a kid during this, and it was an early lesson about how devious and/or petty politics could be. I was watching tv with my mother and commented about what a coincidence it was that the inauguration was at exactly the same time as the hostage release (naive, I know, but I was 8) and my mother telling me that it was NO coincidence. I lost some innocence that day.

[@amandajones661]

Me too. I was 12.

[@realazduffman]

Yes, Iran hated Carter so much that they waited until right after Reagan was in office to release them.

[@holyfordus]

@@realazduffman Actually it’s claimed (though evidence has been declared “limited”) that the Reagan campaign directly planned that with the Islamic Republic. Rumor has it that Reagan selling weapons to Iran via Israel was payback. Evidence is (admittedly) limited but that’s how Bush Sr., who served in his campaign, White House, and succeeded him, alleges it happened. It’s one of those *wink and nod* dirty deals that just happens in D.C. and foreign capitals from time to time.

[@realazduffman]

@@holyfordus So they claim. Dirty little secret is the Iran-Iraq war was the best thing for the USA since Operation Barbarosa

[@honeysucklecat]

@@realazduffman big oil hated Carter because he tried to move us away from fossil fuels. Carter was correct.

[@beautoner]

Reporter: Would ever you consider going back to Iran? Released hostage: Ya, in a B-52. Not sure much has changed.

[@thorin1045]

yep, the usa still tries to intervene in other countries willy-nilly and still needs to be punched in the nose from time to time to understand, not all countries are weak and spineless.

[@brotherbruno1783]

In high school my AP US History teacher had a different theory: the reason the hostages were released immediately after the inauguration was because the Iranians believed Ragan, who was deemed to be a bit of a loose cannon, would invade the country in retaliation. Interesting how the same known events can be viewed at from completely opposite angles EDIT: For those who are trying to dismiss this statement from my teacher as GOP propaganda, the man was an ardent democrat and proponent of many of the same positions as the modern Democratic Party. I disagreed with him at nearly every turn politically, but he respected opposing opinions and understood the limitations of bias in the retelling of history.

[@michaelfrazia4569]

your teacher was correct....look up how he responded to libya...I am a history teacher as well. I have researched the hell out of this era ...this is a prime example of how having a strong commander in chief keeps Americans abroad safer than having a placeholder like Carter. Carter was a nice decent man but not fit to be commander in chief of a superpower ...he was in way over his head. as we have seen there has been a rush to rewrite history recently or make things appear more tidy for our sensitive youngsters, but your teacher gave you the real deal. I don't care what a podcast says. I didn't research it for a 10 minute piece online , but us history is what I got my masters in and have taught for 2 decades...I get tired of watching these podcasts give the wrong historic facts to paint a more politically correct picture...I like Simon so I deal with it, but I wish he'd hire a real historian

[@honeysucklecat]

@@michaelfrazia4569 wrong. Reagan was a puppet for big oil slipping into senility. Big oil had deep fingers in Iran. And big oil hated Carter who had the foresight to realize oil needed to be replaced. Reagan did what he was told. Mostly, he watched movies while President.

[@Sonamyfan875]

@@honeysucklecat Replace oil with what at the time? I'm a fan of nuclear, but it's only become properly reliable in the past 30 years.

[@honeysucklecat]

That’s what knee jerkers think. People who obey gop propaganda because they don’t think for themselves say this. Reagan was a senile puppet who trashed the economy for all except the super greedy.

[@ressljs]

It's probably at least partly true. And you don't even need to credit anything to Reagan for this to be the case. The Iranians would have known that the hostage crisis made Carter look weak and ineffective; and they'd next President (Reagan or otherwise) would take more drastic action to not share the same fate as Carter. And as far as Reagan being senile, that was true at the end of his Presidency, not the beginning.

[@balooko31]

Nowadays you can visit the embassy, even if you're an American (like me). My tour guide didn't want to take me there because most of the people seem to be embarrassed by it (and some locals were even upset that he was showing it to us because they dislike the propaganda, but it was something I wanted to see). They still have the shredder inside and various pieces of CIA spying equipment, anti-American propaganda, parts of crashed helicopter, etc in and around the embassy. That being said, I spent 15 days in Iran in 2017 and felt very safe and welcome by the locals ("Welcome to Iran" and "Thank you for visiting my country" were frequently heard comments). Even visited the mausoleum of Ayatollah Khomeini. Of course this type of trip isn't for everyone (lots of rules, like no drinking and needing a guide with you at all times) but the country is beautiful, particularly the old palaces and mosques, and the food was delicious.

[@Ariaa76]

We didn't really hate the U.S. we've had good relationships with them, my uncle trained in their airforce and was fluent in four languages, my other uncle used to take ships from afaik Abadan or Bandar Abbas to New York (he was a bartender and have met many famous Iranian singers and actors) and both of them have had good memories and fondness. Glad you visited my country, we can be really stupid but we're really nice! I wish we never had oil :)

[@badluck5647]

I wouldn't recommend any American visit anymore. Iran keeps locking duel citizens up as leverage against America.

[@grabberorange5663]

@@badluck5647 thought you were exaggerating but there's an actual government travel advisory posted because of kidnapping. 😬

[@balooko31]

@@badluck5647 That was also the case when I went in 2017, but I'm just a regular one citizenship American whose ancestors came here from Germany in the 1700s.

[@warrenreid1441]

Was there in 93. Very friendly people and a beautiful country

[@jordanroof5380]

It's a somewhat common theory here in the States that the Iranians 1) were scared spitless of Reagan's righteous fury, if you're a conservative, or 2) rightfully concerned that the "loose canon" or "cowboy" would immediately invade, if you're a liberal. Either way, the theory goes that the Iranians were concerned that Reagan wouldn't be nearly as diplomatic as Carter, and that's why they released the hostages just before Reagan could use it as a pretext for war.

[@pzhda]

Ironically, they went to war shortly after.

[@blakegrubb3091]

Neither have any bearing in truth though

[@warrenreid1441]

Or were offered arms for their war with Iraq.

[@PinkyJujubean]

We made some shady backroom deals with them and everything was magically fixed. That's how this stuff usually gets resolved

[@denigster]

this sounds like hearing news out of russia - the whole world knows that there was a shady deal going on - no one was scared ! lol

[@Oh__Real]

My great uncle was actually one of the hostages his name was Colonel Charles Scott, he even has a book on the crisis titled Pieces of the game.

[@amandajones661]

💙💙💙

[@Maven0666]

That’s awesome! I was a little kid when it happened. It made us all mad they didn’t immediately go get them!

[@mungmungthethird1664]

Thanks Steven, very cool!

[@RestingBitchface7]

I was in the 6th grade and I did a social studies report on your uncle. It was a terrible year.

[@RestingBitchface7]

@@Maven0666 if we had, they’d all have been slaughtered.

[@amandajones661]

The incident that led to Reagan and Reaganomics. Which led to my dad and many other tradesmen losing their jobs and lives going in totally different directions.

[@daveanderson3805]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't it under the Reagan administration that manufacturing jobs were sent to the PRC? If that is the case, it wouldn't be very patriotic of a republican president, would it?

[@pjg_77]

@@daveanderson3805 yeah, the same thing also happened here under Thatcher. All our heavy industries were sold off to the PRC, miners decimated. We still feel the effects here from her.

[@thelordofcringe]

@@pjg_77 same thing happened to every modern country during the 80s. Resource extraction was trimmed down and economic systems and services were built up. Rural and decentralized areas suffered, urbanites prospered. Blue collar was sacrificed so that the white collar world would grow. The middle class was cut in half so the upper portion of it would grow richer, enough to distract from the even vaster enrichment of the 1%. And even then, now the upper middle class is so far behind the rich. Hell, the 1% is nothing these days. Barely an improvement from the middle class. Its not until you get into the .1 percent that your lifestyle becomes stereotypically rich.

[@honeysucklecat]

@@daveanderson3805 It was a process that started with Carter and Deng Xiopeng

[@pjg_77]

@@thelordofcringe fully agree, manufacturing declined while services, especially financial services, boomed. The financial deregulation of the early 1980s is what created a lot of the mess we’re in now. And they use fancy buzz words like “quantitative easing” to print more money and make us poorer. Food as doubled here in 12mths, that’s okay as they’ve taken 2 pence of a litre of petrol 🥴 I digress haha.

[@nunavutstonefist5500]

Great episode, and more credit given to the Canadians than the Argo film had! Have you considered Canadian Residential Schools as a topic for this channel? You could even do a piece on Eric DeJaeger for your Casual Criminalist channel as well!

[@amb163]

I think the "60s Scoop" and the Residential School System nightmare in general would be a good topic for this channel. The more people who know about it, the better.

[@Maven0666]

They really messed Argo up.

[@Lokitty719]

I have to agree that the Residential Schools would be a very interesting and a very important subject for this channel to cover.

[@Maven0666]

@@Lokitty719 Yes!

[@meganjohnson998]

Yes so many more people need to know about things like the 60’s scoop.

[@almyska467]

I remember this so well. I was an assistant manager at a retail store at the time and our head cashier's husband was one of the hostages.

[@theawesomeman9821]

what was his name?

[@davidberry3949]

What was his name?

[@padawanmage71]

Much as I liked the movie ‘Argo’, i didn’t like how it downplayed the Canadian’s efforts to get the people out of Iran. If you get a chance, watch the show ‘Our Man in Tehran’, which gives a more balanced view on the whole affair,

[@pjg_77]

Thanks for the info, I’ll give those a watch over the weekend. Appreciated 🙏

[@duncancurtis1758]

There was no Delta Force style plane chase at the end either!

[@saeedsaimonable]

why you dont know about The CIA acknowledges its role in the coup in Iran in 1953, its the main reason that my people attack USA Ambassade after the revolution because they knew that the USA will do another coup, they didn't trust them that's why called USA government great satan

[@curiousworld7912]

I well remember this. When people now complain about Iran, they should remember that we only have ourselves to blame. The US and Britain overthrew a democratically elected President - just because he had the temerity to nationalize his own country's oil. This is how well that worked out...

[@leeshackelford7517]

Idiot, huge amounts of money had been invested.. You make "nationalizing" to be acceptable...it isn't

[@curiousworld7912]

@@leeshackelford7517 Gee, I guess the only answer to that, is 'bite me'. :)

[@averageviewer6279]

@@leeshackelford7517 We don't want you in our country if your here to take our resources, live with it.

[@shawnr771]

The breaking up of the Ottoman Empire by the British can be added to many of the underlying problems manifesting themselves in the Middle East today. The British ignored the advice of their subject matter expert and pretty much mucked things up. And here we are.

[@curiousworld7912]

@@shawnr771 Sykes-Picot agreement, as I recall, determined 'spheres of influence' for the major powers, in 1916 (?). Nice of them, wasn't it...

[@grahamfahlman]

Marge: "Can we get rid of this Ayatollah t-shirt? Khomeini died years ago." Homer: "But Marge, it works on ANY Ayatollah! Ayatollah Nakhbadeh, Ayatollah Zahedi...even as we speak, Ayatollah Razmara and his cadre of fanatics are consolidating their power". Marge: "I don't care WHO'S consolidating their powers'.

[@grahamfahlman]

Back when Simpsons was actually funny.

[@armandotalampas4800]

I remember that episode! There's a fool who bought it saying: "I'll take it!"😆

[@Megan-nt7dm]

My (American) grandparents left Iran the day before this happened. My grandfather worked for a rug company and was on a buying trip, my grandma went along and they had a baby vacation. My grandmother said it freaked her out so much that she never left the country again and honestly didn't leave New England after that.

[@colmconroy93]

Could you please do an episode on the 'Irish famine' , which was not a famine but inly a failure of potatoes which is shown as record grains were exported by the British whilst almost half of the Irish population starved, emigrated or were enslaved and sent to the West Indies.

[@martindoyle5505]

This was probably one of the first big news stories I remember as a child. The others were Elvis' death, the seige at the Iranian Embassy in London and the mass breakout of IRA prisoners from Portlaoise prison in Ireland, where I live.

[@ignitionfrn2223]

1:15 - Chapter 1 - Meddling 3:50 - Chapter 2 - The shah 5:00 - Chapter 3 - Revolution 7:15 - Chapter 4 - The valentine's day open house 8:05 - Chapter 5 - November 9:00 - Chapter 6 - Captive 10:55 - Chapter 7 - The canadian caper 12:50 - Chapter 8 - Operation eagle claw 14:50 - Chapter 9 - End of the crisis

[@cynthiasimpson931]

On the day this crisis was concluded, my sister and I were driving up by Lake Berryessa, California (which fans of Simon's will recognize as the location of one of the Zodiac's murders that happened in 1969) and we were listening to the radio. Suddenly the radio station interrupted the song playing with the announcement that the crisis was over and the hostages were being released. The station then played the Charlie Daniels Band's version of "America the Beautiful", and at the same time the sun broke through the clouds and a beautiful double rainbow appeared over the lake, reflected in the waters of the lake. It was a moment I'll never forget.

[@jaanikaapa6925]

My father was held prisoner there too. A Finnish truck driver.

[@EclecticDD]

Tony Mendez' book is very interesting, it speaks of "Argo," but also his whole career. The Master of Disguise: My Secret Life in the CIA.

[@ChelseaCorrine]

“All the Shah’s Men” is a great book that covers this.

[@charletonzimmerman4205]

I was, Involved, on Board a US Aircraft Carrier, during these negotiations, & It was as you say, 'CONFUSING", Orders, from Washington/President Carter changed every Day, as an Enlisted, Navy Sailor, I didn't know, if I would ever return To America Alive.

[@ClutchMyPrimus1]

I remember my fifth grade teacher talking about this. Boy oh boy had I'd known then what I know now about politics!

[@ElizabethAlleman]

To be fair, some of the reasons that evidence re Iran-Contra was found insufficient were extremely telling. For one, a great deal was outright destroyed, a fact that was detected, and for which, infamously, Oliver North, then a serving military officer, was eventually tried and convicted at court martial, and iirc discharged dishonorably (though to later praise from the far-right fringe that serves as the loyalist republican base). Further, when Reagan himself was questioned about the affair, it soon became apparent that his dementia was progressing to the point that he was unlikely to be able to give or be compelled to give meaningful testimony (which also, just conveniently for him, if it can be phrased so, made him essentially prosecution-proof due to reduced mental capacity). Why he was left in office is something that baffles me still to this day, and has been the fuel for various nightmares over the decades since...

[@jasonbailey1951]

Yet Biden is still our president in the US. Dementia has no impact on who our supposed leader is. Seems sometimes the dumber the better.

[@Maven0666]

Oh the vicious webs they weave.

[@thelordofcringe]

Uh, no. North was convicted of all three charges by a partisan court, which on review was so blatantly corrupt that they reversed and dismissed all charges. See, turns out you cant just do whatever you want to people you dislike. Gotta follow the judicial process. Seems people like you are just too desperate to punish people you dont like, even when it results in them getting away with everything. You types are so politically obsessed you cannot behave like rational creatures, even when you have a 100% guarenteed case. You still have to act like tyrants and defeat yourself. Its pitiful.

[@jasonbailey1951]

@@thelordofcringe Yet you focus your angers on others when in your argument you discredited yourself. But others are supposed to see your way of thinking. Interesting....

[@jasonbailey1951]

@@thelordofcringe just giving you shit. I actually appreciate your argument. Even though I disagree. Its a perspective I didn't see before. Thank you.

[@brianedwards7142]

I didn't know about the conspiracy idea but I always felt that Carter was robbed as he seemed to put a lot of effort into getting the hostages released. If truth is the first casualty of war then integrity is the first casualty of politics.

[@Anirandom1214]

Honestly I'd LOVE to see an 'Into the Shadows' on the entirety of the Iranian Revolution. The fact that this happened in the 70s and yet... American schools don't even mention it in k-12 education is mind boggling.

[@patriciapalmer1377]

Ah...the Carter years...and that pile of ineptly chosen helicopters in the desert that malfunctioned in the wind whipped sand in a horribly botched, ill conceived rescue attempt that furthered the hostage's desperate situation.

[@MelTermine]

I remember watching the hostages get off the plane on TV in my grandparents living room. It was very emotional because my uncle, who was in the military, had literally left 2 weeks before they were taken, he would have been there and quite honestly he looked just like the guy they "arrested " and sentenced to death, the February before, back then. His whole family had been there until that February, my cousin was born there she was 5 years old when they came back to the states she spoke farsi as well as English. My grandmother cried watching. I was 8 years old, it was also the first presidential election I ever watched and I remember everyone hated Jimmy Carter and I really didn't know why. Great video!

[@Maven0666]

Because they let it go on and on. They were suffering.

[@Bolsonaro_em_Haia]

Jimmy Carter will be vindicated by history.

[@Maven0666]

@@Bolsonaro_em_Haia A’ho! Carter is a hero!

[@killerbean11]

Hey. What's the name of his other channel where he talks about murders and mysteries?

[@Maven0666]

@@killerbean11 the Casual Criminalist

[@ladyponfarr5479]

You didn't mention the marine prisoner that got one of his female guards pregnant and when she told her brother he dragged her into thier back yard and hung her. the marine was going to be executed but was released.

[@FortyHyena]

YOu should do an episode on one of your channels about the absolutely batshit and bad ass operation carried out by Ross Perot when two of his employees of EDS were taken captive during the Iranian revolution. It was accounted in a book called On Wings Of Eagles. Basically, Ross Perot organized a team to sneak into Iran to rescue his two employees, which involved a prison break. It's a awesome and wild story.

[@evelyntodd9946]

I will remember being allowed to stay up late to watch NIGHTLINE. The show was started to give a daily update on the crisis. The show continued many years after the crisis ended.

[@baconbeans218]

It would be cool if you did a video on the dawn raids in New Zealand

[@twocvbloke]

Must have been a pretty harrowing time for the hostages, not knowing if they'd see the light at the end of the tunnel, or end up killed at the hands of their captors...

[@nickmauldin8825]

This has become one of my favorite channels y’all have made so far. 👍👍

[@spencerwiltse2855]

I JUST watched Argo a few days ago and my first thought after it was done was "well now I need to see what Simon says about this" you read my mind. P.s. Simon says.. A great channel name 😉

[@Maven0666]

Wait…I never saw a show dedicated to an arsenic attack by terrorists. We need you to do that one!

[@rocketman1058]

I have to admit, it's one of the best history channels on youtube

[@Tia-Marie]

I think this is the first major political thing I "took note of" as a kid.

[@ressljs]

It's the first world event I remember. I was too young to understand it, but I knew everyone was really angry with a bad country that wasn't the Soviet Union. And I remember yellow ribbons tied onto every tree in town.

[@kevinfreeman3098]

Yo Simon, your writer got it wrong. There are five military branches in the United States and they are as follows: Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and the Coast Guard....

[@badluck5647]

Recently, it became six with the Space Force.

[@absollum]

@@badluck5647 I forgot that's still a thing

[@dotdotdots6328]

Was the coast guard still part of the Department of Transportation back then? So is he not technically right for that time period? Edit: change Transportation to Treasury

[@kevinfreeman3098]

My paychecks said DoD...

[@MegaKaiser7]

3 sections. Department of the Army, department of the Navy, and Air force

[@DoggosAndJiuJitsu]

You don't see a lot of hostage situations where Christian or Jewish kidnap and murder people for their beliefs....

[@Mrgunsngear]

Thanks

[@DoctorProph3t]

Aww I thought this was the Siege of the Iranian Embassy in London Still a well told story, cheers Simon.

[@jeffreyhill1011]

The wife of Tony Mendez had done a couple of videos here on KZbin about CIA disguises. She also work for the company, or is recently retired.

[@tgargoyle8068]

The narration left out the decision of President Carter to allow the former Shah to enter the United States to receive life saving medical treatment. This inflamed the Iranians and alarmed the embassy staff who had warned the State Department that any such move might put the embassy in danger.

[@jmwilliamsart]

He’s forgetting the part that Iraq played in all of this when it invaded Iran’s southwestern province in Sept. 1980. The onset of the Iran-Iraq War demonstrated how isolated Iran had become and it forced the leadership in Iran to be more pragmatic. One of the key reasons that the Iranians released the hostages was to perhaps try to limit their enemies on the international stage and to focus their efforts on the war with Iraq.

[@michaelroloson2389]

Remember what Reagan did to Lybia? That is what he would have don to Iran. Iran knew it. That's why the hostages were let go. Carter was wishy-washy at best. Iran knew that also.

[@robertgiles9124]

Carter should have flattened Iran. He would have gotten 2 terms.

[@leeshackelford7517]

Yep..bomb a different city every day.... And that's what I said at the time. A paper tiger... sigh, that's what the USA was under Carter

[@curtisthomas2670]

Libya was AFTER lran. The hostages were released because backroom deals were made. US wouldn't have openly attacked lran because they had Soviet support, that's why we got our puppet Saddam to do it for us.

[@robertgiles9124]

@@curtisthomas2670 Iran KNEW Reagan was gonna get it done and not muck about. It got done.

[@curtisthomas2670]

@@robertgiles9124 if believing that makes you happy good for you 👍

[@maljo4604]

How am I only just finding out about this channel now 🤣

[@jleisner1974]

Ron Reagan brokered the DELAY of the prisoners' release so he'd get the credit. Charming as a colonoscopy, that.

[@Matt-xc6sp]

Really a sign of how far we’ve come. A modern Republican wouldn’t bother and just claim credit regardless.

[@badluck5647]

Stop lying. Reagon couldn't legally represent the government until he was president.

[@holydado]

Like doing things “legally” ever stop governments!!!

[@jleisner1974]

@@badluck5647 he was the incoming POTUS, and his convos w/ back channels are known & on record

[@robertgiles9124]

@@jleisner1974 Baloney.

[@helmi7877]

Wow, another channel. This guy is unstoppable.

[@YourFreeBeats]

As someone who lived through this is a good synopsis. It was a weird time.because: 1. The Iranian (Shiats) made it clear they were not against the American people but instead the America government. 2. The American people made it clear we were not against the Iranian government, but instead the Iranian people. Of course the Shah would have been executed in Tehran, and to put this in perspective, one of the student leaders of the take-over became the Vice-President for Iran. Finally, EVERYONE who worked at the Embassy knew of the dangers, but most wanted to be there simply to witness the revolution. It’s amazing no one was killed.

[@The_SCPFoundation]

I didn't know Simon had another channel... That makes 42 Simon channels I'm subbed to.

[@henk-3098]

Why do I keep finding Simon Whistler channels? Are there an infinite number of them?

[@ressljs]

Simon Whistler channels are kind of like Starbucks. There's so many of them, your keep running into them without trying.

[@joeyr7294]

Simon has reverted back to just bombarding my notifications instead of a vid here and an hour or so later another vid and so on. 🤔 and I'm not mad about it lol

[@wretchedegg2208]

When I read the title I thougt this video was about the attack on the iranian embassy in London. Well I learned something new.

[@doortarin]

Thank you, Simon, for the great video. Here are a few points from an Iranian perspective. First, the main casualty of the 1953 coup was a democratic tradition established in Iran five decades earlier. The US orchestration of the coup and converting the constitutional monarch into a dictator (who destroyed all democratic foundations) has been remembered by Iranian intellectuals. Second, almost all political groups, from liberals to leftists to nationalists to Islamists, contributed to the 1979's revolution (thanks to Shah's unpopularity). Only one of these groups, the extremist religious group led by Khomeini, took over and brutally eliminated other groups. Finally, all dictatorships require a perceived enemy to control their population; the US plays that role for the extremists in Iran. A far-right government in the US often helps the Iranian government tighten its grip on power. Fundamentalists in Iran prefer the likes of Reagan and Trump over the likes of Carter. The unfortunate hostage crisis had a long-term benefit for extremists on both sides.

[@ryank5424]

A well done video as usual

[@JamesLaserpimpWalsh]

Believe me, it's SUPER easy to look as if you are supposed to be anywhere you like. Just have a clipboard and say a day glo PPE tabard or a lanyard ID around your neck. Don't worry it can be a dennis the menace fan club ID, nobody ever really looks at them and just ask to see some person you made up if anyone says anything. You would be surprised how easy it is to fool people like that especially in big busy places like airports. I always wondered where Iran got it's hands on F-14 tomcats. This explains all it would seem. Thanks for the upload.

[@bryanmachin2152]

My understanding is that the protest of November 1979 was because of the U.S. allowing the Shah to enter our country for medical treatment. Why is the cause of that protest (and subsequent invasion of the embassy) not even mentioned in this video?

[@saadalvi4320]

Lol the guy at 10:20, such self awareness.

[@calvinwatson7242]

Could you cover the church rock incident? Not sure if you already have.

[@tokyosmash]

The event that single handedly led to the finest aviation outfit EVER (160th)

[@Corsuwey]

I was only 4 years old during this... but I do recall my parents watching it on TV. BTW, my father was not a fan of Reagan.

[@Maven0666]

444 Days; I remember I was about nine when this was going on. Too bad Liam Neeson’s Taken character wasn’t on the job. Those hostages would have been home in a week as opposed to over a year. Can you imagine being a hostage that long?

[@louise-yo7kz]

I was 8!

[@Maven0666]

@@louise-yo7kz I think I was nine. It was very memorable. It never left me. I think I’ve compared it to every other big crime since and none were that bad. Except for 911.

[@PrimetimeD]

Good stuff.

[@CashelOConnolly]

Out of the frying pan into the fire 🔥

[@claudiuspulcher2440]

The criticism of Operation Eagle Claw for being overcomplicated seems like a bit of post facto reasoning. Would you say the same of the operation that successfully took out Bin Laden? It was also significantly complicated... but it worked. Maybe it was a better plan, maybe it was better executed, or maybe the forces had more luck. But I'm sure the very same sort of criticism levied against Carter would have been levied against Obama if it had failed. On the other hand, if Eagle Claw had not had so much bad luck so quickly with the choppers, Carter might have had a much different legacy (I think everyone agreed that they didn't have enough contingency for the choppers though)

[@justinteel7172]

Really Lucy throw that word Revolution around

[@jrevillug]

Also worth mentioning On Wings of Eagles, a true(enough) account of the rescue of some American civilians trapped in Tehran during the revolution, by civilians working for the same IT company as those trapped.

[@jrevillug]

Ah, just checked. This happened in Dec 78 - Feb 79, while the embassy was not seized until late 79. Still set against the background of those same rapid changes within Iran.

[@shawnr771]

Electronic Data Systems owned by Ross Perot.

[@techmaster9123]

Fun to watch you talk about my country..

[@TheAstip]

Great video, but would love to have sources for the video though, especially since it's a great start for research I'm doing for college

[@Aur1x1]

It amazes me that Jimmy carter is still alive today.

[@AcornElectron]

Rather not have that thanks. Freedom of choice for EVERYONE is the goal. Not just the believers.

[@reggiep75]

The Shah was a rat and 1979 was a massively important year in geopolitics and definitely worthy of a video alone on all the events that happened that year.

[@thepeff]

Do Oliver North's buried gold!

[@ShivamSingh-yu5tt]

Is this available on Spotify?

[@juliobrian4757]

I made the escape look easy. Me and the CIA guy just walked in...took them up and walked right out. Easy.

[@iamnolegend483]

Iranian “students”. Yeah, ok.

[@RiggsBF]

Imagine What would’ve happened if they raided the Soviet embassy instead.

[@curtisthomas2670]

They dealt with stuff like that differently. One time a Mid East terr0r group grabbed some Sov's and made demands. The Sov's sent in Spetsnaz who in "extracted" some of the group's members and returned them in pieces, promising a steady delivery of body parts until their people were released. They were, and for decades after the Sov's were off limits.

[@Mohammadamir-Ataei]

But i think it's clear why iranians choose US embassy over soviets.

[@markhoffman6488]

Might be past time you did a bit on Crimea...

[@CartoonHero1986]

Anyone else get "Tie a Yellow Ribbon 'Round Ol' Oak Tree" in their head reading the title of this?

[@gn0015]

Holy Satan. Another new channel? How many is it now? 11 channels? Damn it Mr. Whistler you need help.

[@darylb5564]

I know this will not be a popular view but if I was in charge we would use Iran for target practice. It would be a bomb range till there was no longer a standing structure..

[@garethanderson57]

Has this guy ever done a video on iran-contra?

[@wolfvontyr2266]

Argo is a damn good film, Affleck is the bomb as a director, yo. Thank you for covering this, its absolutely fascinating to see how it really happened. Seeing pictures of Iran pre-revolution is quite incredible, just how modern and cosmopolitan Tehran was. One of my fave pictures is a young woman wearing a swimsuit thats only marginally more than a bikini posing against the front of a Triumph Herald. If she were to do it about 5 years later, she'd have been thrown in prison! Here's an idea for a potential future episode based around a hostage situation... the Entebbe Airport hostage crisis.

[@melgreier1630]

Yes, Argo is a wonderful work of imaginative pseudo fiction 😂 Leave it to Hollywood to misguide everyone about who should actually take most of the credit, and leave it to Canadians to be okay with that lol this is why Canadians are welcomed everywhere on earth and Americans are not lol

[@loganholmberg2295]

I do believe Regan probably did that. Not just because Iran contra but also because Nixon had done something similar during his election campaigns during Veitnam. If he hadn't won the Presidency he defiantly would have been in trouble for interfering with the peace talks IMO.

[@curtisthomas2670]

GHWB was a part of that

[@raptorfromthe6ix833]

not really nixon just told the south vietnamese to ignore their deal whereas reagen wouldnt have any contact with the iranians

[@amandashaw1977]

can you do one on the Madras Famine in 1877 india

[@charlesswan5423]

It not like there wasn't precident for Republican hopefuls going and undermining US government negotiations to help win elections.... looking at you Nixon

[@Xamufam]

US shaken to its core. Well that happens every month

[@samuelstephen8147]

Did this crises have any implications for the Iran-Iraq War?

[@shawnr771]

The US probably covertly supplied Iraq with something. At least up until the point chemical weapons were used.

[@bobafett_8922]

It lead to the U.S and the west supply the iraqi army

[@realazduffman]

It might not have happened if the Shah knew how to compromise.

[@BewareTheLilyOfTheValley]

Stories like this is why I'm happy we left Afghanistan. We got our comeuppance on 9/11 (and no, innocent people didn't deserve to die for what the government has done, but it was a sobering reminder that it's innocents who will pay for what a government does). After twenty years there with little to show for it, it was long past the time we withdrew and gave them back their country...for better or for worse.

[@samdomino7960]

Ah yess, perfect time to wake up. Just in time for a fact boiii upload 😏

[@NewsHistorian]

"This wasn't simply the ramblings of the disenchanted - the story appeared in The New York Times..." Is that a joke?

[@RRHardyHar]

Oooh, an Iran-Contra affair video would be good ..

[@matthewkuchinski1769]

And no one truly knows how many died under the Shah's rule, though the best estimate has been 20-25,000. And many more thousands of people were thrown into the Iranian jails for their political views.

[@WaddedBliss]

It'd be nice if someone rescued Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe.

[@WilliamTMusil]

Hiya Simon

[@sterfry8502]

FJB

[@daveanderson3805]

Carter was a bit of a waste of space, but at least he knew where he was, who he was and, oh yeah, he could actually speak in coherent sentences. Here we are, all those years later, and there is a ventriloquist dummy in the White House

[@TheEvilCommenter]

Good video 👍