After watching the film, which included the mock firing squad (Did that actually happen in real life?), it occurred to me that Iranians could have executed say six hostages in reprisal for these six Americans escaping and then said their blood was on each and every one of those who escaped.
So why did they not do so?
What reprisals if any were carried out by Iran after this?
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Thanks for that information, incidentally I have a brother who lives in Co Quitlam, outside of Vancouver. I had the chance to visit him and is wife there in 2006
Do they have any good Iranian restaurants?
Out of interest that scene of the mock firing squad, did that actually happen, or was that just added to the movie for dramatic effect.
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Think this one through. The Iranians had no intention of killing any of the hostages at any time. The seizure of the American embassy was condemned by just about every government on earth. No country wanted to see something like that, and it was an absolute violation of international law. In the movie, someone makes the point that six Americans being executed while held in their own embassy would be an international outrage, but six American diplomats accused of being spies and caught in the Canadian embassy would not. That is probably not true. Either would have been an international outrage.
The hostages turned out to be extremely useful to the Khomeini regime to consolidate its power, but they had no other value to the Iranians. The Iranian parliament had decided to take custody of the hostages with the intention of sending them home, but was overruled by Khomeini. The US had froze all Iranian assets, and figuring out what to do with that money was a significant part of the eventual settlement. It was no accident that they were released as soon as Reagan was sworn in. They had no further use.
They didn't because they thought it was Canada that did this. The U.S. didn't mention it was them because of fear of that.
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