Stories about Iran | 60 Minutes Full Episodes

tensions keep Rising between the US and Iran since the Israel Hamas War Began almost every week Iranian back militias have attacked us bases in Syria and Iraq it's the latest example and a serious escal of teran's use of proxy Fighters like Hezbollah and Hamas tonight you'll hear of another type of proxy that Iran deploys that receives far less attention Teran is hiring Hitmen around the world in an effort to intimidate abduct and assassinate perceived enemies of the regime and they're doing it right here on us soil this this video was posted online by a channel affiliated with Iran's revolutionary guard it vows to kill former American government officials including president Trump to avenge the 2020 us assassination of the terrorism Mastermind kasum sulamani threats like this have been deemed credible enough that several of these officials have been under round-the-clock protection including Former Defense secretary Mark s former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo Iran reportedly offered a Hitman a million dollars to kill him and John Bolton the former National Security adviser they bargained the price for me would be $300,000 which I have to say I found insulting so what exactly was the plot against you the Revolutionary guard sought to procure either my kidnapping or my assassination uh not directly by a revolutionary guards member but by seeking a Hitman who would carry out the job either in the US or abroad the FBI has an arrest warrant out for this Iranian officer claiming that he hired the Hitman online to travel to Washington Corner Bolton in a garage and kill him but it turned out lucky for Bolton the Assassin was an FBI informant this was not internet matter this was a negotiation to murder an American citizen a former government official is the threat against you ongoing we've got marked Secret Service cars that say police United States Secret Service outside my home we talked to the FBI and several intelligence agencies and they told us that Iran's efforts are becoming more frequent and Bolder and that they often go after vocal Iranian activists living abroad the idea behind assassination plot behind kidnapping plot is to keep you silent it's a beautiful family place we met one of their targets in Brooklyn MSI alinad is a leader in the women's revolt against the law in Iran mandating they wear a headscarf or hijab forced to flee 14 years ago she settled here in Brooklyn where she encourages women back home to to send her videos of them taking off the hijabs and she spreads those images online to her 10 million or so followers fueling the protest movement so the mullers began to focus on you the FBI came and told you there was a plot against you there were like six or seven FBI agents when they came to my house um they told me that your life is in danger I was like okay tell me something new because we Iranians are used to it but they actually said nope this time is different they said that the Iranian regime hired private investigator on us soil to take photos of your movement your daily life your routine and I was like wow so they are here in New York in Brooklyn the plot was to kidnap you and take you by speedboat to Venezuela hey it sounds like a scary movie to you now you don't it sounds implausible to me you see for it's a reality for us and a reality for the FBI that says the plan was to get her to Iran to stand trial it was the same for jamshid Chad another Iranian dissident who lived in Los Angeles for two decades and created a website where people in Iran could report human rights abuses and 2020 while he was changing planes in Dubai on a business trip his family noticed his phone started heading in the wrong direction his daughter Jazelle Shad soon saw her dad pop up on Iranian TV in a courtroom looking petrified he's forced to confessions about crimes he did not commit the charge that they gave him is corruption on Earth that's why he got the death sentence is it a situation where he could act actually be executed Oh yes any day they want to hang him from a crane in the middle of the city the original plot to kidnap MSI was thwarted but according to the FBI a year later in 2022 Iran paid this azer bani living outside New York City $30,000 to buy a semi-automatic rifle and kill her he lurked outside her home for a week his plan was to take advantage of her friendliness to her neighbors he was actually following my life he knew that I was the one offering flowers to strangers you offered flowers to strangers yeah this is me so he received the text message from the guy inside Iran saying that go un knock the door then take her to the backyard garden if I had opened the door I would have just given him a big smile smile and say yes let's go to my garden and then he wanted to just kill me did he actually knock on your door yes her home security camera actually caught him on her porch trying to get in eventually he took off but was pulled over for running a stop sign that's when the police found this in his car he's been in custody awaiting trial ever since but here's what's interesting neither he nor two other men the prosecutors say were hired for the job were Iranian like him they were Eastern European and as is becoming a trademark of Iran Shadow War they were criminals they were all from Criminal Syndicate this is what the Islamic Republic is really good at like using drug dealers using criminals to do their dirty job on the western soil it maybe have deniability exactly we didn't do it that's the point so why do they use Praxis to have somebody who is not being tracked by intelligence or security agencies for this Matt Jukes head of counterterrorism policing in Britain says this is not just an American problem in the UK they have foiled 15 Iranian kidnapping and assassination attempts since last year I have been involved in National Security policing for over 20 years what we've seen in the last 18 months is a real acceleration we have been told that a lot of these criminal gangs hire other criminal gangs and then maybe a third group I think we're always going to see this uh collaboration between criminal organizations we know that this will not always be a direct line from a state organization to a threat to a potential kidnapping this recording was given to us by a foreign intelligence agency it shows how Iran recruits criminals I received a call from the irgc the Revolutionary guard this is an Iranian Smuggler from Heria a town near the Turkish border he reveals to the foreign agents that he was approached by Iran's revolutionary guard with a deal they'll turn a blind eye to his smuggling if he helps them their request was that I find people who could work for them what kind of work anything like catching someone for us so they can be beaten up or gotten rid of this surveillance video shows him recruiting a fellow Smuggler for the task the man in white is Mansa rasuli an alleged drug dealer he agreed to arrange assassinations throughout Europe for the Iranian government for money but a few Weeks Later rasuli was kidnapped at night and interrogated in a car reportedly by Israeli intelligence they extracted this cell phone confession where rasuli admits he was paid $150,000 up front and promised a million dollar if he killed three people for the Iranians one is an Israeli at the embassy in Istanbul Turkey another one is is an American General in Germany and one is a journalist in France the French Target was identified as philosopher Bernard enri lvi a vocal critic of the regime in Terran the identity of the American General remains a mystery the plot to kill the three was prevented but in recent years Iranian dissidents were successfully kidnapped and smuggled to Iran several were executed they've succeeded in Europe they haven't succeeded in the United States even though we know there are targets right so many American officials and others are being targeted why is it not a bigger issue look I think the targeting of American citizens by a hostile foreign government uh is very close to an act of War what would happen if they succeeded in Assassin ating Someone Like You a well-known former official well I wouldn't like to find out uh for for myself or for the country but why are we sitting here quietly talking about this when they're in effect uh saying they're going to commit acts of war against American citizens on American soil does the fact that Iran it feels emboldened to come after our citizens does it mean we've lost our deterrence well I think we have lost detor and I think this also goes to an unwillingness on the part of the administration to confront the IAS in a way that they understand they can challenge US Government on us soil without any punishment then what's the reason to there are sanctions against them sanction is not sufficient sanction is what do you want us to do drop a bomb no look when you negotiate with the killers you empowering them the Biden Administration didn't respond to our request for an interview the Islamic Republic when masi alinad was called to testify before Congress about Iran in September she said that unless the administration's policy changes her life will continue to be in danger I believe that when I'm not in the spotlight when media like you are not paying attention to me finally they going to come after me while she now has has the freedom to speak her mind in America she does not have the freedom to live where she wants masi and her family have had to go into hiding under FBI protection it's like wow the government from my own country trying to kill me but my adopted country trying to protect me you have to be an Iranian to survive assassination plot to understand that how it feels to survive in America and to have the platform and to criticize the US government tearing up tell me why you're tearing up because people in my country get killed for criticizing get shot in head for the crime of criticizing for more than 5 years 1,9 75 days American businessman immad Shi was a prisoner of the Islamic Republic of Iran he spent much of that time in the country's most notorious prison in a dreaded Ward run by Iran's revolutionary guard last month Shi and four other Americans were freed in a complicated deal involving $6 billion doll in restricted Iranian oil Revenue the deal Drew criticism at the time for granting Financial relief to a regime the US government considers the world's largest state sponsor of terrorism it drew even more scrutiny after Hamas which is financially supported by Iran attacked Israel two weeks ago with more than 200 hostages remaining in Gaza including some Americans shi's ordeal is a stark illustration of the difficulties and perils involved in bringing American citizens home this story um should have never happened but I didn't waste 5 and a half years Margaret I learned a lot about myself about Humanity about what is important in life being thrown in a Cell It's the closest you come to death and back then Imad Shi is a dual citizen of the US and Iran he left Iran at age 13 before the 1979 Islamic revolution in the US he went to college met his wife bah and started a business representing us chemical companies in the Middle East and later worked for private Equity Firm in Abu Dhabi by 2016 with their daughters off to college Imad and bah who is also Iranian American decided to travel to Iran and ReDiscover their Roots Iran had just agreed to a landmark deal to limit its nuclear development in exchange for sanctions relief which made Shi think the country was full of opportunity his father thought otherwise he said to me he said Amad you don't know this country people like you will duel nationalities they pick these people up once in a while for whatever use they have for them and I said Dad give me a break you know I've never been in the US government nothing and I guess if anybody asks me in one sentence what have you learned from this experience I would say listen to your dad the couple both in their 50s began spending time in Iran Shi found work Consulting for an Amsterdam based company investing in Iranian businesses was there anything that suggested to you that you were a Target that there was going to be a problem you know I thought I have a better chance of getting hit crossing the road by a motorbike when I was there I did not see this coming just past midnight on April 23rd 2018 about 15 armed agents showed up at the family house in teron gentleman walked in he said this is an arrest warrant for you and for your wife on what grounds he wouldn't tell me at the time around 2:30 in the morning they said okay get ready we are taking you and my wife said no you can't take him and they told her to sit down and mind her business that they'll get to her later what did that mean I didn't know at the time so when they took me out of that house I did not know what was going to happen to my wife that's terrifying yep it's not a position you want to be in he was taken to a place in Teran Iranians have long feared Evan prison to a special Ward known as 2A run by the Intelligence Division of the Islamic revolutionary guard Corps they took me to a room they told me to strip naked they gave me some blue garbs they told me this is the end of the line for you and most likely you'll never see the outside world from now on nobody will address you by your name you're a code now 97010 was my code that's dehumanizing uh they are experts at that and then hell starts torture threats of torture and psychological torture they take you to a very small room and then they throw a j giant of a human being in there who proceeds to hit you to push you around to threaten to kill you and then the good cop comes in and he says look I can put a stop to this you just need to confess confess to what they said you have to confess that you are a spy which is ludicrous Shi says his interrogators threatened him with electrical shocks waterboarding and hanging but never followed through so I realized they don't want to damage their product at that point product correct why do you choose that word because that's what I was you believe you were taken simply because you were American to extract a price correct he told us some interrogations went on for 9 hours a day what did you tell them during all those hours of questioning I mean the most mundane things the first day they kept asking me why did you go to the White House church and I'm think to myself Queen I know the White House doesn't have a church and then it clicked they had hacked my Facebook they had seen the pictures of us attending my daughter's events at school at the National Cathedral they had no idea the National Cathedral had nothing to do with the White House this is an intelligence service you would be surprised they had my telephone so they had gone through the list of every person I had ever met during the last 30 years of my business career who are these who are those these questions would go on day after day after day in December 2018 after 8 months of interrogation Imad Shi was suddenly released on bail his wife bah who'd never been arrested was able to leave the country Imad expected to join her soon he says he received a letter of exoneration but he wasn't allowed to leave Iran now my story takes a bizarre turn my file had been sent to the Revolutionary court it's where a gentleman by the name of Judge salavati sits also known as the hanging judge in November 2020 the hanging judge sentenced Shari to 10 years in prison under a broadly worded statute which prohibits cooperating by any means with foreign States against Iran before Shi had to report back to prison a friend came up with a plan to escape to escape and I said let's go Smugglers helped him make his way to Iran's mountainous border with Kurdistan but about 30 mil from freedom I look up and there is about 15 guys with AK-47 pointing at the car they threw me on the ground and their team leader came he opened the scarf that I they had put around my eyes and he looked away and he shook his head to his team members they were looking for somebody else they were looking for somebody but now we have round two of incarceration this Iranian propaganda photo taken in January 20121 shows him bearded and Shackled being escorted back to W 2A where he says he underwent another 8 months of interrogation the second 8 months I was interrogated close to 400 hours how do you stay say all those times there was never a doubt in my mind that my government would get me out that was my hope back in Washington bah and her daughters campaigned for ahad's release and sought help from the state department which reviewed shi's case and determined he was wrongfully detained the Biden administration had been trying to broker both the release of American detainees and the renewal of the Iran on nuclear deal which the Trump administration had pulled out of but the talk stalled in the fall of 20122 widespread protests broke out following the death of a young woman in the custody of Iran's morality police in Evan prison the inmates rioted and set fires the guards responded with tear gas and bullets it was happening a couple of yards from where I was sitting in my room now if I left I could be shot if I stayed I could suffocate with no good option he stayed in his cell Shi says he was rescued ironically by his tormentors a team of revolutionary guards they were pale white when they saw me they were like let's get the hell out of here because you're worth more alive than you are dead correct shortly after the fire imad's sister Netta sought a meeting with Iran's top diplomat at the United Nations Amir s iravani she wanted to learn what was holding up a prisoner deal he acknowledged to you that there are people inside his own government that didn't want the deal to happen yeah I mean he acknowledged that and just as there are people in our government who didn't want this to happen you know we're dealing with Innocent human lives and we want to rectify the situation but for other people it's politics and it's power and they get in the way AR ing a meeting with President Biden proved more difficult for Netta determined to help her brother she went to this crowded White House reception for the Persian New Year and managed to button hold the president after he spoke I told him they are American citizens who are innocent and need to come home as soon as possible because time is not on our side after roughly two years of start and stop negotiations the US and Iran reached a complex agreement $6 billion that Iran had earned from selling its oil had been tied up in a foreign account for years due to us sanctions according to us officials Iran can use the money to buy humanitarian Goods like food and medicine once the US approves the transactions the money goes to the suppliers not the government of Iran on September 18th President Biden granted clemency to five Iranians accused of nonviolent crimes five Americans including Amad sh were released and flown to Qatar from there they flew to a military base in Virginia where their families were waiting home I hadn't seen my daughters for five and a half six years I had missed older graduations birthdays anniversaries with my wife um it's like being born again we had thought we were going to be freed so many times and this was it since his release imad's making up for lost time with his family he's also had time to reflect you think to yourself what was this all about why did they do this to me and to my family for 5 years and the short answer is hostage taking a statecraft if you are an American yes an Iranian American no Iranian American Italian American American do not go to Iran less than three weeks after shi's release Hamas which is financially backed by Iran attacked Israel as Israel counterattacked in Gaza some us lawmakers have called for blocking Iran's access to the 6 billion the White House insists no money has been released so far and sources told us the arrangement has not changed when you watch the news right now and you see what has happened in Israel not just about the people people killed but the hostages that have been taken what is that like for you I cannot imagine what it must feel like to have your daughter your son your wife your father being taken hostage and I cannot believe what their families are going through I just wish them a safe return home the United States first placed Financial sanctions on Iran back in 1979 during the hostage crisis for nearly four decades the US state department has designated Iran one of the world's leading State sponsors of terrorism but the Obama Administration along with five other countries agreed to billions of dollars in sanctions relief in exchange for Iran's agreement to dismantle much of its nuclear program and open its facilities to extensive International inspection the Trump Administration distrusting Teran pulled out of the deal and stepped up crushing economic pressure that's where Ibrahim RI found himself when he was elected president a year ago last month Iran and the 61-year-old hardliner were on the verge of striking a new deal but then Iran submitted demands that sent the nuclear talks into a St mate sir thank you I'm Leslie we met president RI Tuesday at the presidential compound in Tron for his first interview with a western reporter I was told how to dress not to sit before he did and not to interrupt him we were given one hour for the interview can we start with the negotiations on the nuclear deal do you want to have that deal renewed because you know there are some American officials who are beginning to think that you don't if it's a good deal and fair deal we would be serious about reaching an agreement it needs to be lasting there needs to be guarantees if there were a guarantee then the Americans could not withdraw from the deal but you can pull out of the deal I mean just as well as we could pull out of the deal you see the Americans broke their promises they did it unilaterally they said that I am out of the deal now making promises is becoming meaningless are you saying that you cannot trust the Americans we cannot trust the Americans because of the behavior that we've already seen from them that is why if there is no guarantee there is no trust the US says the West can't trust Iran for instance when it claims its nuclear program is purely for peaceful purposes as far as we can tell you don't use it for you know things that can help your citizens like electricity you say that you want it for peaceful reasons like what like in medicine agriculture oil gas in terms of peaceful purposes available figure from the UN nuclear Watchdog agency the iaea is that only 1.8% of the country's electricity is generated by nuclear power there seems to be some evidence that you had been working at least before toward a bomb a bomb a weapon and that you might be doing that again we have responded to these claims several times they are baseless the Islamic Republic of Iran has said many times that possessing nuclear weapons has no place in our Doctrine however the US intelligence Community has assessed with high confidence that Iran did attempt to develop a nuclear bomb in the past and then there are the American citizens being detained in Teran three of whom were born in Iran if there is a deal would you agree to release the four Americans who are being held here could that be part of it there are Iranian Nationals also imprisoned inside the US these people are only in there because they simply Tred to circumvent sanctions and the Americans we have told them that we can talk to them about this it can be conducted separately from the nuclear talks it can be done between the two countries it is a humanitarian issue this can be negotiated you're off to New York you're going to speak at the United Nations you know President Biden is going to be there are you open to a meeting with President Biden a face Toof face no I don't think that such a meeting would happen I don't believe having a meeting or talk with him will be beneficial what do you think the difference is from your perspective between the Trump Administration and the Biden Administration the new Administration in the US they claim that they are different from the Trump Administration they have said it in their messages to us but we haven't witnessed any changes in reality his major grievance against President Biden is that he has maintained the sanctions on Iran that President Trump imposed the sanctions are very tyrannical this is a tyranny against the people of Iran it is important to us to have the sanctions lifted the sanctions thrust Iran into a 2-year recession mainly because oil exports from refineries like this one fell overnight from 2.8 million barrels a day to about 200,000 businesses have been cut off from International banking Within inflation today in Iran at over 40% virtually everything is more expensive and yet we found traffic here as clogged as in New York and as we saw teran's bazars are teaming with Shoppers hello the ones we met were friendly to us how are you oh I'm good how are you five than I you good do you do you study English in school no one reason for the bustling Commerce is something the president calls the resistance economy in which businesses are encouraged to make more of the things themselves that they used to import so do you know where these are made made in Iran in Iran yeah homemade blue jeans for our country also made in Iran washing machines refrigerators TVs they also have their own version of Uber Eats called Snap food Iran is home to one of the world's oldest civilizations dating back to 4,000 BC it's where the foundations of algebra and chemistry were developed today while there's a tension to religious tradition in the Islamic Republic it's one of the most westernized countries in the Middle East with a well-educated population this mall could be anywhere in America with an ice skating rink a food court with hot dogs and burgers and the least expected sexy window displays and yet president RI just signed a decree making women who don't dress modestly subject to arrest a young woman died Friday after the morality police took her into custody for violating the rules on head coverings eyewitnesses say they saw her being beaten while in a police van President ri's Office says he ordered an investigation SED ibraim RI descends from the prophet Muhammad as his black turban signifies according to Shiite Muslim tradition he's a Hardline conservative cleric like his mentor the supreme leader Ayatollah Haman I want to ask you about your own record there is a personal sanction against you you took part in a commission that was responsible for executing up to 5,000 political dissidents they were um hanged or shot by firing squad uh I want to ask if you regret that action I what kind of proof can you offer for this these are just allegations and claims made by members of a terrorist group you're saying that that was a not true and that anybody who commits a crime in Iran stands trial in official courts of Law and they receive punishments for what they did they were assassinating people and what happened to them was exactly proportionate to what they did but the US Treasury Department sanctioned risi personally for human rights violations over this and Amnesty International called it a crime against humanity the president was feisty with us sprinkling his answers with a predictable antipathy toward Israel and Jewish people the supreme leader Ayatollah hamani was scathing when he tweeted on the same subject in English in 2018 Israel is a malignant cancerous tumor that has to be removed and eradicated do you believe the Holocaust happened that six million Jews were [Music] slaughtered look historical events should be investigated by researchers and historians there are some signs that it happened if so they should allow it to be investigated and researched so you're not sure I'm getting that you're not sure what about Israel's right to exist you see the people of Palestine are the reality this is the right of the people of Palestine who are forced to leave their houses in motherland the Americans are supporting this false regime there to take root and be established there you know that U Morocco Bahrain Sudan and the United Arab Emirates um have all recognized Israel uh and have relations with Israel and it is said that Saudi Arabia is also talking directly with Israel um and I wonder if you'd want to comment on that if a state shakes hands with the Zionist regime then they are also an accomplice to their crimes and they are stabbing the very idea of Palestine in the back you have vowed revenge on the US government for the killing of General sulamani more than two years years ago the US killed General kasum solomani in a drone strike a revered military hero in Iran he masterminded deadly attacks on American forces throughout the region for years the supreme leader has called for retaliation are you intending to retaliate by assassinating officials from the Trump Administration what the then American government did by the direct order of trump himself to assassinate Mr kasum solmani this was a heinous crime we want Justice to be served we are not going to forget about this I'm wondering what you mean by Justice does it mean an eye for an eye there was this assassination now we're going to have an you know an answer assassination that's the type of the actions that the Americans and Zionist regimes are doing in the world we are not going to carry out the same actions and yet the US Department of Justice has charged a member of Iran's revolutionary guard with just that plotting to assassinate John Bolton president Trump's former National Security adviser as he prepares for his trip to the UN president RI is defiant his message no concessions in the nuclear deal Iran will not back down and it can survive the sanctions which he says could well backfire against the United States yes they can create restrictions and problems for us and difficulties but there's a number of countries that are being sanctioned by doing this they are bringing them closer together making them more united and this will render American sanctions ineffective right Chinese Russians Iranians getting closer this approach won't work as we ended what seemed to be a cordial conversation we were surprised when a member of ri's Staff reached up and blocked one of our cameramen from shooting our goodbyes no my camera another one of our cameraman's phones was confiscated and held by President Ra's security team for 2 and a half hours since President Biden took office relations with Iran have been tense but nothing like the eyeball to eyeball confrontation during the Trump Administration when the two countries almost went to war it happened over 6 days in January of 2020 beginning with an American drone strike which killed Iran's most powerful General and ending with an Iranian ballistic missile attack against US troops in Iraq earlier this year we showed you for the first time drone video of what turned out to be the largest ballistic missile attack ever against Americans and we talked to the Troops who were there on the night the US and Iran went to the brink hey buddy if you're seeing this video some bad things happened to Dad last night so I need you to be strong okay for Mom and just always know in your heart that I love you okay bye buddy a few hours after Army Major Allan Johnson recorded that message to his son Iranian ballistic missiles began raining down on al-assad Airbase in Iraq where 2,000 US troops were based as a drone recorded the attack Americans caught in the crosshairs could do nothing but Run Or Duck in cover holy holy God damn each missile carried a warhead weighing more than 1,000 lb stay right here bro don't move well words can't even describe the amount of energy that is released by these these missiles Johnson was taking cover in a bunker designed to protect troops against much smaller Warheads weighing only 60 lb knocked the wind out of me followed by the most putrid tasting ammonia uh tasting dust that swept through the bunker coated your teeth after the blast wave and debris came the Flames the fire was just rolling over the bunker you know like 70 fet in the air Johnson's Monker provided no protection from that we're going to burn to death we start heading down 135 M make it about a third of the way there the big voice we call it clicks in incoming in coming take cover take cover take cover I've got another football field to run I don't know when this next missile is going to hit can you hear the incoming like a freight train going by you Johnson wasn't the only one frantically searching for cover did six people running for their lives to get to this next bunker uh we get to the bunker and realize there's roughly 40 people trying to stuff themselves into this bunker that's made for about 10 folks and I grab the guy in front of me I'm just like you got to get in the bunker and just like like shoved everybody in there but when you're running between bunkers it's just a matter of what luck luck the only thing I can actually come up with is that the hand of God protected us because really nobody should have lived through this things are happening uh that could take us to war if if uh if we don't take make the correct move here Marine General Frank McKenzie commander of US forces in in the Middle East monitored the attack from his headquarters at Tampa Florida ducking into this small room off his main Operation Center where he could talk directly to the only two people above him in the chain of command they bring in the secretary defense and then a little bit later they brought in the president to this conversation we're listening to the reports of the missiles flying you ever been on one like this I've never been on one like this were real missiles being fired at our forces and where I thought the risks were so high Iranian attack on al-assad was in retaliation for a stunning us operation president Trump ordered six nights earlier a drone strike which killed Iran's most powerful General Kim sulamani the blood of many Americans is on the hands of Kim solomani he was as close to an indispensable man as you could find inside Iran where he went violence and death followed during the American occupation of Iraq sulamani had orchestrated attacks which killed more than 600 US troops and according to McKenzie he was planning to do it again we saw intelligence reports where Kim salamani was moving various attack streams forward against our forces in Iraq against our Embassy and against other bases there were they imminent perhaps in hours perhaps in days probably not weeks until then the US had shied away from going after sulamani for a fear killing such a high-ranking government official would only provoke more Iranian attacks I never take killing anyone as a is an easy decision but I think the risk of not acting in this case outweighed the risks of acting so yes I was good with the decision on January 3rd of last year an airport security camera recorded suman's arrival in Baghdad on a commercial flight from Damascus Mckenzie was watching from a different angle you have the drones overhead do you see him get off the airplane yes yes as suman's Entourage pulled away from the plane McKenzie gave The Kill Order to the commander controlling the drones and then I said take your shot when you got it missiles slammed into both vehicles simultaneously there's no backs slapping there's no cheering because now I have to prepare to deal with the consequences of the action General Mckenzie was sure Iran would retaliate but he didn't know how and neither for a while did the Iranians I believe they went into a period of disorganization because they had lost the officer who really uh spoke up and shaped everything up and told them what they were going to do so it was kind of a ominous silence it was a very ominous silence and what was the first sign that Iran might really be thinking of a ballistic missile attack they began to move their ballistic missiles the attack was just hours away when major Alan Johnson got the word Iran's most powerful weapons were aiming for al-assad my intelligence officer pulled me aside and uh uh and basically said sir I've got some bad news for you what's up we have uh information that Iran is fueling 27 medium-range ballistic missiles and their intention is to level this base and we may not survive this was a completely different um threat Lieutenant Colonel Tim Garland commanded an army battalion at alassad a sprawling Airbase about 120 Mi west of Baghdad where the US operated scores of helicopters drones and other aircraft did the base have any defense against ballistic missiles no sir it was such a unprecedented threat I don't think it was ever calculated uh so the the capability to uh prevent a ballistic missile attack it wasn't there did you have a plan for what to do we uh we came up with a plan the only real defense against a ballistic missile attack is to get out of Harm's Way Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Stacy Coleman and the rest of al-assad scrambled to evacuate more than 50 aircraft and 1,000 troops before the missiles hit but the base still had to be manned we still needed to be able to do our mission um so the first decision was to split our team by combat capability what did you think was going to happen to the people you were telling to stay the honest truth is um I didn't think that we were going to survive the best shelter was air raid bunker built during the rule of Saddam Hussein but there weren't enough of them and I just remember uh a very heavy Sinking Feeling setting in was like man we we are not going to come up with a bunker plan that's going to be adequate for uh the number of people that we're talking about so Garland sent most of his soldiers out into the desert where they watched the attack from a safe distance holy there was a lot of people who didn't want to leave uh they didn't want to be that guy guy that was going to relative safety a lot of people might have trouble understanding what you just said Tell me why a soldier wouldn't want to go to a safe place they want to carry the burden they want to share in the danger from his headquarters in Tampa General Frank McKenzie had tried to time the evacuation just right if you go too early you you risk the uh problem that the enemy will see what you have done and adjust his plans the Iranians monitored alassad by purchasing photos like these taken by commercial satellites McKenzie waited until after Iran had downloaded its last picture for the day so the last time the Iranians took a look with their commercially acquired spy photos what would they have seen they would have seen airplanes on the ground and people working so when they launched those missiles they thought that was going to be a a full flight line I think they expected to destroy a number of US aircraft and to kill a number of US service members a clock stopped at 1:34 a.m. when it was knocked off the Wall recorded the moment the first missile landed it's like the sun rising instantaneous that's how bright it was Air Force Master Sergeant John Haynes and his security team were outside their armored Patrol vehicle when the first missile struck across the radio we heard incoming incoming incoming and what do you do I just threw the phone Don and ran to uh my vehicle and once that impact happened the back pressure blew our doors closed and then you just see cloud of dirt fire they call it a a shock wave and and you kind of feel that that wave almost internally like you it's almost as if your organs are you know kind of wavering around inside Sergeant Kimo keltz was outside the bunkers Manning a guard post in case the missile barrage was followed by a ground assault we got down and we protected our our vital organs our heads and we waited did it blow you around one of the closest ones that had hit um directly near us had actually lifted my body uh about 2 in off the ground Iran fired a total of 16 missiles from Three locations five missed 11 landed at aliside this was an attack like no other it was an attack certainly like nothing I've ever seen or experienced what have you learned so far their missiles are accurate did that surprise we knew it but to see it they fired those missiles to significant range and they hit pretty much where they wanted to hit from first launch to last impact was 80 minutes somehow no one was killed when the sun came up the survivors surveyed the damage holy shells of a building you know skeletal frames left with nothing else um craters about a room size deep into the ground concrete barriers blown across a field or a street it looked like a scene from a movie where everything is destroyed around you but yet no one was killed I still have no idea understanding um other than you know God being on our side that no one was seriously injured and there were no uh you know no uh no fatalities the news traveled fast up the chain of command and president Trump tweeted all as well that turned out to be premature there are people throwing up uh everybody had headaches I had a concussion for two weeks what did it feel like someone hitting me over the head with a hammer over and over and over finally you know hours later we realized we have a mass casualty event here of traumatic brain injury military doctors diagnosed more than 100 cases of traumatic brain injury major Allen Johnson and 28 other soldiers received purple hearts do you have any uh lingering effects today headaches every day um horrible tenus are ringing in the ears um PTSD and I'll be willing to admit that I still have nightmares but the nightmare of war with Iran had been averted had Americans been killed it would have been very different have you ever done an estimate on if you hadn't evacuated the damage that would have been done so I think we might have lost uh 20 or 30 airplanes and we might have lost 100 to 150 us Personnel you had a plan to retaliate if they killed Americans David we had a plan to retaliate if Americans had died Iran was on alert for a possible us strike and hours later shot down a Ukrainian airliner thinking it was an American bomber 76 entirely innocent people died

Channel: 60 Minutes

Views: 447,011

Keywords: 60 minutes, cbs news, iran, houthis, hezbollah, Ebrahim Raisi, middle east, Emad Shargi, al-asad airbase, assasination, donald trump, joe biden

Id: sIqAHUZ6i9M

Length: 54min 12sec (3252 seconds)

Published: Sat Mar 02 2024