Gordon Carrera

Back to the real story.

It is the story of a daring rescue, isn't it, inside Iran, which has got contemporary resonance as well.

Yeah, how it comes out in the telling.

It's not often I pay tribute to you and compliment you, David.

It's not?

No, because often you do stories which sell the greatness of the CIA.

But in this case, you've done something different, which is take a story which is also quite politically brave at the moment for you to sell, because this is actually the story of Canada bailing out the United States.

This is the story of Canada rescuing the US

and bailing out and doing the really hard work of saving some Americans, which in the current political context in which Canada-US relations are perhaps not at their best, I think to put it mildly, this is a great chance to say hello Canada and hello to all our Canadian listeners.

Because I think, even though you may think that this is a story about the CIA, I think this is a story about Canadian heroism.

Oh, because you really need light to be shed on it after an Oscar-winning best film, Argo, which basically just tells the CIA side of the story.

I mean, because the other thing we should say about this, it is interesting, I think, the narrative around this story.

And to some extent, some of the tensions around it are really interesting.

And it gets to the role of Hollywood, because Hollywood is both part of the story, as we'll see in getting these guys out of Tehran,

But it is also part of the reframing and the telling of the story in future years.

So it's a really interesting example, I think, of the relationship between intelligence and Hollywood.

Great film.

So let's dive into the story.

Let's get into the story.

We've done a lot of Iran on the podcast.