Hostages in Lebanon: Who Pulled the Strings ?

A tv programme

Created by

Isabelle Gendre

Produced by

Upside Films

Production year2025

Programme formatSeries

GenresDocumentary

Runtime 4x52'

Synopsis

When Ayatollah Khomeini came to power in 1979, Iran was ostracised from the international community. Its nuclear programme was halted and billions in foreign assets were frozen. France, the United States, Germany and the United Kingdom distanced themselves from the country. Iran's response was relentless: it invented the strategy of the weak against the strong by kidnapping Western nationals with the help of its allies in Lebanon.

Locked up for years, some tortured, the hostages in Lebanon went through hell. The case mobilised all Western secret services in Beirut, which had become a nest of spies amid the fighting of a fratricidal war. How did the Iranians manipulate these kidnappings to get what they wanted during the negotiations?

Through the accounts of each hostage, previously unpublished testimonies from members of the secret services, personal archives and recollections, this series will retrace in detail the kidnappings and releases of hostages from four major Western countries present in Lebanon. A deep dive into the geopolitics of the 1980s to the present day, revealing the behind-the-scenes story of a confrontation involving Iran and all the terrorist states that were complicit at the time.