On February 16, 1979, two American executives of the Dallas-based computer services company EDS managed to escape from Ghasr prison in Tehran and make it to Turkey and back home. The story of the escape became headline news in the US, but in Iran, it was lost in all the events of the Khomeini upheavals. The famous British novelist Ken Follett wrote the #1 international bestseller, “On Wings of Eagles” about the true account of the escape and a TV mini-series was produced and shown in 1986. Ross Perot, the CEO of EDS became an overnight celebrity, and when several months later, 52 American hostages were taken in Tehran, everyone was seeking his advice on how to free the hostages. He became so famous that he ran for the US Presidency in 1992 receiving 19% of the votes, depriving George Bush of winning the re-election and handing over the White House to Bill Clinton.

In late December of 1978, two top executives of EDS in Tehran, Paul Chiapparone and Bill Gaylord who were engaged in a project to computerize the retirement benefits system of the Iranian government employees were called to the Justice Ministry by the magistrate Hossain Dadgar, questioned for several hours and then thrown in the Ministry’s jail in the basement, accused of bribery with the bail set at $12.75 million. They were allowed to make one telephone call each. One called the US Embassy in Tehran and the other called the EDS office and asked them to contact Ross Perot immediately.

Upon getting the news, Perot called the State Department, the White House, the US Embassy in Tehran, and every Senator and Congressman that he knew. He even called Henry Kissinger and asked him to call his good friend, the late Shah, but a couple of days later Kissinger called back and said that unfortunately Shah could not help either.  Once all the diplomatic channels were exhausted to no avail, Perot went to Plan B.

From his days as a Navy officer during the Vietnam War, Perot knew the Green Bret Army Colonel Arthur “Bull” Simons who was famous for daring rescue operations. He quickly located the retired Colonel Simons on a farm in Florida and brought him to Dallas to form a commando team to go to Tehran. Several EDS employees who were also veterans volunteered to join the team and started training at Perot’s weekend ranch in Grapevine, Texas. The plan was for the team of 7 to go to Tehran and at the right moment climb up the Ministry’s walls during the mid-morning exercise time when the prisoners were walking around the yard and rescue them.

The team arrived in Tehran in mid-January 1979, a few days after the late Shah had departed. Perot also arrived in Tehran, incognito, disguised as an employee of a courier company and took residence at Tehran Hyatt Hotel. He went to the Justice Ministry with a company lawyer to see if he can pay the bail and get the prisoners released, but the magistrate refused. Meanwhile, the banks in New York also refused a line of credit for the bail, fearing bribery charges. Perot even offered to put the US Embassy in Tehran as collateral! But Dadgar didn’t want to cooperate. Perot knew that time was short before they figure out who he was, especially after he ran into Ramsey Clark, a former Attorney General under Johnson, a civil rights lawyer, and a close friend of Ebrahim Yazdi and the revolutionaries.

At that point, they went back to the Ministry one last time to tell the prisoners to watch for people on top of the wall during their morning walk and follow their instructions. But to their surprise, the prisoners had been moved to Ghasr prison. And when they drove to Ghasr prison, they saw a fortified prison with armed guards on the roof, and not a place that can be penetrated with a team of that make-up. This is when the real hero of this story springs into action; an Iranian engineering student who was an intern at EDS and was going to get a job there once he graduated.

In 1986, when I saw the trailer of the upcoming 5 ½- hour mini-series “On Wings of Eagles” on ABC, I thought, “Here we go again, another Rambo-like movie full of unshaven men burning flags and chanting Death to America and mistreating hostages, but a few commandos will get in there, armed to the teeth, killing hundreds of the hostage-takers and make the daring last-second escape.” That was the last thing we Iranians in the US needed, after enduring all that we did during the hostage crisis, and the years that followed.

However, to my utmost surprise, the movie wasn’t anything like that at all. The Iranian employees of EDS were shown as good people and the young intern, the hero of the story who was called Rashid, but his real name was Reza, was the smart, friendly and resourceful person that made the escape happen.

Once the team realized that a commando operation is out of the question, Reza takes charge and lead a group of protesters to Ghasr prison. The protesters push against the gates of the prison and chant for political prisoners’ release. The guards fire into the air, but given the chaos of the time, ultimately allow the protestors to get in and open the prison doors. The Americans were freed and whisked away to the Hyatt Hotel. Among the people freed that day was Mr. Hoveyda who was immediately re-captured by some revolutionaries and handed over.

In an interview in 2004, Perot said sarcastically that he was told to contact the US Embassy in Tehran if he needed any assistance. So he called the Embassy and asked for their help in getting the prisoners out. Instead, he said, “My picture and the two executives’ were on the front page of the evening newspapers that night and everybody was looking for us!”

Perot and some other EDS employees immediately fly out of Tehran. Perot checks in at Istanbul Hyatt Hotel overseeing the operation. Reza, the 2 executives, the colonel and 3 others get into 2 Range Rovers and head towards the Turkish border. They were stopped several times along the way, and even put on trial, but each time Reza manages to find a way out of trouble. Finally, on February 16, 1979, the team of 7 walks into Turkey, one-at-a-time without any incident. They manage to get to Istanbul and board a Lear Jet that Perot had on standby in Jordan to take them back to the US.

In the book and the mini-series, it was never revealed who Reza was and what happened to him. His identity was kept hidden for almost 30 years until 2009.

Perot sold EDS after a while and started a new company called Perot Systems that was operating in the computer services space. Perot sold that company to Dell Computers in 2009 and several weeks after the sale, a news item popped up. An employee of Perot Investment Company who had insider information about the upcoming sale of Perot Systems to Dell had purchased lots of stock options in Perot Systems and as soon as the deal was announced and the price went up significantly, he sold the stock options and made $8.6 million. Security and Exchange Commission which oversees these kinds of activities got on the case and eventually had him return the money and he was fined too.

The employee was identified as Reza Saleh, the hero of the EDS executives’ escape from Iran. Former EDS employees said in interviews that Reza had a special relationship with Perot and was always at his house parties and Perot looked after him.

In a 2004 interview, commemorating the 25^th anniversary of the escape, in an internal video that was made public and posted on YouTube in 2015, Perot describes how Reza got to the US without any passport or visa.

The private jet that was on standby in Jordan took off from Istanbul and after refueling in Germany headed towards the US. The plane had to make an emergency landing at Gatwick Airport outside of London because of electrical problems. Once on the ground, Perot decides that the team should not wait till the plane is fixed, and instead catch a Braniff Airlines flight to Dallas. At the Immigration, and after much argument in the middle of the night, the British authorities allow the American prisoners who did not have passports to proceed, but refused to allow Reza to board the flight. Perot refused to leave Reza and after more arguments, the person in charge asked Perot if he knew any high ranking persons in England that could vouch for him. Perot said, “Lord Mountbatten is a friend and can vouch for me.” A little later, the immigration authority came back and said, “Reza can go!”

Lord Mountbatten is the 2^nd cousin of the Queen Elizabeth, Prince Charles' godfather and a British Navy Admiral in WW2 and probably the most popular member of the Royal Family at the time. He was assassinated by the IRA while fishing later on in 1979.

A few days later, Lord Mountbatten called Perot in Dallas and asked why he was woken up in the middle of the night. Perot laughed and told him the story.

It was all about Reza!