Our Man in Tehran (Part Two)

♪ ♪ >> THOMAS ERDBRINK: Once upon a time, on a dusty road, I met a girl.

(laughing) ♪ ♪ >> ERDBRINK: 17 years later, I'm still here.

>> Joining us now is Tehran bureau chief for "The New York Times ..." >> Thomas Erdbrink, welcome to the program and thank you for joining me.

>> ERDBRINK: Ta-da!

>> Tonight, part two of "Our Man in Tehran."

(speaking local language): >> More stories from a country at the brink of change.

>> In this country especially, if you live with fear, you're done.

(woman screaming): >> As the hardliners push back... (people yelling) >> ...some Iranians dream of America, while others can't forget Iran.

>> It's a map of Iran.

(Erdbrink speaking): Get back in the car.

>> And yet, life and love go on.

>> ERDBRINK: We're gonna make baby!

>> Why are you... (gun firing) >> Three years later, "Our Man in Tehran."

♪ ♪ (buzzing) >> ERDBRINK: There's one big change compared to the last time that we were filming here in Iran, and that is that this time, we have brought a drone, a flying camera.

But in Iran, in the capital, Tehran, drones are shot out of the sky.

(machine gun firing) The last time that somebody flew a drone in Tehran, there was a huge panic.

(gun firing) (man crying out) (gun firing) >> ERDBRINK: Suddenly, from rooftops across the city, anti-aircraft fire was opened to take the drone down.

People crouched down in the streets, duck and covered behind cars.

It turned out that the drone was operating in the vicinity of the compound of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and that poses a security risk, of course.

♪ ♪ Our camera team and their drone had just arrived in Iran when I got a call from the media agency of the Ministry of Information.

I had to hand over the drone immediately.

The director, Mr. Taheri, is an important man.

(speaking local language) He has to give us permission for whatever we want to film in Iran.

(Taheri speaking): >> ERDBRINK: His job is not an easy one.

He must help me and, at the same time, take care not to displease his political and religious superiors.

I'm curious to hear his opinion about our last film, knowing that the Iranians always start with the polite answer.

(Taheri speaking): (Taheri speaking): (laughing) (Newsha and Erdbrink speaking): (woman and Newsha speaking): (man and Newsha speaking): (laughing) (woman and Newsha speaking): (Erdbrink and Newsha speaking): (laughing) (chanting): (Erdbrink speaking): (Taheri speaking): (chanting) >> ERDBRINK: The images of Mr. Big Mouth caused a stir in Iran.

Modern Iranians felt he was a caricature.

A disgrace for the country.

And even his fellow religious militants were unhappy with the way he put them in the spotlight.

And there was another downside, according to Mr. Taheri.

(Taheri speaking): (Erdbrink and Somayeh speaking): (speaking local language) ♪ ♪ Is Mr. Taheri right?

Did the first film show too little of the modern and carefree side of Tehran?

Perhaps I should take my cue from state-owned Press TV's sunnier programs.

>> Typical Iranian house, typical Iranian car.

This is how it is.

Not!

I'm about to show why.

L-U-X-U-R-Y, luxury.

This is what we drive, a beautiful Porsche.

Iran's second-largest active industry?

The automobile industry.

And everybody loves a luxury automobile.

You're going to buy this car?

>> Yes, in cash.

>> In cash?

>> Yes.

>> I love it.

>> Okay.

Cash, he's gonna buy it.

I love Iran.

>> ERDBRINK: L-U-X-U-R-Y, luxury, in Tehran.

I decide to tag along with two gentlemen who are better at home in this world.

So, this is Reza Nayebi.

>> Hello.

>> ERDBRINK: This is Mr. Tasty.

>> Mr. Taster.

>> ERDBRINK: And this is another person.

>> Yes, yes, yes.

>> ERDBRINK: Yes, but this is not a modern sight of Tehran, is it?

>> No, this is not a modern sight of... (all speaking local language) >> ERDBRINK: First, they want to get rid of him.

He has no place in their modern Tehran.

>> I want to show you a neighborhood.

I want to show you a clothing designer.

And he is Mr. Taster, and he wants to show you a couple of restaurants.

>> Yeah.

>> ERDBRINK: We start out for a fancy district with very expensive homes.

So, why this neighborhood?

>> This is probably the best neighborhood I know of.

It's Bukan, located in Niavaran.

This is probably for the uber-wealthy.

If you look to your right, this building right here, this one comes in at about $11,000 a meter, a square meter.

>> ERDBRINK: What kind of people would live here?

>> Rich.

>> ERDBRINK: But just, just-- just try and describe them a bit more.

>> Materialistic.

People that love things.

And there's nothing wrong with being materialistic.

♪ ♪ >> ERDBRINK: And then we go out with Mr. Taster, a celebrity in Tehran.

>> Mr. Taster, Mr. Taster!

(laughing) (Mr. Taster speaking): (Erdbrink speaking): >> ERDBRINK: At first glance, all these luxury visits make Iran look more like a normal, Western nation.

♪ ♪ This is mostly because of the sudden popularity of Instagram and all the silly events that are associated with it.

So all these people here are officially here to be informed about having weddings in Thailand.

Iranians love to marry in other countries, because then they can have mixed wedding parties.

But another reason for people to be here is because they're all Instagram stars.

This guy over there, 200,000 followers.

These three girls, maybe a million.

This is a place to be seen and to see.

And we've definitely seen her before.

A few years ago, she and her friends were arrested after making an Iranian version of a Western music video.

>> ♪ Clap along if you feel like a room without a roof ♪ >> ERDBRINK: For their indecent behavior, they had to make a public apology on Iranian state television.

(woman speaking): >> ERDBRINK: They were given a suspended sentence of 90 lashes.

But today, three years later, the girl from the banned clip has become a celebrated Instagram star.

>> Hello.

(Erdbrink and woman speaking): (woman and Erdbrink speaking): (Erdbrink and woman speaking): (Erdbrink speaking): (Erdbrink and woman speaking): (Erdbrink speaking): (woman speaking): >> ERDBRINK: President Rouhani made himself enormously popular after being elected by bringing about a tenfold increase in the speed of the internet.

Everyone is on Instagram.

Look, for instance, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

There he is.

1.6 million followers.

Speeches, photos, denunciations of other countries.

More politics.

Hassan Rouhani, the president of Iran.

Hassan Rouhani, 1.9 million followers.

Does that make him the most famous Iranian on Instagram?

No.

That honor goes to Taraneh Alidoosti, an actress with 5.1 million followers.

When she speaks out on Instagram, the country listens.

Thanks to the internet, Western influences are pouring into the country.

Like here, another modern arrival in present-day Iran.

They're popping up everywhere: cappuccino cafés.

Here, you can do things that were banned for years: listen to Western music, share a table with the opposite sex, and wear your headscarf balancing on the very back of your head.

That sudden freedom looks like a good call by the government.

"Go on, drink as many cappuccinos as you like "while roaming the internet, as long as you keep your nose out of our politics."

It seemed to work for a while.

These customers didn't look like they were hoping to overthrow the religious leaders.

But, below the surface, Iran is simmering with discontent everywhere.

The volcano can always erupt, at any given moment.

(woman speaking): >> ERDBRINK: Women waving their headscarves until passersby had filmed them and spread the images around the country.

(horns honking, people clapping) (man speaking): >> ERDBRINK: It's a dangerous protest.

Because for years, the religious police have clamped down on women who violated the dress code.

Their green and white vans had disappeared from the streets for a while.

(woman speaking): >> ERDBRINK: But it's now apparent that they never really left.

(woman screaming): >> ERDBRINK: If you thought that these images belonged to the past, this is a rude awakening.

♪ ♪ (woman shouts) ♪ ♪ >> ERDBRINK: The next morning, I suddenly see my friend Banafshe appear on Instagram.

I happen to know her from one of those cappuccino cafés.

For 20 minutes during rush hour, she waves her headscarf on a stick.

And she's lucky.

She doesn't get arrested.

(Erdbrink and Banafshe speaking): ♪ ♪ (laughing) (Erdbrink speaking): ♪ ♪ >> ERDBRINK: The nutty woman had set all her hopes on President Rouhani last year.

He would bring more freedom.

Later, I watch her president defending protesters on TV.

(Rouhani speaking): >> ERDBRINK: But he is overruled by Supreme Leader Khamenei.

In the end, he and the Revolutionary Guards decide what is and what isn't allowed.

♪ ♪ Even though the president has less of a say in matters than he'd like, his job is still in high demand.

At the Ministry of Interior, an event takes place that will surprise many Western onlookers.

For three days, an uninterrupted stream of Iranians pour inside here.

They line up to put themselves forward as candidates for the presidency.

(people calling) >> ERDBRINK: So it turns out that anyone in Iran can try to become the next president.

That seems very democratic, but everyone knows that only a few candidates will be declared eligible to run for office.

Of the many thousands of candidates, only a handful remain.

♪ ♪ This year, there are also some female candidates, but they stand little chance.

Of course, there are also some oddballs, an attention-seeker, and a man who is against everything.

>> ERDBRINK: But what I missed that morning was the arrival of an old acquaintance, who apparently also sees himself as presidential timber.

(Erdbrink and man speaking): (Erdbrink and man speaking): >> ERDBRINK: So even Mr. Big Mouth wants to become president now.

A lot has changed since we filmed here three years ago.

In my office for the "New York Times," my assistant Somayeh's desk has been empty for a while.

After the first film ran on Dutch television, she received many marriage proposals.

She swept them all aside and left for the United States, but more about that later.

In my mother-in-law's house, time hasn't stood still, either.

Back then, every day at lunchtime, it was a hive of activity.

Everyone was talking all at once.

(talking and laughing) >> ERDBRINK: But when I visit Newsha's mother today, she sits in her kitchen all alone.

>> ERDBRINK: Grandma died a year ago.

My brother-in-law finally decided to get married and moved out of the house.

And Newsha's sister, Negin, went to seek her fortune in America.

(Erdbrink speaking): >> ERDBRINK: It's a recurrent theme in my family.

And my mother-in-law is expert at bringing it up when I least expect it.

"Why don't Newsha and I have any children yet?"

>> ERDBRINK: And once my mother-in-law gets started, she doesn't stop.

(Erdbrink and mother speaking): >> ERDBRINK: Everyone in this country gets to have an opinion about our procreation.

It's great that Newsha is busy with a new exhibition of her photos.

But too busy to have children?

That is unacceptable in this country.

Although Newsha has other fish to fry, and I am one of them.

>> It's just first time he's here.

He didn't help me at all.

At all.

Yes, please film him.

He should shy now.

Look at the camera and say sorry.

He didn't help me at all and he was just busy with himself, so... (laughs) Yes.

(man speaks inaudibly) Yeah.

(Erdbrink whispering) >> Yes, that's true.

He says, "I help you a lot sometimes"-- I say yes.

>> ERDBRINK: Saying, "Oh, why they don't have baby?"

We're going to make baby!

>> Why you should... >> ERDBRINK: Because I'm happy, I want to have a baby.

>> Yeah, but the thing is, everybody wants me or him to do what they love, but I think when I'm 80 years old, I want to look out of the window, and when it's snowing, and think, rethink, and reflect, and I want to be this 80-years-old happy woman to be, I'm proud in any decision I've ever made.

And this is what I love to do.

I'm not going to let anyone force me.

My family, friends, society, nobody.

>> ERDBRINK: In Holland, it's exactly the same.

Everybody asks me, "When you're going to get a baby?"

And so, okay, you know, maybe-- maybe we can't get babies.

We don't know.

I mean, we're just-- you know what I mean?

So... >> No, I'm sure one day, we will be parents, but not now.

>> ERDBRINK: And now that Newsha started working as a Magnum photographer, the babies will have to wait even longer.

♪ ♪ Meanwhile, I just have to find out how Mr. Big Mouth is doing, even if it makes some officials unhappy.

I want to know if he still fiercely opposes the internet and women with driver's licenses.

Or is he too embracing modernity?

>> Thank you very much.

>> ERDBRINK: Thank you.

(Erdbrink and Ahmadabadi speaking): (Erdbrink speaking): (Ahmadabadi and Erdbrink speaking): (Ahmadabadi speaking): (Erdbrink speaking): (Erdbrink speaking): (Erdbrink and Ahmadabadi speaking): >> ERDBRINK: So even Mr. Big Mouth has been swayed by the social change in Iran.

A few years ago, that seemed inconceivable.

Now his computer is on 24 hours a day.

And his wife no longer hides away in the kitchen.

And more, she records our entire conversation on her own cell phone.

(Erdbrink and Ahmadabadi's wife speaking): (Erdbrink speaking): (Erdbrink and Ahmadabadi speaking): (Erdbrink and Ahmadabadi's wife speaking): (Erdbrink speaking): (Erdbrink speaking): (Erdbrink speaking): (Ahmadabadi speaking): >> ERDBRINK: Mr. Big Mouth always makes me chuckle a bit.

But make no mistake, his ideas haven't changed.

He is still the same religious zealot.

Equally zealous, the religious police have been confronting women on the street, protesters who dare to climb up on one of these power boxes without a headscarf.

On Instagram, I see how the situation gets more tense.

When this woman refuses to climb down, an officer steamrolls her.

(crowd gasps and yells) She lands badly and breaks a leg.

(woman crying) >> ERDBRINK: She was arrested and could be sentenced up to ten years in prison.

When I see this video on Instagram, I'm amazed at how cheerfully Banafshe told me a few days earlier how she got the idea for her action.

(Erdbrink and Banafshe speaking): (Banafshe speaking): (Erdbrink speaking): >> ERDBRINK: Banafshe's almost carefree tone is in stark contrast to the strong reactions from the religious side.

And it was only a matter of time before Big Mouth also weighed in.

On Instagram, he threatens to kill one of the promoters of the campaign.

When you read his words, he suddenly becomes a lot less funny.

"We warned you plenty of times," he writes, "but you haven't changed your ways.

"One of these days, you will be slaughtered in your house.

Time to say goodbye to your family."

First I hoped it was a sick joke.

But when we called him, he only doubled down.

He literally said on the phone, "I will sell my pomegranate orchard.

"I will offer up the $500,000 "it will yield as a reward to anyone "who manages to kill her.

"In addition, the killer will receive the weight of her tongue in gold."

♪ ♪ Of course, Big Mouth may seem crazy, but after reading his threats, I'm suddenly worried about Banafshe.

Her friends tell me that she has left the country for a while.

She didn't tell her friends how long she plans to leave Iran.

Then I find another surprise on Instagram: Banafshe and her friends singing in the Tehran subway on International Women's Day.

>> (singing): ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> ERDBRINK: It is unlikely that the religious leaders will ever allow women to take off their headscarves in public.

To them, that would mean the beginning of the end of the Islamic Republic.

>> ERDBRINK: Imagine, you're an average Iranian.

You're asleep.

Somebody wakes you up at night and whispers in your ear saying, "You get to go abroad tomorrow.

Which country would you like to visit?"

I think that nine times out of ten, you would get the same answer.

(woman and Erdbrink speaking): >> ERDBRINK: Amrika.

(Newsha's mother speaking): >> ERDBRINK: There's one time of the day when I can't disturb my mother-in-law.

That's when she, along with thousands other Iranian moms, sits behind her laptop for her daily Skype call with her daughter in America.

(mother and Negin speaking): >> ERDBRINK: About one million Iranians live in the United States.

And among them are some big fish.

Whether a journalist for CNN or the founder of eBay, CEO at Uber or vice president at Google, or security adviser to George W. Bush, they've all reached the top and they're all of Iranian descent.

And they all have their roots in this country.

♪ ♪ This is Hassan.

He's 18.

For as long as he can remember, he's worked in his family's rice fields.

(Erdbrink speaking): >> ERDBRINK: So, why was Hassan so happy?

Because Hassan is actually one of the smartest kids in this country.

He took part in the national university exam called the Konkour, and over a million people participate in this Konkour, and in his special field, 150,000 people compete.

And they compete for, basically, for a spot.

You became number...?

>> 21.

>> ERDBRINK: 21.

21 smartest kid... >> In country, and eighth in my field.

>> ERDBRINK: Eighth in your field.

So 21 national, and eighth in his field.

This is a super-high number.

>> ERDBRINK: Since his results proved he's one of the smartest boys in Iran, Hassan has become a hero in the village.

And he can't move an inch without the whole village following him.

(Erdbrink speaking): (villagers applauding) >> Thank you, thank you.

>> ERDBRINK: The first to congratulate him was his grandfather.

(Erdbrink and grandfather speaking): (Erdbrink speaking): (Erdbrink speaking): (grandfather singing) >> ERDBRINK: Granddad is mightily proud of Hassan, if only because it gives him an excuse to burst into song.

(grandfather singing) >> ERDBRINK: Hassan is still a bit overwhelmed by his eighth place in mathematics.

But now he wants the best of the best.

So, he has done his homework on the best American universities.

>> ERDBRINK: Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

>> ERDBRINK: Stanford.

>> ERDBRINK: Hassan isn't much of a talker.

They know that in the village.

He's bound to miss them.

The next day, he will leave to go to university in distant Tehran.

And everybody in the village knows that after studying in Tehran, along with 98% of those other prize-winning smart students, he will probably go to the U.S.A. Lucky him.

♪ ♪ Hassan's village reminds me of Dolat Abad, the town where my assistant, Somayeh, grew up.

She took Islamic studies there, but increasingly felt suffocated.

>> Things seems frozen here.

Things do not change that much.

You know, when I was a little child, it was almost this, like that it is now.

>> ERDBRINK: Three years ago, she couldn't be clearer.

She wouldn't stay in Iran.

(Somayeh speaking): (Erdbrink and Somayeh speaking): (laughs) ♪ ♪ >> ERDBRINK: Somayeh left far sooner than I had expected.

She went to study journalism at New York's Columbia University.

I decide to visit her, curious to see how she's doing.

I'd already read in her emails that it hadn't been easy.

She had to share a tiny room with a former model.

Her roommate needed the room for herself three days a week.

She would have male visitors and needed Somayeh out of the way.

Whoa.

Oh, there is a window.

>> Yeah, there is a very small window at the end of this room.

So, welcome to my last year room.

>> ERDBRINK: Which bed was yours?

>> There.

>> ERDBRINK: Next to the window?

>> Yeah, and imagine that I had my own place, after years fighting to have my own independence in Tehran, I got a very nice two-bedroom apartment in Tehran and I left everything behind... >> ERDBRINK: You worked hard for it.

>> And came here, yeah.

>> ERDBRINK: So you had a roommate, you come from Iran, and what was this roommate like?

>> Well, she was a very social girl, totally active, into a relationship, you know.

I learned a lot from her, but I learned a lot from some slice of life that we totally don't have in Iran.

Like, it happened a couple of times that I would come to my room and she was with her dates and it's a shared room.

And, yeah, you know, I didn't know what to do.

>> ERDBRINK: What did you do?

>> I would say hi, just... You know, I just played around, just grabbed some stuff from my room and left the room while I just had come home to.

>> ERDBRINK: "Bye!"

>> Yes, yeah-- "Bye, sorry."

>> ERDBRINK: That was quite a different take on freedom from what she had expected.

She and her fellow students now laugh about it.

Especially about those endless phone calls she had to listen to.

>> It was so funny that she would share every detail of any relationship that she had with her boyfriends with her mom.

And sometimes I'd just say, "Oh, my God!"

>> ERDBRINK: So how would it be?

She would be on the phone, like, "Hi, Mom..." >> Yeah, "Hi, Mom, this guy is doing this or that."

And it's not just what the guy would do at the, you know, restaurant, everything she would share with her mom.

And it was-- oh, my God, I can never ever imagine I have such a relationship with my mom.

Maybe my best friends, but Mom?

Seriously?

Mmm, yeah, that was totally different.

>> ERDBRINK: I realize what an enormous culture shock it must have been for Somayeh.

Not so much her roommate-- she laughs about that now-- but American society, where seemingly everything goes.

So, I can't think of a more different environment than Tehran.

You learn stuff, and it's so calm.

>> Yeah, welcome to Columbia!

(laughs) >> ERDBRINK: And what's up with the hat?

>> (laughs): So, umm... >> ERDBRINK: I mean, why not wear a scarf?

>> I'm planning to keep on...

I'm thinking about going back to Iran someday, work from there.

So I prefer to follow the rules, you know.

In some ways, it sounds coward that I follow a rule without believing in it.

But I believe in bigger things, like going back and changing things over there.

Not changing them to "bad hijabi" or not wearing hijab, but if I want to be a reporter over there, I prefer to follow rules to some extent, so I can work.

So, like, I balance my expectations, so they also balance a bit with me, and hopefully it works.

>> ERDBRINK: I think Somayeh is brave.

Whereas most Iranians in the U.S. don't want to go back to Iran, Somayeh is determined.

She does want to go back.

And if she follows the Iranian dress code, she can go back.

But that isn't the case for all Iranians in America.

>> (singing) ♪ ♪ (music playing on phone) (music stops) >> ERDBRINK: I'm sitting here at this near-abandoned parking lot next to the studio waiting for the Persian superstar Andy.

Andy lives right here in L.A., but he's known in Iran as the "Prince of Persian pop."

And he is so famous that at every Iranian wedding, people play his songs.

(Andy singing) (audience chanting) >> How are you, my friend?

>> ERDBRINK: Not bad.

How are you?

>> All right.

>> ERDBRINK: Nice to meet you!

>> Nice to meet you, yes.

>> ERDBRINK: Like many people, Andy used to dream of becoming a rock star.

And just before the shah was chased out of the country by Khomeini in 1979, Andy was about to make his big breakthrough.

>> I managed to record one album because CBS Record Company had just opened a branch in Iran... >> ERDBRINK: In Tehran.

>> In Tehran.

They discovered me and they said, "Hey, we have found the Iranian Rod Stewart, we want to take him to America," and all that.

And I did a track, and we were on the right track to become the Iranian Rod Stewart.

And revolution broke out, so everybody fled and I lost contacts.

>> ERDBRINK: And what made you decide to leave immediately?

>> I was going to... That was my plan to leave, because I was discovered.

I was going to be an American singer.

(singing) >> ERDBRINK: The Iranian rock star, based in Los Angeles, became hugely popular in the Iran of the mullahs.

But soon, his music was officially banned there.

>> When we would do music here, it would be recorded on VHS tapes.

>> ERDBRINK: Mm-hmm, video cassettes.

>> And smuggled in Iran, and people would watch it at home and suddenly it was the thing.

It was amazing.

>> ERDBRINK: Yeah, so, then comes the point, you're super-famous, and then you would think, "Okay, I should have a concert in Iran."

>> (laughs): Right.

Well, even from the beginning, it was clear our music is banned in Iran.

Our way of life is banned in Iran, because we had female dancers.

It was a little too American for the Iranian regime taste.

But thank God that we had the opportunity to go to Dubai and the surrounding countries and then later on, in Armenia, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and people would come outside of Iran to see us, and that was an amazing feeling, because when they come out and see us, we feel like the Beatles.

(both laugh) >> ERDBRINK: Because they were so enthusiastic.

>> Yeah, hungry for music.

They haven't seen the artists.

(audience cheering) (Andy singing) >> ERDBRINK: Some of his fans spent their last money on a ticket to Dubai or Armenia, so that they could see their idol at least once.

But the millions of fans inside Iran can only dream that the clerics will ever let Andy perform in his own country.

You actually, you even have one video clip that you, as a sort of animated figure, go back and you fly over Iran and then you jump out of a plane, it's a pretty nice clip.

But then you actually go on a motorcycle and you tour the whole country, and everywhere people are waving, "Welcome back, Andy!"

>> Sure, it's very sad.

It's sad because we should be there.

We should be touring every city, every village.

I grew up in that country and I love that country.

And I always thought that's possible, although it's been 38 years already, maybe more.

But I keep thinking that's possible and it will happen.

(Andy singing) ♪ ♪ (fireworks exploding) ♪ ♪ >> ERDBRINK: It's usually in a secret location, preferably far from Tehran.

The members share information on Instagram.

What time?

How many people?

And most importantly, where?

They convene in secret a few times a year: Andy's Iranian fan club.

It's all very innocent.

They only play his latest songs.

And today, there is a surprise guest, an Andy impersonator.

He performs all over Iran under a surprising name-- Mandy.

(Erdbrink speaking): (laughter) >> ERDBRINK: I have a surprise for them.

A live connection with their idol in Los Angeles.

We have a lot of people here that are very interested in talking to you.

>> ERDBRINK: Like star-struck teens, they wait in line to talk to their hero.

Some of them have driven for hours to get here.

(woman speaking): >> ERDBRINK: None of these fans ever saw Andy perform in Iran.

They're too young for that.

>> (singing along to song) >> ERDBRINK: This is one of those moments when I realize what a bizarre country this sometimes is.

These people have come together in secret because the nation's leaders have banned their favorite singer, who sings innocent songs about love.

Even when the whole country listens to those songs.

(mud squelching) So does he-- one of the smartest kids in the country.

This could be the last day that he trudges through his family's rice fields.

Tomorrow, he will start his new life in Tehran.

(Hassan's mother speaking): (Erdbrink speaking): >> ERDBRINK: Hassan, with his predilection for numbers, figured it out long ago.

It's precisely 10,142 kilometers from his mother's lap to Times Square, New York, one way.

The return journey is something that most exam winners rarely undertake once they've reached America.

(Hassan's father speaking): ♪ ♪ >> ERDBRINK: For the last time, Hassan will lay his big brainy head to rest in his teenage bed on a pillow fluffed up by his mom.

And what will he dream about?

It's as clear as day.

America.

♪ ♪ This is Westwood, and everything here is Iranian.

I bet the first person I'll come across will speak Persian.

Look, Persian pizza.

So many Iranians live here, people have started calling the area, "Tehrangeles."

Most of the Iranians here are highly educated.

You'd almost think that every Iranian studied to be a doctor or a lawyer.

And what do you study?

>> Psychobiology.

>> ERDBRINK: Because all Iranians study something really smart, right?

>> Yeah.

>> ERDBRINK: And you're going to be, like, doctor super-smart?

>> Hopefully a psychiatrist.

>> ERDBRINK: Why all Iranians are so smart?

>> I don't know-- because they had, like, a hard life in Iran, so when they come here, they want to be the best they can be.

And, like, I guess, a doctor is the best that you can be, educational-wise.

(horn honking) ♪ ♪ >> ERDBRINK: What is the American dream?

Get rich.

And, if at all possible, get famous.

Iranian migrants, of course, want to achieve the same goals.

And Goorgen Zargarian was successful in making it.

He started a car repair shop, won the lottery, and also proved to be an amazing entertainer, when a video clip he made promoting his company went viral on the internet.

>> Hey, baby.

How does your car run?

Do you have trouble with your transmission?

♪ Shift it, shift it in forward ♪ ♪ Shift it, shift it in reverse ♪ ♪ Domestic or foreign ♪ ♪ I please you with my service ♪ ♪ Shift it, shift it in forward ♪ ♪ Shift it, shift it in reverse ♪ ♪ Domestic or foreign ♪ ♪ I please you with my service ♪ ♪ ♪ >> Hi, how are you doing?

>> ERDBRINK: Hi, how are you doing?

Good to meet you.

>> You, too.

>> ERDBRINK: Definitely!

Definitely.

>> Thank you so much, how are you?

>> ERDBRINK: It's amazing to see you in real life.

You're very famous!

>> Thank you so much!

Maybe you're famous more than me.

>> ERDBRINK: I think you're very, very, very more famous than me.

>> I'm lucky, yeah.

>> ERDBRINK: What do I see here, "Ellen DeGeneres"?

>> I was into that, her show.

>> ERDBRINK: How do you like America?

>> Of course I like it here.

It's good, yeah.

I'm long time here, almost 29 years.

>> ERDBRINK: 29 years?

>> 29, my son is born here.

>> ERDBRINK: Okay, so this is, America is great.

>> Of course, I enjoy.

>> 40 years, 40 years.

♪ ♪ Hello, my name is Goorgen.

Let me, I help you shift it.

♪ ♪ >> ERDBRINK: Even celebrities like Richard Gere have their car repaired by Goorgen.

But despite his popularity, more than anything else, Goorgen still feels Iranian.

(Zargarian and Erdbrink speaking): >> ERDBRINK: Goorgen's big hobby is singing.

And he sometimes performs.

But he would never have thought of recording a commercial for his garage.

(Zargarian speaking): >> ERDBRINK: ♪ ♪ ♪ Shift it, shift it in forward ♪ ♪ Shift it, shift it in reverse ♪ ♪ Domestic or foreign ♪ ♪ I please you with my service ♪ ♪ Shift it, shift it in forward ♪ ♪ Shift it, shift it in reverse ♪ ♪ Domestic or foreign ♪ ♪ I please you with my service ♪ >> ERDBRINK: Goorgen didn't earn a penny on his video.

But he doesn't care.

He enjoys all the attention.

The video was picked up by the BBC and almost every American talk show, from "Ellen DeGeneres" to local radio stations.

>> ...the best local commercial of all time.

>> Yeah.

>> Watch the magic!

>> ERDBRINK: And soon everyone on the internet ran away with it.

>> ♪ Shift it in forward ♪ ♪ Shift it, shift it in reverse ♪ ♪ Domestic or foreign ♪ ♪ I please you with my service ♪ ♪ Shift it, shift it in forward ♪ >> ♪ Shift it, shift it in reverse ♪ >> ♪ Domestic or foreign ♪ ♪ I please you with my service ♪ ♪ ♪ (cheering and applauding) ♪ ♪ >> ERDBRINK: There are over one million Iranians living in the United States-- Persians, as they're called.

And one of those Persians lives right here in this house behind me.

Her name is Azadeh, and she is my sister-in-law.

(speaking local language): >> ERDBRINK: Azadeh moved to the United States ten years ago when she met the love of her life, and she never wants to leave.

Also here right now is her sister Negin, visiting from Iran.

She's been here now for six months, and she's doubting staying in the U.S. or going back to Iran.

And the third person who you'll see in this house is Romina, Azadeh's oldest daughter, who has been living here since she was nine years old.

She's an all-American girl, but she has one deep wish, and that is to return to Tehran, the city where everything happens.

>> Okay, I'm gonna go to nursing school.

I'll be done in six years.

I'll still miss Iran.

I'll still be working here in a hospital, and I'll still be missing my country.

>> ERDBRINK: Yeah, but the way you live, I mean, how can you say, because then you are here?

You... this is America, you have a stable job you have a good life.

>> I have a job, I have a stable income.

But I still miss, I'd still have... >> You have freedom.

>> ERDBRINK: Freedom.

>> Okay, I'm sorry, but my freedom there is much more, like, open than here-- yes... >> ERDBRINK: What do you mean?

I mean... >> Here I'm so busy on social media and something that's, like, just on my phone.

Over there I'm busy with my friends going out, doing stuff, for, like, experiences and... >> ERDBRINK: Experiences, what do you mean?

Go to parties, experience?

>> That's a very big experience, trying to, like, not get caught by the police, that's also another experience that, you know, is... >> ERDBRINK: Exciting.

>> It's more... it feels, like, more like you're living there, you know, rather than here.

It's more like the routine of wake up, work, school, maybe, like, friends after, and then... ♪ ♪ >> ERDBRINK: Romina went on holiday to Iran last year.

She had the time of her life.

Everything was so exciting.

Drinking on the sly, avoiding the police for not following the dress code.

It was a breath of fresh air compared to her life of luxury in San Francisco.

Romina's reasons for wanting to go back to Iran are the same reasons why her mother decided to leave the country.

>> I miss my family, I miss my friends, and I love Iran, but I don't want to live in Iran anymore.

>> Anymore.

>> Anymore.

>> But you did.

But you did when you were a teenager, you lived in Iran.

>> I did, for 29 years, I did, but.. >> ERDBRINK: Do you ever see yourself moving back to Iran?

>> Yeah.

>> Yeah?

>> Yeah.

>> Uh-huh.

(all laughing) >> What do you have in Iran that you don't have it here?

>> Feeling like I'm home.

>> So here is not your home?

>> No, I mean, yes, it is my home, because I live here, I go to school here.

But, it's that moment when you walk off the plane, and you're, like, "Welcome to..." Like, you know, it's, like, the scarf comes out, it's, it's...

There's nothing bad about it.

I don't... How is it...

Okay, look at me.

I'm more liberal, like, I don't cover myself, it's, like, you know, I've totally, like, adapted to the way girls dress here, live here, you know?

But, if... isn't it funny that I'd be okay with covering myself for the whole summer in that weather than be here in shorts and bikinis all the time, like?

What?

>> I just don't get it.

(music playing on speakers) (speaking indistinctly) >> ERDBRINK: I could easily find a thousand Iranians who would gladly change places with Romina and her American lifestyle.

Just to go out cruising with your friend in an old Prius, blasting music in a parking lot as long as you like.

>> I moved here when I was nine, so I completely had to adapt into the typical, like, "Cali girl," you know?

>> ERDBRINK: And that's why now you have a tattoo on your neck that says... >> "God is with me" in Farsi.

>> Yeah.

>> Yeah.

Is that... how is that Cali girl?

I still like to stay, like, close to my roots.

That's why I have the tattoo.

>> ERDBRINK: But in Iran, no one has a tattoo.

>> Because they don't appreciate it until they have to move away or they have to move out of the country.

>> ERDBRINK: But what made you do that, that suddenly you think, "I want to put 'God is with me' on my neck"?

>> It just means something to me.

It means something close to my heart.

Like, all my other tattoos have meaning to me.

>> ERDBRINK: What is, what are the other tattoos?

>> It's a map of Iran.

>> ERDBRINK: A map of Iran?

>> Yeah, the outline of it.

(Erdbrink speaking): Get back in the car.

(music playing on speakers) >> (singing along with music): (Erdbrink speaking): >> ERDBRINK: Goorgen will always remember the day he left Iran 30 years ago.

♪ ♪ For Hassan, that journey is just starting.

The first stop on his way to Stanford University is Tehran.

♪ ♪ (Hassan's grandfather speaking): (speaking indistinctly) (family offering goodbyes) (horn beeps) ♪ ♪ >> ERDBRINK: Since he became one of the most brilliant students in Iran, Hassan started dreaming of a future in the U.S.

But most of the Iranians living in the U.S. can't stop dreaming about Iran.

Why do you think Iranians, even when they live abroad, when they are, you know, at, like a beautiful campus like here, why you think they are still so busy with Iran?

I mean, I'm sure if someone from Colombia passes by, they are not only busy with Colombia, or someone from Belgium, but Iranians, they are so busy with Iran.

Even when they live tens of thousands of miles away.

>> There are so tensions about my country, you know?

I think we are passing from very important...

This, this passage from tradition to modernity is not easy.

It takes maybe a couple of generations, so that we feel comfortable with what we are, who we are.

I am here, I wear my scarf.

I care about what I wear, because I have hope to go back, and I know about the complexities over there.

This country, I mean, Iran, keeps me constantly be aware of the decisions I make, because it's like a very sick child that you have, that you cannot ignore it.

You know, that's not going to get better, but you cannot just get disappointed.

You want to do whatever you can to help it.

And I'm not disappointed, I'm still hopeful, and I do my best.

>> ERDBRINK: Somayeh is still hopeful that the sick child Iran will one day recover.

But the current American president doesn't share that optimism.

♪ ♪ >> This afternoon, in a little while, I'll be giving a speech on Iran.

>> ERDBRINK: If there was any doubt about how serious Trump was, it disappeared when he appointed his new national security adviser.

John Bolton had over the years made no secret of his plans for Iran.

>> ...policy of the United States of America should be the overthrow of the mullahs' regime in Tehran.

>> ERDBRINK: And said so plainly at a meeting of Iranian dissidents in Paris in 2017.

>> The behavior and the objectives of the regime are not going to change, and therefore the only solution is to change the regime itself.

(applause and cheering) And that's... and that's why, before 2019, we here will celebrate in Tehran.

Thank you very much.

(cheers and applause) ♪ ♪ >> I am announcing today that the United States will withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal.

We will be instituting the highest level of economic sanction.

Thank you very much.

This will make America much safer-- thank you very much.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> ERDBRINK: When I came to live here 17 years ago, it was as if I'd landed on a different planet.

As soon as I stepped off the plane in Tehran, the door to the outside world was shut.

This isolation ended recently, after internet and social media opened up the country.

Iran is now rapidly becoming more modern.

Some leaders do their utmost to try and stop these changes.

And I saw the ugly side of that battle this week.

Kavous, the father of a friend of mine, was arrested out of the blue.

He was charged with spying.

♪ ♪ And just three weeks later, I typed this headline for "The New York Times."

>> Developing news this hour.

A prominent academic, believed to be a dual Iranian-Canadian citizen, has died in prison after being arrested last month.

Today his son, Raam Emami, posted on Twitter that his father was arrested on the 24th of January, and that "the news of his death was released "to my mom on Friday.

I still can't believe this."

>> ERDBRINK: I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

I thought it was far-fetched that he would be a spy, but now Kavous was found dead in his cell.

I asked his son to come over.

The intelligence services have forbidden him to talk about the case.

>> They said that he had hung himself in his cell.

And they showed my uncle some marks on his neck, on the back of his neck, and he had some bruises over his body, too.

They said, "Oh, this is probably when, you know, he was hanging, he probably hit somewhere."

Um... >> ERDBRINK: But wasn't your father in, like, a high-security prison?

>> You know, that's the thing.

He was, you know, if he was such an important person in a high-security cell, how did it go, you know, unmonitored for such a long time?

For them to allow such a thing to happen?

>> ERDBRINK: When they called your mother, your mother hadn't seen your father in two weeks.

What did they say to her?

They finally said, "Oh, so you want to see your husband.

We'll take you to him.

He's dead."

And my mom started laughing, because she didn't believe it.

She thought that they were just playing mind games with her.

And they're, like, "How dare you laugh in here?

"Do you know where you are?

We'll do the same thing to you."

And she was just hysterical, because she couldn't believe it.

And so they finally took my mom and my uncle, and they drove them to the coroner's office, where my dad's body was apparently, like, on these steel medical tables, you know.

And my mom just kept kissing my dad.

And she couldn't believe it.

She... obviously, she was just in complete hysteria.

And... just... it was impossible for her to fathom, because this was, this scenario of this event happening the way it did was the last thing we ever thought would happen to our family.

>> ERDBRINK: After studying in the U.S., Kavous didn't stay in the West.

He had been granted a Canadian passport, but still took his family back to Iran, because he wanted to help build up the country.

And he went on to do that for 30 years, until he was arrested and accused of spying.

But why would they target your father, who was a professor for 27 years at one of Iran's most prominent universities?

Why would they target him?

>> I mean, it's a question that I don't think I'll ever know the answer to.

That and my dad's real cause of death are these two questions that I don't think I'll ever get to know what the full spectrum of the truth is.

Because, you know, while I'm 100% convinced and sure, and I think everybody else is, of my father's innocence in this story, there is a whole spectrum of a thousand things that could have happened that I can't speculate on.

I can't... And it'll just, like, drive my mind to go crazy, unless I have real, hard facts of actually why he was, you know... this is what our lawyers are trying to do, too, through legal channels, to find out why was this man arrested, why was he interrogated, why wasn't he allowed to communicate with his family, and how, and why was his death, you know, so irresponsibly, you know, not prevented?

♪ ♪ >> ERDBRINK: So, the funeral was today.

And, um, yeah, I mean, it was dramatic.

First of all, it was pouring with rain.

We were on top of this really cold mountain outside of Tehran.

There were around 100 people.

Now, Kavous Emami was a really popular guy in the city, but many people had been afraid to come to the funeral.

And actually at the funeral, there were people who clearly hadn't come to pay their last respects, but to keep an eye on us-- men, you know, on cell phones talking, taking pictures of people.

And at the point when they, when they brought in the body, Maryam, Kavous's wife, just let out this primal scream.

And she started, like, yelling, like, she said, "Why didn't I talk to the press earlier?

"Why didn't I throw a racket?

Why did I keep silent and let this happen?"

And at that point, everybody just started crying.

I mean, it was intense.

It was quite something.

♪ ♪ From the moment the news came out about Raam's father dying in prison, something in his environment changed.

Everybody was suddenly frightened.

>> Even after these events, so many people don't even answer our phone calls or come to visit us, or...

Even my own dad's university hasn't even called us to send, you know, their regards or condolences.

>> ERDBRINK: And he worked there for how many years?

>> I think 27 years.

>> ERDBRINK: And they didn't even call?

>> They haven't even called.

>> ERDBRINK: Why do you think people are so afraid?

>> In this country especially, if you live with fear, you're done.

You're done.

They'll, they can smell that on you like a dog.

And they'll take control of every single aspect of your life.

And I just refuse, not just myself, my brother, my mother... My mother has been so brave during this whole ordeal.

Um... we just refuse to give in to that fear.

It's a crazy story, man, though.

It's just, like, it's something... (exhales) ♪ ♪ >> ERDBRINK: The modern world invading the country is a serious threat to elements of the leadership.

Sometimes, normal people fall victim to those fears.

In this case, it was Raam's father.

And although I've seen this happen before, I found it very difficult to get his story out of my mind that evening.

The next morning, I pulled open the curtains, and what did I see?

Nothing.

Well, almost nothing.

I've suddenly had my fill of Tehran's polluted air.

Fortunately, there's a quick way to escape from it.

♪ ♪ To lift my spirits, I catch a train to the Caspian Sea.

This train ride is one of the most beautiful train rides in the world.

It's winter now, so the trees are bare.

But in spring and summer, it will be intensely green.

Look at the truck crashed over there.

It just came down the mountain.

I'm on my way to an old friend, Isa Saharkhiz, a seasoned journalist who loves his country, but refuses to keep his mouth shut when he sees political wrongdoing.

♪ ♪ As a result of his critical articles, it seems he's almost spent more time in prison than out.

(Saharkhiz speaking): (car door closes) (Erdbrink and Saharkhiz speaking): (Saharkhiz and Erdbrink speaking): (Erdbrink and Saharkhiz speaking): >> ERDBRINK: I last interviewed Isa four years ago.

He was just released from prison.

But he always had a blue bag packed and ready in his hallway.

Just in case they came for him again.

>> ERDBRINK: >> ERDBRINK: That was four years ago.

Not long after that conversation, Isa was incarcerated again.

This time, the price was high: he was also banned from writing for two years.

His health is poor, his wife left him, and he moved here, a village near the Caspian Sea.

(Erdbrink speaking): (Erdbrink speaking): (continuing to call geese) >> ERDBRINK: Still, it must be strange for Isa.

Being an activist and continuing until you wind up in prison seems to have fallen out of fashion.

(Saharkhiz speaking): (Erdbrink speaking): (Erdbrink and Saharkhiz speaking): >> ERDBRINK: Isa is finding it very difficult to keep his publication ban.

He's itching to get back to work.

But when he tries to write, his children react furiously.

(geese honking) ♪ ♪ >> ERDBRINK: It's a good question: Is the new generation still prepared to pay the price for a truly free country without repression and tyranny?

Or have they been lulled to sleep behind their cappuccinos?

And do they mostly celebrate the freedom they have on Instagram?

Is this contentment only reserved for people who can afford cappuccinos?

The answers to all these questions came unexpectedly just when I returned from a vacation outside of Iran.

Yes, yes.

We get snow here in Iran, too.

But whenever it falls, it's always a surprise.

The city descends into chaos.

Schools are closed.

People make snowmen, just like they do in the West.

Well, that element of surprise that comes with snow is also very present in Iran's political situation.

Because you always know that, at some point, there will be unrest, you just don't know when.

Well, for me, that surprise came when I was on the other side of the world, in Japan, on a skiing trip, and I started receiving all these videos on my phone-- videos of big, nationwide protests in Iran.

And these videos, they were quite impressive.

In over 80 cities, Iranians have taken to the streets, voicing their frustrations.

They were even angry with Supreme Leader Khamenei, who was called a dictator by some of the protesters.

(chanting) Also, President Rouhani took some heat.

(chanting) Soon after that, Instagram was blocked by the government.

I meet with my friend and "L.A. Times" correspondent Ramin for our weekly chat.

He couldn't be more sure: the majority of the protesters are people who find it hard to make ends meet.

The promise of the nuclear deal was that things would get better for them.

But they haven't.

>> These people are challenging the day-to-day life, the daily routine.

They don't have decent job.

They don't have decent, I mean, payment-- they're underpaid, they are educated, sometimes uneducated, but they cannot achieve what they want.

>> ERDBRINK: But they are saying, "Change this!"

Why can't the government change this?

>> Because the government has been failing all the time.

I mean, this government cannot address these basic needs of the people.

They cannot, government cannot provide enough jobs.

The private sector is unable to do anything for them.

There is no foreign investment, there is no domestic investment.

So there's no job.

>> ERDBRINK: The security forces employed strong-arm tactics.

25 people were killed.

Around 4,000 protesters were arrested.

♪ ♪ But it was surprising that Tehran was relatively quiet.

The regulars at the cappuccino cafés didn't join the other protesters.

Because the middle classes didn't join, the protests soon fizzled out.

Why the middle class isn't joining them?

I mean, they are dissatisfied about everything, constantly complaining and saying, "This is wrong, that is wrong," and they have points.

>> It's a matter of price.

The middle class wants to achieve the goals just by snapping the finger.

What is that?

Just, "We participate in the election, we vote on Fridays, "and then everything will be promising, "as has been promised to us in the campaigns of the elections."

>> ERDBRINK: But they don't want to take to the streets for this.

>> No.

>> ERDBRINK: But they did in 2009.

>> They did in 2009... >> ERDBRINK: When they went by the millions, and they protested the re-election of Ahmadinejad.

>> Yeah, because that time, that time, victory seemed very achievable, very near.

The middle class is ready to take a risk when victory seems guaranteed.

It doesn't seem now.

>> ERDBRINK: Do you think these protests will not lead to anything?

>> It will accumulate frustrations and will re-emerge, like many previous ones, in different forms under different pretexts.

♪ ♪ >> ERDBRINK: When Rouhani was re-elected last year, people were cheering in the street.

But now change is coming much too slowly for a generation spoiled by the internet.

At the same time, they fear the new sanctions will only strengthen the hardliners and make change even more difficult.

>> There is just, like, a general, sort of, resentment, disappointment that now has seeped through all of society on all different levels.

People are, like, "Oh, what happened, you know, "after the deal?

You know, nothing got better."

And I think obviously the hardliners want that, because the more chaos, the situation, the more they can consolidate their power.

Like, President Rouhani, for example, had such a huge swath of the population behind him.

You know, the biggest statement Rouhani could make, that he's powerless in this government, is to just resign.

And it's pretty evident to a lot of people that the government is powerless, but it would make such a bigger statement if they themselves came out, you know, and just say it, you know?

Just say, "You know what?

We can't, we can't help you, because our hands are tied."

♪ ♪ >> ERDBRINK: So maybe President Rouhani couldn't bring the changes his voters wanted, even though he'd given them an Instagram revolution and access to a wildly faster internet.

But, the internet has a downside, and that downside is that it gives information that Iran's leaders don't want.

So, when there are protests in this country, the internet gets cut-- no more internet.

That doesn't mean, however, that Iranians are isolated.

Because the outside world has penetrated this country a long time ago.

For instance, in the shape of satellite television-- there are over 150 channels that transmit in Persian straight into this country.

And...

This is one of the two channels that Ali says is very popular here in Iran.

It's called Manoto, and it operates from London.

Now, as you can see, this is a show about cooking.

A guy with tattoos is presenting it.

It's much more "now" than Iranian state TV, that has, like, "The solution of mathematical problems in two hours" or "A roundtable discussion between clerics."

If you are a young Iranian, naturally you're more attracted to this kind of TV, but just like Iranian state television, Manoto and the other channels have their own political agendas.

Manoto, for instance, shows political documentaries about the time of the shah in beautiful Technicolor colors.

They show how the shah was receiving President Carter back home, or they show how great life was, according to them, before the revolution.

Now, if you are a young person who has never experienced that time, then naturally you look outside, you see the smoke, you see the restrictions, and you think, "Hmm, that time was much better than the era that I'm living in."

So propaganda is on all sides: on state television, yeah, but also on the Persian channels operating from abroad.

As a journalist, I try to watch Iranian state television, at least to understand the frame of mind of the people behind it.

Like last night, when they tried to prove that Kavous and his environmentalist colleagues were all spying for the West.

>> ERDBRINK: They used footage from the family's confiscated home videos.

Cameras placed to film wildlife are called high-tech spying equipment, aimed at monitoring Iranian missile movements.

Camping trips with the family allegedly took place near secret nuclear installations.

(TV host speaking): (man speaking): >> ERDBRINK: It turns out that security officials have taken the deed to the family home.

Now they have lost everything.

It's the last straw.

The two sons and mother decide to leave the country.

This is how it ends.

Exactly one month after their father died in his cell, both sons and their mom leave Iran.

They head to Canada.

I wait for them in Frankfurt, where they change flights.

I wonder if the family has succeeded in getting out of Iran.

What happened?

>> They didn't let our mom out.

She couldn't leave the country.

We were just standing at the last security control, and then someone walked out and started calling her name... >> Moments before the flight.

>> ERDBRINK: Like a guy in an official suit, or... just... >> Like a plainclothes suit guy.

>> ERDBRINK: A plainclothes guy?

>> Yeah, and he basically was calling out my mom's name, and we immediately knew that something was wrong, as soon as we heard her last name.

And, um... >> ERDBRINK: What did she say?

>> And it was really close to the flight.

We both wish they had just told us sooner.

We might have called someone.

It was literally, like, 20 minutes before, ten minutes before the flight.

>> ERDBRINK: So the last, last moments from before boarding.

>> The last moment, yeah.

>> ERDBRINK: And what did your, what did your mom say?

I mean, the dogs were already on the plane?

You guys were allowed to go?

>> Yes.

>> They said, "The two sons can go, but Maryam has to stay back."

>> And they said, "You just have, like, literally two minutes to make a decision."

I mean, "Do you want to stay or do you want to go?

You have to decide now."

>> And our mom forced us to, like, just get on the plane.

"I want you out of this country."

I mean, that's like... she is so selfless and so full of love, like, she just wanted us to be out of here, and just safe and in one piece.

And we luckily had some friends at the airport with us, you know, who were with our mom, so we didn't just leave her on her own.

There was, like, ten, 12 people with her, but they took her Iranian passport away and said that she can't leave the country now.

>> ERDBRINK: So you think you guys...

I mean, your mom is there, you think maybe you'll go back if they don't allow her to come out?

>> I just talked to my mom, and she told me, "Don't ever come back."

She said, "No matter what happens.

Even if I were to die..." (crying) Like, she's, like, "Just don't come back."

I'm going to make sure that she comes out safe and sound.

(Erdbrink sighs) >> I mean, how much can one family go through in just a couple of weeks, you know?

I mean, they arrest with no evidence... my dad died in prison with no explanation; the case, according to them, is closed, and the legal channels are very limited... >> And they continue to smear our family.

>> And they continue to smear our family, to bother our family, to pressure our family, to threaten our family.

I mean, we're tired of it.

>> ERDBRINK: And for what?

>> For what?

I mean, aren't we living in a... Where are we living?

I mean, this is... this is not the Iran we imagined.

This is not the Iran we envisioned.

This is not the Iran my father wanted to be a part of.

>> (sniffs) ♪ ♪ >> ERDBRINK: Okay.

So you guys are...

It's B, so... Now we're going to say... >> Thank you so much, man.

(Erdbrink talking softly) >> Hopefully we'll see you in one piece.

(Erdbrink laughs) ♪ ♪ >> ERDBRINK: A few weeks later, an extraordinary reversal.

President Rouhani's minister of intelligence declares that there were no grounds for the accusation of espionage against their father.

But it didn't change anything.

Kavous is dead, and his wife is still not allowed to leave the country.

♪ ♪ It's always the same in Iran.

Life here is unpredictable.

You get tossed back and forth between happiness and sadness.

So, along with all the other Iranians, I too feel moments of doubt.

But then, walking in winding alleys, I stumble across a man with a plastic bag.

He suddenly turns around, looks at me, and smiles.

He thinks I'm a stranger here who doesn't speak his language.

And so he sings me a song.

>> (singing) Goodbye, my friend, goodbye.

>> ERDBRINK: And just as soon as he appeared, he disappears again.

So, even after 17 years, Iranians never fail to surprise me.

♪ ♪ I wanted to show you an Iran different from the impression most Americans have from following the TV news.

There is so much more to it than this... >> ERDBRINK: So I have mainly stuck to those people I already knew.

People who trusted me and who, one by one, are willing to share their stories and thoughts in front of the camera.

All honest and open people, brave without exception, and always up for a good laugh.

(laughing) >> ERDBRINK: Thanks to those people and, of course, Newsha and her family, I feel at home here, in spite of everything.

(Erdbrink speaking): So there is one thing I know for sure: I'm not leaving anytime soon.

I'm not done telling stories about Iran and the Iranian people.

Not yet.

♪ ♪ >> Got to pbs.org/frontline for more of "Frontline's" reporting on Iran and its neighbors, the three-hour series "Bitter Rivals" about the dangerous rivalry between Iran and Saudi Arabia.

>> They started this sectarian mess, not us.

>> Nonsense, the Iranians are the ones who are exporting terrorism.

>> Then visit our films page where you can watch more than 200 "Frontline" documentaries.

>> Connect to the "Frontline" community on Facebook, Twitter, and pbs.org/frontline.

>> Here comes the federal government saying that they own the land and everything on it is theirs, but my dad said hell no.

>> How one family's fight against the government... >> ...the armed standoff in Bunkerville.

>> This became sort of this rallying cry, for anti-government extremists everywhere.

>> ...sparked a movement >> ...anti-government patriot groups... >> ...Ammon Bundy is in federal custody now.

>> And what it means.

>> Free the patriots!

>> The Bundys defied three court orders, and the rule of law.

>> Next time on "Frontline"... ♪ ♪ >> For more on this and other "Frontline" programs, visit our website at pbs.org/frontline.

"Frontline's" "Our Man in Tehran" is available on DVD.

To order, visit shop.pbs.org or call 1-800-PLAY-PBS.

"Frontline" is also available for download on iTunes.

♪ ♪