Risking their own lives, Canada’s Ambassador to Iran, Ken Taylor and his wife Patricia, joined by Canadian diplomat John Sheardon, had sheltered the Americans in their respective homes.

At the Ottawa meeting on January 2, 1980, U.S. Ambassador to Canada Kenneth Curtis, joined by an American official whose name remain classified even today, along with the State Department’s Peter Tornoff, told the Canadians that the Carter Administration believed it was time to commence the operation – later called the “Canadian Caper – to get the six Americans out of Iran.

“We were becoming increasingly concerned that their continued safety in Canadian Embassy premises could now become jeopardized because an increasing number of journalists know that some official Americans are hiding in a friendly mission,” Tarnoff wrote in a secret report of the meeting he later filed, “(and) the application of… sanctions by Western countries (against the Iranians) could lead both to greater surveillance and harassment of embassies, and the drawdown of Western embassy personnel, thereby increasing the risks that the presence of the six will be exposed.”

“I explained that the urgency of the present situation convinced us of the need to accelerate our contingency planning for removing the six from Tehran,” Tarnoff’s report continued. “We hoped to have a plan agreed to by the American and Canadian Governments that could be rapidly executed when officials of our governments agreed that we had to act. Even though we could not now predict exactly when the six should leave, we need an agreed scenario given the complications of the preparations involved.

Finally, I indicated that after thorough study of the options, we had concluded that the six had the best chance of leaving by the Tehran airport if they had Canadian documentation. The details of the plan would have to be worked out by experts in both governments, and the six would have to be fully briefed and express a willingness to leave by this risky route. Nonetheless, we wanted to have Canadian Government agreement in principle to our request that the six might be given Canadian passports.”

Canada’s Undersecretary of External Affairs, Alan Gotlieb, agreed with the U.S. assessment of the situation.

“Gotlieb said that he personally would feel much more comfortable if Canada could close down its Embassy in Tehran and make arrangements for the six to leave as part of a general exodus of Canadians from Iran,” Tarnoff reported. “If no Canadian officials were left in Tehran, Ottawa would be less concerned about possible reprisals if the six were caught trying to leave the country with false Canadian passports. Canada might also consider drawing down its personnel in the Embassy (now 18 persons) in Tehran to a skeleton staff of volunteers so that fewer Canadians would be in danger in Tehran if the six were discovered or the Embassy was invaded for other reasons.”

Gotlieb said his minister, Flora MacDonald, joined by Prime Minister Joe Clark, would be briefed immediately. Both, of course, were on the hustings ahead of the February general election, called after the Clark government was defeated in the Commons on a non-confidence motion two-weeks before Christmas.

“On the question of providing Canadian documentation,” the American report continued, “Gotlieb said that he would study the matter but that he foresaw no great juridical hurdles. The decision to provide Canadian passports could probably be made in the context of an agreed exfiltration plan that would subject the six and Canadian personnel in Tehran to the minimum number of risks.”

Within days Prime Minister Clark, after discussions with President Jimmy Carter, agreed upon plans to smuggle the six Americans out of Tehran.

The rest, as they say, is history. 

You can read the full American report on the meeting at this link:

https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1977-80v27/d79