Edward B. Johnson, second CIA officer in Iran for ‘Argo’ rescue mission, dies at 81
Rescue of 6 American diplomats who fled 1979 US embassy takeover in Tehran was immortalised in Ben Affleck’s Oscar-winning film Argo
Edward B. Johnson, who as a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officer travelled into Iran with a colleague to rescue six American diplomats who fled the 1979 US embassy takeover in Tehran, has died, the CIA confirmed on Monday. He was 81.
Johnson’s identity for decades had been hidden from the public, with him known only by the pseudonym “Julio” after fellow CIA officer Antonio “Tony” Mendez published a book recounting the operation. The 2012 Academy Award-winning film Argo, directed by and starring Ben Affleck, did not include the second man on the team.
Yet a painting at the CIA’s headquarters in Langley, Virginia, offered a faceless acknowledgement of Johnson’s existence. And in 2023, the CIA itself revealed Johnson’s identity in a podcast highlighting the agency’s work to free the diplomats hiding at the Canadian ambassador’s residence in Tehran.
“Working with the six – these are rookies,” Johnson recounted in an interview broadcast by the podcast. “They were people who were not trained to lie to authorities. They weren’t trained to be clandestine, elusive.”
Johnson died on August 27 in his sleep in Virginia after suffering from pneumonia, the CIA told Associated Press on Monday.
