Popping a champagne bottle on Portugal’s Atlantic coast in February, 32-year-old American Ian Andersen got down to satisfy his dream of cycling throughout all seven continents of the arena. He deliberate to journey for 10 months, overlaying kind of 10,000 miles to achieve his ultimate vacation spot of Japan.
He didn’t plan, alternatively, for Israel to release a warfare on Iran.
As he crossed into Iran on June 1, Andersen used to be full of pleasure, and anxiousness.
“I used to be reasonably worried. I used to be like, k, now we are coming into some uncharted territory right here,” he instructed CBS Information on Thursday from a resort room in Azerbaijan’s capital of Baku. “However I used to be straight away put relaxed with such a lot of certain reviews from those that I met at the highway… and hospitality, generosity.”
Ian Andersen 
He mentioned he used to be “stunned day-to-day” by way of type, curious Iranians inviting him for tea or providing him meals, even seeking to pay for his meal at a cafe.
On June 13, that modified, when Israel began bombing Iran’s nuclear and armed forces websites.
“Now not any outward hostility, however I simply roughly learn other people’s frame language and their facial expressions,” mentioned Andersen. “And I knew I used to be in reasonably a little of risk, as a result of other people had been seeing Israel and the U.S. as being reasonably tied in combination at that time, because the bombs saved falling and the missiles saved hanging.”
He and his native Iranian information, Reza, determined to hunker down at a guesthouse about 45 miles north of Tehran, in a village known as Harijan, for 2 days.
Reza, who Andersen mentioned had change into his buddy, steered him to keep away from telling other people he used to be American, and to keep away from chatting with other people in any respect if imaginable. However he mentioned he slipped up, revealing his nationality to a few native vacationers who joined them on the resort.
“They were not glad about the truth that they had been having to percentage a resort with ‘that American’ that used to be there,” mentioned Andersen.
On June 15, Andersen heard an Israeli bomb explode within the distance. That very same day he gained an electronic mail from the U.S. State Division, advising him of choices for American citizens wishing to depart Iran, in keeping with their present places. He determined his very best wager used to be an 8 hour pressure north, across the Caspian Sea, to achieve Azerbaijan.
He and Reza had been briefly stuck up in a gentle waft of dense site visitors, as citizens streamed out of Tehran. They handed fuel stations with lengthy strains of automobiles, and lots of army checkpoints.
“It used to be reasonably harrowing,” he mentioned. “The speculation of perhaps being pulled over at one of the most army checkpoints.”
Getty Pictures 
“Reza, my information, had instructed me that he can now not give protection to me, and that truly rattled me, proper? Motive, he is my information. He is my Iranian information, and really strong, robust, unswerving man. And he is like, ‘All proper, that is it. Like, you might be in reasonably a little of risk right here. If we are stopped and the police suspect you of one thing, there may be not anything I will be able to do.'”
Andersen mentioned he changed into “increasingly relaxed as we were given nearer,” and so they ultimately made it with out incident to Iran’s border with Azerbaijan.
However probably the most nerve-wracking a part of that ultimate day used to be about to start out, as he used to be interviewed now not as soon as, however two times by way of Iranian officers — customary border police after which by way of Iran’s Modern Guard Corps.
For the second one interview, he used to be pulled out of a crowd and brought into the backroom of a garage closet in a makeshift military barracks.
“That is the place I used to be like, ‘K, I have were given a 50-50 probability of being taken both as a bargaining chip or for additional wondering,'” he mentioned. “If truth be told, the interview used to be like, not up to a minute.”
“I walked out again into the night time to get my bicycle after which in reality input Azerbaijan, and I part anticipated them to name me again. I used to be like, ‘One thing’s unsuitable right here. Um, why, why used to be this really easy?’ However they did not, and I used to be ready to go into Azerbaijan.”
Transparent of Iran’s web firewall, he used to be ready to message his circle of relatives within the U.S. sooner than he checked into the primary resort he may to find, after which sleep for 12 hours in reduction and exhaustion.
Now secure because the Israel-Iran struggle drags on, Andersen mentioned he thinks so much concerning the imaginable spillover impact for somebody with a U.S. passport dwelling and touring out of the country.
He mentioned he registered his commute itinerary with the U.S. State Division’s STEP program, which sends country-specific notifications and updates in keeping with a traveler’s actions. It is how he knew to go for Azerbaijan, and he urges all American citizens touring out of the country to do the similar.
Andersen additionally mentioned if it weren’t for his Iranian information, he may now not have made it in another country. He hopes to lift cash for Reza and his circle of relatives, who’re nonetheless in Iran.
He additionally intends to hold on together with his motorcycle journey to Japan, to fulfil his dream of biking all the global’s continents.
