Popping a champagne bottle on Portugal’s Atlantic coast in February, 32-year-old American Ian Alexander got down to fulfill his dream of biking throughout all seven continents of the world. He deliberate to journey for 10 months, masking roughly 10,000 miles to succeed in his last vacation spot of Japan.
He didn’t plan, nonetheless, for Israel to launch a warfare on Iran.
As he crossed into Iran on June 1, Alexander was full of pleasure, and nervousness.
“I used to be fairly nervous. I used to be like, okay, now we’re moving into some uncharted territory right here,” he informed CBS Information on Thursday from a lodge room in Azerbaijan’s capital of Baku. “However I used to be instantly put comfy with so many optimistic experiences from those that I met on the street… and hospitality, generosity.”
American bicycle owner Ian Alexander is seen posing for a photograph after clearing customs to enter Iran.
Ian Alexander
He mentioned he was “shocked every day” by type, curious Iranians inviting him for tea or providing him meals, even attempting to pay for his meal at a restaurant.
On June 13, that modified, when Israel began bombing Iran’s nuclear and navy websites.
“Not any outward hostility, however I simply form of learn individuals’s physique language and their facial expressions,” mentioned Alexander. “And I knew I used to be in fairly a little bit of hazard, as a result of individuals had been seeing Israel and the U.S. as being fairly tied collectively 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 Alexander mentioned had change into his pal, suggested him to keep away from telling individuals he was American, and to keep away from speaking to individuals in any respect if doable. However he mentioned he slipped up, revealing his nationality to some native vacationers who joined them on the lodge.
“They weren’t completely satisfied about the truth that they had been having to share a lodge with ‘that American’ that was there,” mentioned Alexander.
On June 15, Alexander heard an Israeli bomb explode within the distance. That very same day he acquired an e-mail from the U.S. State Division, advising him of choices for Individuals wishing to depart Iran, primarily based on their present areas. He determined his greatest guess was an eight hour drive north, across the Caspian Sea, to succeed in Azerbaijan.
He and Reza had been shortly caught up in a gradual movement of dense visitors, as residents streamed out of Tehran. They handed fuel stations with lengthy traces of vehicles, and lots of navy checkpoints.
“It was fairly harrowing,” he mentioned. “The thought of possibly being pulled over at one of many navy checkpoints.”
Smoke rises after an Israeli strike on a constructing utilized by the Islamic Republic of Iran Information Community, a part of Iran’s state TV broadcaster, June 16, 2025 in Tehran, Iran.
Getty Photos
“Reza, my information, had informed me that he can not shield me, and that actually rattled me, proper? Trigger, he is my information. He is my Iranian information, and really steady, sturdy, reliable man. And he is like, ‘All proper, that is it. Like, you are in fairly a little bit of hazard right here. If we’re stopped and the police suspect you of one thing, there’s nothing I can do.'”
Alexander mentioned he turned “increasingly more comfy as we acquired nearer,” they usually finally made it with out incident to Iran’s border with Azerbaijan.
However probably the most nerve-wracking a part of that last day was about to start, as he was interviewed not as soon as, however twice by Iranian officers – regular border police after which by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps.
For the second interview, he was pulled out of a crowd and brought into the backroom of a storage closet in a makeshift military barracks.
“That is the place I used to be like, ‘Okay, I’ve acquired a 50-50 probability of being taken both as a bargaining chip or for additional questioning,'” he mentioned. “Truly, the interview was like, lower than a minute.”
“I walked out again into the night time to get my bicycle after which truly enter Azerbaijan, and I half anticipated them to name me again. I used to be like, ‘One thing’s incorrect right here. Um, why, why was this really easy?’ However they did not, and I used to be capable of enter Azerbaijan.”
Away from Iran’s web firewall, he was capable of message his household within the U.S. earlier than he checked into the primary lodge he might discover, after which sleep for 12 hours in reduction and exhaustion.
Now secure because the Israel-Iran battle drags on, Alexander mentioned he thinks so much in regards to the doable spillover impact for anybody with a U.S. passport dwelling and touring abroad.
He mentioned he registered his journey itinerary with the U.S. State Division’s STEP program, which sends country-specific notifications and updates primarily based on a traveler’s actions. It is how he knew to move for Azerbaijan, and he urges all Individuals touring overseas to do the identical.
Alexander additionally mentioned if it weren’t for his Iranian information, he may not have made it in another country. He hopes to lift cash for Reza and his household, who’re nonetheless in Iran.
He additionally intends to hold on together with his bike journey to Japan, to fulfil his dream of biking all the world’s continents.
The Standoff with Iran
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Ramy Inocencio