Captured workers in the U.S. Embassy, Tehran, November 4, 1979, CNN
THE IRAN HOSTAGE CRISIS
Iran’s grievances with America came to a climax as students seized the U.S. Embassy,
sparking the most significant conflict between the two nations yet.
sparking the most significant conflict between the two nations yet.
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On November 4, 1979, Americans at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran expected demonstrations to commemorate a riot held one year earlier at Tehran University. Embassy personnel watched the mob outside with little fear. The embassy had been sieged before on February 14, 1979, an incident named the St. Valentine’s Day Open House, by anti-American Marxist-Leninist guerrillas, but was quickly defused. |
February 14. 1979 embassy takeover, 444 Days
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The shah was admitted to America less than two weeks earlier.
Infuriated demonstrators started scaling the walls of the embassy.
Infuriated demonstrators started scaling the walls of the embassy.
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Iranian students calling themselves the Muslim Student Followers of the Imam’s Line seized the embassy, taking sixty-six American hostages.
...I had my hands tied behind my back so tightly with nylon cord that circulation was cut off. I was taken upstairs and put alone in a rear bedroom and after a short time was blindfolded. |
The initial plans for the embassy takeover by the Muslim Student Followers were meant to be symbolic in nature. The student group planned to overrun the Marine Corp guards of the U.S. embassy and take control only until the Iranian military came to restore order. An emphasis was put on obtaining national and international media attention with their actions to show their disgust with the decision by the United States to grant amnesty to the Shah. November 4, 1979, NBC News
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The students wanted to retaliate against American influence in Iran and demanded the shah be returned to undergo trial and execution.
News conference with Iranian students, November 5, 1979, YorkVid