Since 1953, Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi’s Iran
had stood second only to Israel as the United States’
closest ally in the Middle East. His loyalty had been
partly secured in 1953, when he was involved in de-
posing Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh at
the behest of the United States and the United King-
dom after Mossadegh had attempted to nationalize
Iran’s oil industry. Because the shah seemed to be
firmly in power during the 1970’s, there was little
U.S. concern over mounting demonstrations against
his regime in 1978. The demonstrations originated
on both sides of the political spectrum: Liberal re-
formers and leftists were alienated by the shah’s re-
pressive tactics and desired the institution of democ-
racy, while religious traditionalists were incensed by
the pro-Western policies of the shah’s regime. By De-
cember, 1978, a mass protest of nearly one million
people clearly indicated that changes had to be
made. The shah appointed a reformist government
to placate the masses and left Iran in January, 1979,
to seek extensive medical treatment for cancer. Con-
tinuing demonstrations led to the return of Ayatol-
lah Khomeini, a religious leader who had been in
exile from Iran since 1962. By March, an Islamic re-
public under Khomeini was formed.
On October 22, 1979, the shah traveled to the
United States for cancer treatment. Suspicion and
anger flared. Khomeini denounced the United States
as the “Great Satan” and an enemy of Islam, as stu-
dents burned American flags in the streets. Mass
protests were launched daily in front of the U.S. em-
bassy. Used to the large number of demonstrations
taking place, the embassy staff did not suspect that a
group of three hundred students planned to take
part in one of the demonstrations, cut the chains
that bound the embassy gates, and then break into
the compound. The plan, executed on November 4,
worked flawlessly. The students were not fired on by
embassy guards, who instead joined staff in destroy-
ing sensitive communications equipment and shred-532 Iranian hostage crisis The Eighties in America
In the wake of Operation Eagle Claw, the scorched remains of a C-130 aircraft lie in the Iranian desert. The operation was aborted after the
plane collided with a Marine helicopter, killing eight soldiers.(AP/Wide World Photos)