t stands as the longest hostage crisis in recorded history.The crisis was described by the Western media as an “entanglement” of “vengeance and mutual incomprehension”.President Jimmy Carter called the hostages “victims of terrorism and anarchy” and said: “The United States will not yield to blackmail. By the late 1970s, mounting opposition to the Shah’s regime culminated in the Iranian Revolution of 1979, led by Khomeini. After the Shah fled, his acceptance into the United States for cancer treatment in October 1979 further inflamed anti-American sentiment. Revolutionary viewed this as proof that the U.S. intended to restore him to power.
On November 4, 1979, hundreds of student militants, calling themselves the Muslim Student Followers of the Imam’s Line, stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. They quickly overwhelmed the embassy’s security and captured staff. Initially, it was believed to be a brief occupation meant to protest U.S. support for the Shah. However, Khomeini soon endorsed the takeover, transforming it into a national crisis and a point of revolutionary legitimacy.
