Three sources of anti-Americanism in Iran

Morad Saghafi

pp. 189-205

in: Tony Judt, Denis Lacorne (eds), With us or against us, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2005

Abstract

When on November 4, 1979 a number of armed individuals (a group later called Daneshjouyan-e Khat-e Emam or "Students of Imam [Khomeini]'s Line") took over the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, few people knew that this was the second invasion of the U.S. Embassy since the Revolution that unseated the Pahlavi dynasty. The first occupation occurred on February 14, only three days after the Pahlavi regime was overthrown. That takeover was initiated by militant members of the Marxist-Leninist group Fadaiyan-e Khalgh, established a decade earlier and dedicated to guerilla attacks against the Pahlavi regime as well as U.S. interests in Iran.¹ That day, the group issued a communiqué stating that the overthrow of the regime was the first step of the revolution that had to be continued until the elimination of capitalism in Iran and that American imperialism will be the most important force opposing this event.² The clergy and the "Revolutionary Council" condemned the action and, following a meeting with the provisional government's foreign minister, Ebrahim Yazdi, the group accepted to leave the premises peacefully. The resolution of the crisis took only half a day.

Cited authors

Marx Karl