Summary
Overview
This episode examines the 1979 Iranian hostage crisis, in which revolutionary students seized the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and took 66 Americans hostage. The hosts explore how this event became a defining humiliation for President Jimmy Carter, escalating from a planned brief sit-in into a 444-day ordeal that paralyzed his presidency. They trace the crisis from its origins through the geopolitical chaos of late 1979, revealing how Ayatollah Khomeini weaponized the hostages to consolidate power while America watched helplessly.
The Seizure of the U.S. Embassy
On November 4, 1979, approximately 300 Iranian students stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, intending only a brief symbolic occupation. What began as a student sit-in quickly escalated when the militants discovered they could hold American diplomats and staff as bargaining chips. Within hours, the compound was overrun and about 60 Americans were taken prisoner, blindfolded and bound. The seizure came just weeks after President Carter had reluctantly admitted the ailing Shah into the U.S. for medical treatment—a decision that embassy staff had specifically warned would provoke exactly this kind of attack.
- On November 4, 1979, 300 Iranian students attacked the U.S. Embassy in Tehran with bolt cutters hidden under chadors, bringing enough food for only three days
- Within hours, about 60 Americans were taken hostage, blindfolded and bound, with only six escaping
- The students called themselves the 'Muslim Students Following the Line of the Imam' and planned only a brief symbolic occupation
- The embassy had been attacked twice before in 1979, but Khomeini had promised to protect it after the February incident
- Ambassador William Sullivan had specifically warned not to admit the Shah, saying it would be the one thing guaranteed to provoke an attack
" Does somebody have an answer as to what we would do if the diplomats in our embassy are taken hostage? I gather not. On that day, we will all sit here with long drawn white faces and we will realise that we have been had. "
" We were sure that foreign elements were actively involved in attempts to weaken and undermine our young republic. "
The Shah's Bitter Exile and Death
After triggering the hostage crisis by entering the U.S. for medical treatment, the Shah found himself unwelcome everywhere. Britain's Margaret Thatcher refused him despite being a conservative ally. Carter's administration wanted him gone, so they shipped him to Panama where the dictator charged him $21,000 per day and assigned a Marxist sociology professor to supervise him as a deliberate insult. The Shah died in Egypt on July 27, 1980, still believing his dynasty would return to power. His funeral was attended by Richard Nixon flying economy class, while Carter stayed away. Iran's news agency declared he 'died in disgrace, misery and vagrancy.'
- The Shah left Iran in January 1979 and was admitted to the Cornell Medical Center in New York on October 22, 1979, triggering the embassy seizure
- Margaret Thatcher refused the Shah entry to Britain despite being the 'Iron Lady,' citing security concerns for Britain's own embassy in Tehran
- In Panama, dictator General Torrijos charged the Shah $21,000 per day and assigned a Marxist sociology professor to supervise him
- The Shah died in Egypt on July 27, 1980, with his last words reportedly 'Iran is Iran'
- Richard Nixon flew economy class to Cairo to deliver the eulogy, calling the Shah 'a real man' and Carter's treatment of him 'one of the black pages of American history'
" He died in disgrace, misery and vagrancy. The bloodsucker of the century has died at last. "
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