On page 72 of Persepolis, Marji’s father briefly mentions the occupation of the U.S. Embassy. I decided to do more research to further understand this event. It turns out that Iranian students, in support of the revolution, took more than 60 Americans hostage at the Embassy grounds in Tehran. This relates back to my previous post about the United States involvement and alliance with the Shah. After the efforts of our country, revolutionists saw us as the enemy. In the beginning of this seizure, known as the Iranian Hostage Crisis, the revolutionaries claimed they would hold the Americans hostages until the United States implemented the return of the Shah in order that he could be put on trial. Jimmy Carter, the president at the time, tried different strategies of negotiation in order to free his citizens; he was without luck, however. His Desert One plan fell through and after only a few hours of Ronald Reagan’s new presidency, the hostages were finally freed by the revolutionaries. They hostages had been held for 444 days. Along that period of time, the Iranians did release a few of the hostages. They claimed that the African American women and those who weren’t citizens of the United States were part of minority groups, and therefore did not deserve this treatment. This event was one of the most prominent for our country during this time of Iran’s revolution. The CIA’s involvement with the Shah had landed us a few consequences, but none was ever as influential as this one.
For more information on the Iranian Hostage Crisis, go to:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/general-article/carter-hostage-crisis/
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