Name _____________________________ Class ______ Date ________________
Iran Hostage Crisis – The Final Report -- Video
1. Question – What did Khomeini preach that made him so popular?
Answer – A break from the West and a return to Iran’s Islamic roots.
(Khomeini’s goal was to create a theocracy – a country governed solely by religious laws)
2. Question - Why did the Iranians hate the Shah?
Answer – He was the head of a brutal and corrupt regime.
(Reza Pahlavi, the Shah, ruled Iran for close to 40 years. During his rule a small group got rich
off the country’s oil wealth, while most Iranians lived in poverty. Savak, the Shah’s secret police,
imprisoned and tortured anyone opposed to the Shah.)
3. Question – Why did Carter allow the former Shah to take refuge in the U.S.?
Answer – Out of a sense of compassion and obligation to a longtime U.S. ally.
(The Shah had lymphatic cancer and could only receive the needed treatment in the U.S. Also,
Iran for decades had helped the U.S. gather intelligence against the Soviets)
4. Question – What was the plan behind the student takeover?
Answer – A two-day sit-in at the embassy to protest Carter’s decision.
(The original plan was to occupy the embassy for only 48 hours)
5. Question – What did the students hope to accomplish?
Answer – They wanted the Shah returned to Iran to stand trial.
6. Question – Was the hostage crisis foreseeable?
Answer – Yes, President Carter believed it was possible.
(Advisors told Carter there could be a violent reaction to allowing the Shah into the U.S. but they
also told him the Shah should be let in)
7. Question – Why didn’t the White House close the U.S. embassy permanently?
Answer – The White House thought Iran’s provisional government would defend the U.S.
embassy.
(The State Department had received a guarantee from the provisional government)
8. Question – What did the Iranians think the Americans were up to?
Answer – A coup to restore the shah to power.
(In 1953 a U.S. – British coup forced the democratically elected leader of Iran out and solidified
the Shah’s power)
9. Question – Who was really running the country?
Answer – The Ayatollah Khomeini.
(Although Iran had a president, it was Khomeini who had supreme power)
10. Question – What was Khomeini’s role in the embassy takeover?
Answer – After it occurred he took control.
(Khomeini did not have a hand in planning it, but after he saw it was successful he used it to
advance his political agenda).
11. Question – Why didn’t the sanctions work?
Answer – The U.S. received little support from the international community.
(Other countries did not support the U.S. economic sanctions because they needed Iran’s oil)
12. Question – Why were attempts by the U.S. to end the crisis unsuccessful?
Answer – U.S. officials were talking to the wrong people.
(White House and State Department officials ended up negotiating with low level Iranian
bureaucrats who had little power)
13. Question – Was the rescue mission poorly planned?
Answer – An investigation of the mission shows that it was.
(The four military branches involved in the mission failed to act as a cohesive unit. They never had a
full rehearsal. They were plagued by mistrust and miscommunication. The Navy helicopters,
RH-53 Sea Stallions were a poor choice for the distance they had to travel).
14. Question – What were the terms of the agreement (hostage release)?
Answer – The U.S. agreed to four basic demands:
1. No interference in Iran’s affairs.
2. Unfreezing of Iranian Assets (bank accounts) and freezing of Shah’s assets
3. Lifting of all Sanctions and Embargoes.
4. No legal claims.
In 2000 the hostages did file suit against Iran and won a default judgment but in 2002 but the Bush
Administration intervened and the judge threw out the case. The hostages remain bitter.
15. Question – Why did the Iranians wait until Reagan was sworn in?
Answer – There are many theories.
(Some say it was a final insult to Jimmy Carter, others said the Iranians feared that Reagan would
use military force against them once he took office, and some believe in a conspiracy theory that
Reagan’s people used the crisis and had the Iranians delay the release to get Reagan elected.)
The Iran hostage crisis was a warning of dangerous times to come:
1) When U.S. foreign policy failed the crisis stretched to 444 days.
2) The Iranian Revolution led to government sponsored terrorism.
3) This was the first appearance of radical Islamic fundamentalism – Islam being used as a
political instrument.
4) Some analysts believe the U.S. did not take this threat seriously for many years.
5) Khomeini died in 1989 but the religious regime he founded, the Islamic Republic of Iran, has
remained in power for decades. This government was the first of its kind in the modern world.
6) The Iranian religious government enforces strict Islamic laws.
7) The current president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is accused of being one of the hostage
takers in 1979.
8) In many ways the goals of the students have not been achieved, as the lives of Iranians have
become more oppressive under clerical (religious) rule. The students did not get the free and
equal society they had sought.
9) Iran humiliated the U.S. and diplomatic relations have not been restored between the two
countries, largely because of American mistrust of the Iranian government which is viewed as
fanatical.