The revolutionary passion of one of the Iranian student leaders involved in the 1979 US Embassy takeover has faded with time, as he now acknowledges remorse for the seizure of the diplomatic compound and the ensuing 444-day hostage crisis.
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Ahead of the 40th anniversary of the attack, Ebrahim Asgharzadeh spoke to The Associated Press and acknowledged that the crisis still has repercussions, as tensions between the US and Iran remain high due to Tehran's failing nuclear deal with world powers.
Despite the fact that the takeover has become entrenched in hard-line mythology, Asgharzadeh warned others against replicating his actions. He disagreed with supporters of Iran's Revolutionary Guard who are now offering a revisionist history, claiming they directed the attack, and instead held the students accountable for letting the situation get out of hand.
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Americans were horrified as they watched Iranian protests at the embassy, but at the time, the reasons behind the 1979 takeover were unclear. The 1953 coup that cemented Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi's power caused popular anger against the US.
In February 1979, the Shah, who had cancer, escaped from Iran, leading to the Islamic Revolution. Over several months, Iran experienced widespread unrest, including separatist attacks, worker revolts, and internal power struggles. Police showed up for work, but not for duty, leading to chaos like Marxist students briefly seizing the US Embassy.
During this power vacuum, the Shah was permitted by then-President Jimmy Carter to receive medical treatment in New York. The Nov. 4, 1979, takeover was sparked by this event, but initially, the Islamist students couldn't agree on which embassy to take over. In 2005, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who was a student leader at the time, suggested that seizing the Soviet Embassy compound in Tehran would be a good move, blaming the leftists for causing political chaos.
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