America is the Great Satan!

Since the current Hostage taking crisis in Tehran is still "breaking news', this might be a good time to review the easrlier hostage taking, by, or in Iran, 25 years ago.
First, a review of our current story, the latest chapter:

News from TEHRAN, Iran indicates: About 200 students threw rocks and firecrackers at the British Embassy on Sunday, calling for the expulsion of the country's ambassador because of the standoff over the 15 seized sailors and marines, captured by a Iranian para-naval flotilla. Debate has raged over the seemingly difficult issue of whetther the Brit's were in Iranian, or, as they claim, iraqi waters.

Again, 200 students confronted policemen in an effort to storm the embassy.
The protesters chanted "Death to Britain" and "Death to America" as they hurled stones into the courtyard of the embassy. They also demanded that the Iranian government expel the British ambassador and close down the embassy, calling it a "den of spies."

British government and defense officials refused to discuss a report that claimed a Royal Navy captain or commodore would be sent to Tehran as a special envoy to negotiate the return of the personnel.
The official would deliver an assurance that British naval crews would never deliberately enter Iranian waters without permission, the Sunday Telegraph newspaper reported.
Transport Minister Douglas Alexander said Britain was engaged in "exploring the potential for dialogue with the Iranians."

MORE:
President Bush on Saturday called for the release of the sailors and marines and labeling their capture "inexcusable behavior."
"Iran must give back the hostages," Bush said. "They're innocent, they did nothing wrong, and they were summarily plucked out of waters."
Eight British sailors and seven marines were detained by Iranian naval units March 23 while patrolling for smugglers near the mouth of the Shatt al-Arab, a waterway that has long been a disputed dividing line between Iran, and Iraq.
ALSO:
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called world powers "arrogant" for refusing to apologize.
"Instead of apologizing over trespassing by British forces, the world arrogant powers issue statements and deliver speeches,"

Now, The review of the Carter Administration Hostage crisis in Iran (subsequently resolved by the Reagan Presidency). Since I (BBJ) am pressed for time, verbaitum"

in U.S. history, events following the seizure of the American embassy in Tehran by Iranian students on Nov. 4, 1979. The overthrow of Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlevi of Iran by an Islamic revolutionary government earlier in the year had led to a steady deterioration in Iran-U.S. relations. In response to the exiled shah’s admission (Sept., 1979) to the United States for medical treatment, a crowd of about 500 seized the embassy. Of the approximately 90 people inside the embassy, 52 remained in captivity until the end of the crisis.
President Carter applied economic pressure by halting oil imports from Iran and freezing Iranian assets in the United States. At the same time, he began several diplomatic initiatives to free the hostages, all of which proved fruitless. On Apr. 24, 1980, the United States attempted a rescue mission that failed. After three of eight helicopters were damaged in a sandstorm, the operation was aborted; eight persons were killed during the evacuation. Secretary of State Cyrus Vance, who had opposed the action, resigned after the mission’s failure.
In 1980, the death of the shah in Egypt and the invasion of Iran by Iraq (see Iran-Iraq War) made the Iranians more receptive to resolving the hostage crisis. In the United States, failure to resolve the crisis contributed to Ronald Reagan’s defeat of Carter in the presidential election. After the election, with the assistance of Algerian intermediaries, successful negotiations began. On Jan. 20, 1981, the day of President Reagan’s inauguration, the United States released almost $8 billion in Iranian assets and the hostages were freed after 444 days in Iranian detention; the agreement gave Iran immunity from lawsuits arising from the incident

A pleasant surprise! My research turned up this little gem!

Ebrahim Asgharzadeh was one of the masterminds behind the takeover of the US embassy.
Asgharzadeh was 24-years-old and was studying electrical engineering at a university in Tehran. After the crisis he was elected as an MP in 1988 in Tehran, but in the next elections his qualifications were not approved and he could not run again. Later he was arrested for publishing the Salam newspaper which was critical of the government.
He is now the secretary-general of Hambastegi (Unity) Party.

How did you plan the operation for taking over the US embassy and taking its staff hostage?

We did not have an accurate and calculated plan for taking over the embassy. We did not have any plans to take any hostages, either.
We were just a group of students who wanted to stage a protest.
If you want to make any judgement about our measures you should do it within the context of the situation in those days, which was full of tension.

The Cold War era was when there was a big competition between two political camps in the world.
Didn't you see it as inhumane to take people as hostages?

We were not supposed to take hostages. We did not think that our move would turn into a long period of hostage-taking which lasted for 444 days.

What was your aim in taking over the embassy?

We neither thought of the aspects of this move, nor its implications. We only intended to make the world hear our protest.
Our only concern was that this move would be opposed by the Revolution's leader, but when we took over the embassy, everything changed within a few hours.
The leader supported us and many groups of people came to the embassy to express their support, in a way that the future events went out of our control.
We had no choice but to stay in the embassy and to take care of its staff.

How did you treat the hostages?

We had not thought of how to keep the hostages at all.
We had about 300-350 students and we had very limited facilities.
We did not act professionally and some of the embassy's staff managed to get out through the back door.
We had not even decided about blindfolding them.
I think they realised themselves that we had no plans to capture them. We tried to treat them humanely. But there is no doubt that there was a lot of psychological pressure on them.

How do you think about your move today?

In recent years we tried to make the American people understand that our move was just a reaction against the US intervention in our country.
After every revolution there will be some extremist moves.
The Islamic Revolution has now reached stability and this sort of behaviour should not be repeated in the future.

Ironic, don't you think? May I repeat that last line..?

The Islamic Revolution has now reached stability and this sort of behaviour should not be repeated in the future.

BBJ