Iran Timeline, Part 16, 1979–1981 HOSTAGES, FAILED RESCUE & THE RISE OF THE REVOLUTIONARY GUARDS 

Dr Lessin narrates Iranian History from the Iranians’ capture of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and the subsequent collapse of U.S. President Carter’s credibility and the ascendancy of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (Sepah)

1979: On November 4, Radical Iranian Islamist students seized the U.S. Embassy in Tehran

The U.S. had engineered the 1953 overthrow of Ayatollah Kohmenei’s Prime Minister Mossdegh and admitted Shah Mohammad for medical treatment.  Revolutionary factions supported the Islamic students who took the embassy to outflank moderates.  The radicals seized momentum, ended diplomatic courtesy, sidelined Iran’s moderates, and hardened the regime’s posture toward the U.S..

The students took 52 American hostages, initiated a crisis that lasted 444 days, and brought down U.S. President Jimmy Carter.

See

APRIL 24–25, 1980: CARTER’S COVERT RESCUE OPERATION EAGLE CLAW FAILED

Sandstorms disabled America’s helicopters at the site dubbed Desert 1, triggering cascading mechanical failures. Carter had to order the mission abandoned, but a collision killed 8 U.S. servicemen. Carter and America were publicly humiliated, and the limits of U.S. power to control the world were exposed.

COMPETING INTERPRETATIONS OF WHY THE RESCUE FAILED

The Mainstream View said the failure was merely operational, that mission complexity and coordination of the new joint force were junk, and that the unexpected sandstorm caused the tragedy.  Some Carter allies claimed that allies of Ronald Reagan engineered the failure to rescue the hostages to discredit Carter and let Reagan win the U.S. Presidency (which, of course, he did) and sabotage the American welfare state. Congress investigated this and found no conclusive evidence. Nevertheless, the timing of the hostage release fueled long-term suspicion.

CARTER’S POLITICAL COLLAPSE LET REPUBLICANS BEGIN DISMANTELING FDR’S WELFARE STATE

1979–1981:  RISE OF THE REVOLUTIONARY GUARDS

The hostage crisis enabled the Guards’ rise and forced Iran’s Prime Minister Mehdi Bazargan and his moderate allies to resign, and ended meaningful diplomatic communication between the U.S. and Iran. The Iranians framed the hostage situation as Iran’s “Second Revolution” and the Rev-Guards as patrons of the Islamic Revolution, a Parallel Iranian military force that eventually became the dominant force in the country.

1979–1981: The Revolutionary Guards emerged from crisis as the armed core of the new regime, eventually becoming Iran’s most powerful institution

The net result of the Hostage drama solidified the authority of Iran’s Muslim clerics, infused its military with Islamic fanaticism and allowed the Guard to gradually become the controlling force in Iran–the situation nowadays as Trump tries to enact his role as the herald of the returning Jesus at what he believes will be the coming Armageddon.

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