AN AUGURY OF REVOLUTION: THE IRANIAN STUDENT ...

students for a six month period requested student visas. 538 There was a dramatic increase in the
number of Iranian students who transferred from Iranian universities to schools in the United
States amidst widespread closings of Iranian universities. 539
With the outbreak of revolutionary activity in Iran by the fall of 1978, the United States
was in a predicament, and the shah’s regime crumbled with remarkable speed. The shah tried to
save his regime by forming a civilian government headed by Shapour Bakhtiar on 29 December
1978, but the shah fled Iran on 16 January 1979. Ayatollah Khomeini returned to Iran on 1
February 1979, and the Bakhtiar regime fell on 11 February. By the end of March the new
Islamic Republic of Iran had been officially established, and the left was systematically
eliminated.
The political dissent that was embodied by Iranian students, and the Islamist tendencies
of students in Iran, culminated on 4 November 1979. A group that called themselves Students
Following the Line of the Imam stormed the American embassy in Tehran, took U.S.
government documents, and held the personnel hostage for 444 days. 66 Americans were
initially held hostage, with 52 remaining in captivity for the duration of the crisis. This sequence
of events created a level of animosity between the United States and Iran that has not been
resolved by the twenty-first century. After the onset of the hostage crisis, Iranian students in the
United States encountered difficulties. There was a ban on student protest in front of the White
House in fear that any harm done to Iranian protesters in the United States could provoke a
538 “Student Visa Requests up Sharply,” DNSA, Iran Revolution, 28 December 1978, Confidential, Cable Tehran,
IR01970.
539 “Iranian Transfer Students,” DNSA, Iran Revolution, 27 November 1978, Limited Official Use, Airgram Tehran,
IR01805.
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