AN AUGURY OF REVOLUTION: THE IRANIAN STUDENT ...

unprecedented, with the exception of the American agreement with West Germany, and as
historian James Bill noted that “it nullified any and all Iranian legal control over the growing
American military colony” stationed in Iran. 250 Following the passing of the law, Ayatollah
Khomeini, one of the leading Shia clerics in Iran, gave a speech protesting the bill, and argued
that it “reduced the Iranian people to a level lower than that of an American dog.” 251
Khomeini’s
speech led to his exile on 4 November 1964. This greatly upset Iranian students and was one of
the issues Islamist students protested throughout the rest of 1964. 252
Protests continued when Iranian diplomats came to the United States. In late 1964, the
ISAUS organized a protest when a reception was given by the Iranian Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, headed by Foreign Minister Aram. In a press release that was put out before the
demonstration on 23 December 1964, the New York Chapter of the ISAUS said that “Since all
channels of expression are closed for the Iranian people under the present corrupt and dictatorial
regime in Iran, we feel a heavy responsibility for reflecting the voice of our oppressed
people.” 253 The grievances of the ISAUS included the borrowing of two million dollars from
American banks to strengthen the military, the immunities bill, and Khomeini’s exile. 254
The
ISAUS was also upset about the shah’s security forces working outside of Iran. While the shah
ran a dictatorial state inside Iran, he was beginning to put pressure on Iranian students abroad.
Therefore, one of the principle reasons that they protested the reception held by the Ministry of
250 Bill, The Eagle and the Lion, 158.
251 “The Granting of Capitulatory Rights to the U.S.,” 27 October 1964, as seen in Islam and Revolution: Writings
and Declarations of Imam Khomeini, trans. Hamid Algar (Berkeley, California: Mizan Press, 1980), 181-8. Portions
of the text can also be seen in Bill, The Eagle and the Lion, 159-60.
252 ISAUS, 23 December 1964 Press Release of the New York Chapter of the ISAUS printed in ISAUS, Iran in
Turmoil, 40; 5 November 1964 articles in The Times and the NYT were published in CIS, Documents on the Pahlavi
Reign of Terror in Iran: Eyewitness Reports and Newspaper Articles (Frankfurt, Germany: Confederation of Iranian
Students, 1971), 30-2.
253 23 December 1964 Press Release of the New York Chapter of the ISAUS printed in ISAUS, Iran in Turmoil, 40.
254 23 December 1964 Press Release of the New York Chapter of the ISAUS printed in ISAUS, Iran in Turmoil, 40.
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