Historical Dictionary of Terrorism Third Edition

356 • KHOMEINI, RUHALLAH MUSAWI ALthat the United States was covertly involved in this, as well as in allother, manifestations of opposition to his rule within Iran.The admission of the ailing deposed shah to the United States formedical treatment in late October 1979 provided Khomeini and hisfollowers with the appropriate pretext to occupy the U.S. embassy,which they regarded as “the den of espionage and fountainheadof all conspiracies,” and to seize in excess of 100 hostages, laterreduced to 53 U.S. nationals. While the embassy seizure has beenregarded as a state-sponsored act of terrorism, the group of studentfollowers of Khomeini and the accompanying IRGC members werenot actually under the control of the nominal provisional governmentof Iran. Given Khomeini’s later designation of this action asthe “second [Iranian] revolution,” it could also be regarded as avanguardist coup d’état since it caused the discredited Mehdi Bazarganprovisional government to fall in favor of one controlled byan Islamic Revolutionary Council more directly under the control ofKhomeini. The hostage seizure and U.S. reaction to it precipitatedan atmosphere of crisis within Iran, facilitating the mass mobilizationof Iranian opinion around Khomeini and the consolidation ofeffective power at the hands of his supporters. Following the overthrowof the shah’s government on 11 February 1979, Khomeinihad settled in Qum, the Shi’ite center of learning located some 90miles south of Tehran. With the crisis that erupted following theseizure of the U.S. embassy on 4 November 1979, Khomeini foundit expedient to relocate to Tehran under the pretext of having aheart condition needing treatment at Tehran’s main cardiovascularhospital. Later he moved into a residence in the northern suburb ofJamaran, where he gave speeches and received foreign delegationsat the Jamaran Mosque.On 23 March 1980, in his solar New Year’s address to the Iraniannation, Khomeini issued a general directive to the Iranian governmentto “export [the Islamic] revolution” to other Muslim countries. Conferencesof Muslim laymen, clerics, and students from throughout theIslamic world were periodically held in Iran to rally support for Iran’srevolution among foreign Muslims and to build contacts within othercountries. On 5 February 1981 Khomeini decreed the creation of aLiberation Movements Department within the IRGC. The IRGC developedtraining bases for terrorists outside Tehran, Qum, and Mashhad,while the revolutionary Foundation for the Oppressed, comprising the