It would not be an exaggeration if it was claimed that the hostage-taking crisis was the most important turning point or critical juncture in the history of the Islamic republic of Iran. This phenomenon was not restricted to the international consequences of imprisonment of the American diplomats for 444 days. In fact this catastrophe had another side, a domestic dimension, that to a large extent has defined the IRP and in a larger scale the IRI relation with the opposition ever since .
After confiscating the embassy’s possessions, the Students Following the Line of Imam (SFLI) started disclosing what they claimed to be the top-secret U.S. embassy documents in relation to the revolution. What the SFLI was most interested in were the official correspondences between the embassy diplomats and members of the interim cabinets. In addition they were looking for the reports, analysis and advice-giving letters by the embassy officials to their superiors in Washington so they could prove the conspiracy theory that they had in their mind about American intentions for a coup similar to the 1953 Ajax operation.
Now that we look back to the history we realise that the vast majority of the seized documents were nothing more than normal ambassadorial correspondences between the American embassy staff members and Iranian officials especially from the foreign ministry, a type of interaction which is part of the job of all the embassies around the world including the IRI embassies. However in the midst of Tehran’s anti-imperialist fever, being called “dear” by the Americans was to be labelled spy or guilty of espionage by the SFLI.
Countless shredded sheets from the shredders in the embassy were recovered by the SFLI and consequently used by them as well as by IRP to discredit the non-Maktabi opposition personalities including Bazargan, Abbas Amir-Entezam, Hassan Nazih (former oil minister), Ayatollah Shariatmadari, Mozaffar Baghai (leader of the Toilers party) and many other opposition elites. One of the first victims of this modern-day witch hunting that was followed by a purge was the former spokesman and deputy prime minister in the interim cabinet of Bazargan, Mr. Abbas Amir Entezam. His arrest and later trial and imprisonment were based on letters revealed by SFLI and then propagated by IRP’s propaganda machine the daily Jomhourie eslami. According to the published notes from the trial, Entezam’s mortal sin was helping American diplomats with airport customs formalities before leaving Iran. It must be stressed none of this was illegal or unusual for a diplomats to do. It is very customary for a man in Entezam’s capacity to assist a foreign diplomat with the hassles of paperwork before leaving the country but in the eyes of the radical students and the readers of Jomhourie eslami that was an unforgivable felony.
One of the very first “disclosures” that SFLI made was CIA’s analysis of Pasdaran or IRGC. The Students claimed that “CIA classified documents” has acknowledged and confirmed “the role of IRGC in safeguarding the revolution” and that the Agency has predicted “the corps numbers will soon reach 30,000 strong men”. 348
It is obvious that gaining the “enemy’s” recognition as a strong force was an important credit which the IRGC received as a result of the cooperation between SFLI and IRP. The value of “the acknowledgment” becomes clearer when it is placed in a 1979 Iran context. When Jimmy Carter allowed the Shah the entry to receive medical treatment in the U.S the anti-American sentiments reached an unprecedented level on the streets of Tehran. Many in Iran started making comparisons in their mind, putting side by side this controversial American action with the proceedings of the 1953 coup against Mosaddegh. When angry students finally stormed the embassy in Tehran, Khomeini called it a second revolution and the majority of personalities across the political spectrum praised the reckless move. Prime Minister Bazargan and his LMI colleagues were an exception and they denounced the move. The Leftist opposition including MKO and Fdaian praised the action on the grounds that this was a strong blow to the American imperialist interests in the region. They continued their public admiration of the SFLI and their decision to publish the classified documents found at the embassy building at Takhte Jamshid Avenue.
In the midst of anti-imperialism fever, whoever was emerging as a threat to the American interest in the documents was going receive hero treatment from the excited politicised masses, in contrast those who were admired or even thanked by an official in the embassy were going to lose credibility and possibly even prosecuted. This is why CIA’s alleged acknowledgment of the IRGC’s role349
in the revolution was extremely important for the all the Khomeinists including SFLI and IRP. For them this was an admission of desperation from the “arch enemy”.
The trend continued with charging Abbas Amir-Entezam the former interim government and a close friend of Bazargan of spying for CIA. On 11 November 1979 the SLFI published six translations of documents in support of their allegations. None of these documents indicated that Amir-Entezam was a spy. In fact the content of the correspondences between the embassy and Amir-Entezam was merely normal protocol. A simple compliment by Mr. Laingen, the U.S. charge d’affaires in Tehran, in which he describes Amir as a “bright, skilful diplomat who is very interested that mutual relations improve once again”350
was used against Entezam as evidence of his treason. Amir Entezam was put on trial in what was one of the lengthiest court procedures in IRI history and was finally condemned with a life sentence. The proceedings of his court sessions were used as a campaign against the FMI and Bazargan. Countless allegations were made by students against FMI, Bazargan, Ebrahim Yazdi, National Front, Qutb Zadeh, Shariatmadari, the Leftists and the Kurdish parties on the basis of spying for the Americans or conspiring against Khomeini. The students’ words were treated as prima facie evidence. SFLI had a free hand in labelling opposition personalities and charging their organisations with treason and making unproven cases against them, before any of the scandals were investigated in a court of law. Despite all this, they were never impeached or prosecuted by the judiciary system. On the contrary the SFLI were encouraged by IRP to “publish more”.
As was mentioned previously, the CIR received executive portfolios after the resignation of Bazargan. The CIR with first Banisadr and later Qutbzadeh as its foreign minister had tried to take the hostages from the students and resolve the matter through diplomatic channels. However Khomeini’s frequent change of heart and SFLI’s disruption resulted in their efforts ending with failure. Moreover, the UN Sanctions Commission, that was formed after Banisadr became president and went to Iran to look at Iran’s and America’s claims and counter claims with regard to
349 Jomhourie eslami, Aban 20/ 11 November, 1979 350 Jomhourie eslami, Azar 29/ 20 December, 1979
the hostage crisis, left Iran empty handed after the SFLI refused to cooperate with CIR and the delegation.351
The IRP and CIR did not initiate the hostage taking but IRP has eaten most of its fruits. Using the revolutionary momentum gained by the hostage-taking act the IRP elites have adapted themselves to the environment. Since they realised that Khomeini was not going to seek a quick resolution of the crisis through diplomacy (only two weeks after the incident Khomeini announced that he would not retreat even a single step on the matter),352, the IRP elites tried their best to hijack the agenda and take on the role of SFLI’s voice. In addition, the IRP utilised the revolutionary and anti- imperialism momentum that occurred in the society as a result of the hostage taking, in order to win the Inaugural Constitutional Assembly election and insert the Velayate faghih doctrine into the IRI draft constitution. Moreover via “disclosing” embassy documents it discredited one of the most vocal anti Velayate faghih deputies in the Assembly.
The resignation of Bazargan and his cabinet, influencing the result of presidential election by disclosing documents against admiral Madani one of the presidential candidates and Banisadr’s main contender a day before the presidential election, discrediting and prosecuting many opposition figures and independent intellectuals under allegations that confiscated documents show their covert connection with the Americans, was part of SFLI and IRP’s exploitation and/or abuse of the embassy documents . It would not be exaggerating to suggest that the hostage-taking crisis not only further radicalised the IRP’s political behaviour but also transformed the entire political map of the post-revolution Iran.