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Many believe the captor to the left of the hostage to be Ahjmandinejad.
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| By israelinsider staff February 4, 2007 |
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| Russian newspaper published photo, left, bearing striking resemblance to Iranian president. |
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When a group of radical Islamist students stormed the US embassy in Tehran on November 4, 1979, few would have guessed that one member of the group of hostage takers would go on to be president of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
However, a new book reveals that Iran's hardline president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, not only participated in the operation to take hostage 63 American diplomats and three other American citizens, but that he may have also had a hand in planning the event dubbed 'the Second Revolution' by Iran's then Supreme Leader, the Ayatollah Khomeini.
Veteran journalist and author Mark Bowden reports in his book "Guests of the Ayatollah: The First Battle in America's War With Militant Islam," that the radical president was key in communicating between the hostage takers and higher-ups of the Iranian Islamic revolution.
"According to then-Iranian President Abolhassan Bani-Sadr," Bowden writes, "Ahmadinejad was not only present in the occupied compound, but served as liaison between the hostage-takers and Ali Khamenei, at the time one of the most important Friday preachers in Tehran."
Khamenei, who reportedly visited the besieged compound often during the 444 day crisis, is now Iran's top religious leader and political decision maker whose approval is required for the implementation of any policy or the appointment of any political officer, including president.
A number of high-ranking US officials, diplomats, and intelligence officers who were amongst the hostages have identified Ahjmadinejad as a particularly cruel member of the group of hostage takers.
In an interview with the Washington Times, Army Colonel Charles Scott, who was held in the embassy as a hostage, said that "[Ahmadinejad] was one of the top two or three leaders; the new president of Iran is a terrorist."
Despite Ahmadinejad's denials that he partook in the plot, a number of the hostages, including both military officers and non-military employees of the embassy, confirmed Colonel Scott's claim.
The length and success of the Iranian student hostage crisis is widely believed to have contributed to the solidification of the theocratic regime's power-hold on Iran.
In addition to the successful siege, many hardline and radical Iranians were bolstered by then-President Jimmy Carter's soft position on the Iranian revolutionaries.
Carter, who refused to take significant military action against the hostile regime, lost the US presidential election only months after the hostage crisis began.
Although a number female and black hostages were released shortly after the crisis began, it was only minutes after Ronald Reagan was sworn in as president that the remainder of the hostages were released. |
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