Khomeini's Long Shadow: 30 Years After the Iran Hostage Crisis

On the Street
The embassy takeover was immensely popular in Iran and helped Khomeini solidify his hold on power. A month after the students stormed the embassy, a referendum calling for a theocratic constitution giving Khomeini supreme power was passed over the objections of secular politicians, who quarreled among themselves. Meanwhile, outside the embassy, crowds, like the one above, photographed in 1980, regularly gathered to cheer the hostage-takers, who periodically publicized the classified documents they found inside, highlighting American espionage efforts and clandestine support for the Shah.

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