Iran: The Test of Wills

(3 of 11)

crowds around the U.S. embassy grew larger and uglier. On Friday a throng swarmed through the poplars and cypress trees that dot the once idyllic compound. Among them for the first time were soldiers and airmen. "Death to the Shah!" the demonstrators chanted. "Death to Carter!" The Ayatullah Yahya Nouri, one of the leaders of the revolution, gave a fiery speech outside the embassy gates calling for a "jihad [holy war] against the U.S." This might all be dismissed as rhetoric, but inside the compound remained the American hostages, haggard, some of them with their hands bound, totally vulnerable to the whims of their captors. One student gloated to TIME Correspondent Bruce van Voorst: "Our cup of hatred is filled to overflowing."

Ayatullah Khomeini was being no less emotional. "All Western governments are just thieves," he declared to his followers in the holy city of Qum, 80 miles from Tehran. "We should simply cut all ties to them. Nothing but evil comes from them." Then the Ayatullah mysteriously canceled all appointments for three weeks. He was reported to be sick.

Jimmy Carter was dismayed by the confusion. Just before his appearance at the National Cathedral, he had made his one major public address on the Iranian crisis, and he had sounded tough and assertive. "This is an act of terrorism totally outside the bounds of international law and diplomatic tradition," he declared to 900 delegates to the AFL-CIO convention. "This crisis calls for firmness and restraint. The U.S. will not yield to international terrorism or blackmail." The Tehran authorities were "fully responsible" for the safety of the hostages, he said, and would be "held accountable."

But at a meeting the next day with 39 Governors, whom he had summoned to Washington to urge cuts of 5% in their states' fuel consumption, Carter was asked whether the situation remained a total stalemate. "I'm afraid so," he said. He described the huge crowds outside the encircled embassy as "in a highly emotional state." And he told the Governors: "We're trying to protect the honor of our country and the lives of the hostages." He urged the Governors to "caution all Americans" to restrain themselves toward Iranians in the U.S. Said Carter: "It would be a serious mistake for us to deprive them of their rights or their citizenship or our friendship." At week's end, looking drawn and fatigued, the President retired to Camp David.

The crisis had understandably driven Carter into virtual seclusion. Having earlier canceled a state visit to Ottawa, he last week dropped a political foray to Pennsylvania and another to Florida. "Iran has blown everything else off the map," said one aide. "That's all anyone here is thinking about."

The Government's days began early, long before dawn. The sun rose at 6:47 over Washington last Monday, so the city was still pitch-dark when Carter picked up his Oval Office phone at 5:15 to talk to National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski about the impending oil cutoff. Carter was determined to prevent the Iranians from thinking they could use their oil as a bargaining weapon, and he also wanted to reassure Americans that Washington could and would take action, that there was a