ARGO

Story Summary

                                            Topographical Map of Iran, online courtesy NASA

You have no right to complain
because
you took our whole country
hostage in 1953.

Student to Bruce Laingen,
Head of U.S. Embassy in Tehran
November 4, 1979

November 4 is significant for Iranians.

• On that day, in 1964, Shah Reza Pahlavi (the country's leader) forced Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (the country's popular religious leader) to leave the country.

• On that day, in 1978, the Shah's security forces attacked a student gathering at the University of Tehran, killing many (including students as young as 13).

• On that day, in 1979, Iranian students attacked the U.S. Embassy in Tehran shortly after President Carter allowed the then-exiled Shah to receive medical treatment in New York City.         

And ... on that day, in 1979, six Americans escaped the Embassy by walking out and laying low.  They remained out-of-sight until they flew out of Tehran's main airport, in plain view of security forces, nearly three months later.

How was that possible?

Author: Carole D. Bos, J.D.

Key to Color-Coded Links

Original Release Date:  October, 2012
Updated Daily, for the First Month