I was a college student at the time of the American Embassy Iranian hostage crisis. For those too young to remember, Iranian “students” stormed the American embassy in Tehran in November, 1979, and held 50 American diplomats until January, 1981 – for a total of 444 days. I recall that one of my history professors at Tulane, Ken Harl, made a very interesting observation that the most senior of diplomats in President Carter’s administration had a decidedly America-centric approach to diplomacy and dealings with Iran, or with any other country for that matter.
Iran was quickly branded a “rogue” state because of their disregard for accepted international law that provides for the sanctity of embassy property. I suspect that any reasonable person who values international diplomacy would agree that a host country should offer absolute protection to embassy or consular property, and should offer safe passage to embassy personnel in the event that diplomatic relations become fractured.
Over 25 years have passed and I think it is fair to say that current Iranian leadership would permit a similar intrusion into American diplomatic property. Why is there so much hatred of the United States among the religious and govermental leadership in Iran? It does not appear that the general population harbors such hatred of everything American or everything western.
I think that the answer can be found in both the words and tone of the statements issued by the leaders of both nations.
President Bush, who I believe to be sincere in his desire to use his office to protect American citizens, has incorporated the notion of Manifest Destiny into his foreign policy. This notion suggests that other nations are somehow less developed than the United States and that with our help, they will choose democracy, capitalism and representative government.
The President’s words in his speeches about the U.S. military’s mission to bring democracy to Iraq must ring hollow in Tehran, especially in light of America’s unwavering support of the Shah and his brutal Savak secret service. Israel’s Mossad, by the way, was a partner with the CIA in creating and developing the Savak. I suspect that Israel has no illusions about why it is hated by Iran’s current leaders.
No doubt the Iranian religious leaders and opponents of the Shah have much longer memories than we do in the United States, where attitudes and policies can change in as little as the time it takes for the presidency to change hands.