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. [Read more…]