The minority of Iranians who took our citizens hostage in 1979 because we gave the murderous Shah of Iran sanctuary were students and the vanguard of their revolution. Hence, their name the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.

Not all the Iranian people approved of the hostage-taking.

AI Summary:

"The majority of Iranian people did not have a clear, unified public stance before or immediately after the storming of the US embassy in Tehran on 4 November 1979. The takeover was primarily carried out by radical Iranian students who supported the new Islamic regime and opposed the US, which they blamed for interfering in Iran's affairs, especially the 1953 CIA-backed coup against Prime Minister Mossadegh.

At the time, the hostage-taking was framed by the students and the revolutionary government as a patriotic act against US imperialism, and it had significant support among segments of the population who were aligned with or sympathetic to the revolution. However, it also generated fear, uncertainty, and disapproval among other Iranians who were concerned about the diplomatic and economic consequences.

Public opinion was not monolithic; many Iranians were aware of the embassy crisis as a dramatic and polarizing event, but detailed knowledge or broad approval varied widely. Some Iranians supported the students' actions as a symbol of reclaiming national sovereignty, while others were uneasy or opposed to the hostage-taking and its international fallout."