30 Years After Hostage Crisis: Iranian Revolutionaries, and Their Kids, Switch Sides
Every Nov. 4, the Iranian regime buses tens of thousands of schoolchildren from around the country to Tehran to commemorate the assault on the U.S. Embassy in 1979, when 52 U.S. diplomats were taken hostage.
The embassy attack and the subsequent 444-day hostage crisis were called 'a second revolution' by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, because they led to the collapse of the moderate post-revolutionary government that was seeking to repair ties with the United States and the West.
Fast-forward 30 years. Many of the radical 'students' who held the U.S. diplomats hostage have turned against the regime. Some, such as Mohsen Mirdahmadi, have been thrown in jail, accused of conspiring to lead a 'velvet revolution' against the Islamic Republic system.
Even more troubling for the regime has been the widespread defection of young Iranians, the sons and daughters of yesterday's revolutionaries.
Take the case of