ABSTRACT
The embassy takeover became a metaphor for US –Iranian relations. The US government, the great promoter of democracy, had crushed it in Iran. But, of course, that's not what US officials said publicly. While Iran-Contra has gone down in American history as a horrible scandal, it's rarely mentioned in Iran. The British navy established an illegal sea blockade of Iran's ports and stopped any other country from transporting the oil. Iranian Revolutionary Guards helped found the Lebanese group Hizbollah, for example. Iran helps arm Hizbollah, which has killed innocent Israeli civilians. Over the years the United States has accused Iran of being the most active state sponsor of terrorism in the world. The Iranians concluded that the shooting down of Iran Air flight 655 constituted a warning of all-out war. Some major Muslim clergy had initially supported Mossadegh and opposed the British. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) worked hard to break that alliance.
