ABSTRACT
The influence of local fundamentalist Muslims and the fear of Iranian retaliation either by launching terrorist activities, harming Western hostages held in Lebanon and Iran, or restricting commerce. Attempts to force the Kuwaiti government to release convicted Iranian terrorist agents led to many attacks in 1984-86, including an assassination attempt against the country's ruler. According to the conservative calculations of the Department of State, the Iranian government was involved in forty-four terrorist operations in 1987, thirty- three in 1988. Hostages played a direct role in The Satanic Verses affair as well. The British and American governments initially tempered their responses to Khomeini's edict in the specific hope of keeping channels open to Tehran which was important mostly for the sake of rescuing the captives held in Lebanon. Iranians understood the European zeal for commercial gain, they despised it, and they hoped to exploit it.
