History of Intelligence in the United States 37
rioting and demonstrations had overwhelmed even the brutal SAVAK (secret
police) and military. As a result, the Shah abdicated the throne and le Iran
in early 1979. He was eventually replaced by a religious leader, the Ayatollah
Ruhollah Mousavi Khomeini, who shared the Iranian peoples’ enmity for
both the Shah and the United States.
Second, on November 4, 1979, Iranian students stormed the U.S. Embassy
in Teheran, taking 53 Americans hostage. e Iran Hostage Crisis, as it came
to be known, lasted 444 days and became an overriding feature of the Carter
presidency. At one point, the military attempted a covert rescue operation,
Operation Eagle Claw. Although the rescue was unsuccessful, opera