Iran International
Iran’s Supreme Leader said on Monday the 1979 seizure of the US embassy in Tehran was a defining moment of national pride that marked the beginning of a long-standing confrontation between Iran and the United States based on conflicting interests rather than temporary disputes.
Addressing students and officials at a ceremony commemorating the anniversary, Khamenei said the event should be understood “from both a historical and an identity-based perspective.”
“From a historical viewpoint, without doubt, this day will be remembered as a day of pride and triumph for our nation,” he said. “It was a day when our young people stood up without fear to a power that intimidated politicians around the world, and they attacked its embassy with reasoning and purpose. It is a day of honor, a day of victory.”
Khamenei described the embassy takeover as revealing the “true identity of the United States” and said it showed that “the essence of America’s arrogance was to see itself as entitled to dictate to others.”
“The occupation of the embassy clarified the real nature of the United States and also defined the genuine identity of the Islamic movement,” he said. “Our nation already knew the arrogant nature of America, but this incident made it even clearer.”
He linked anti-US sentiment to Iran’s modern history, citing the CIA-backed 1953 coup that overthrew Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh. “The American plot on the 28th of Mordad was a major blow to Iran,” he said.
“It toppled the first national government that stood against colonial powers. The Iranian nation has known ever since what a dangerous enemy America can be.”
Rejecting the view that the embassy seizure triggered hostilities between the two countries, he said the conflict “did not begin on the 13th of Aban; it began on the 28th of Mordad.”
He added: “The students uncovered a serious conspiracy against the revolution. The embassy was not an ordinary diplomatic post -- it was a center of plotting and coordination.”
Khamenei said Iran’s differences with the United States were not circumstantial. “The dispute between the Islamic Republic and America is not tactical or temporary. It is a fundamental and structural contradiction,” he said.
“Whenever America can, it acts. It supports those who attack us, it imposes sanctions, it even shoots down a passenger plane. The nature of arrogance and the nature of independence cannot coexist.”
On prospects for future relations, Khamenei said that Iran’s strength was the key to security. “We cannot predict the distant future,” he said. “But today the solution to many problems is to become strong, scientifically, militarily, economically. If the country is strong, the enemy will not dare to attack.”
He added that any improvement in ties would require a fundamental shift in US policy. “America sometimes says it wants cooperation with Iran,” he said.
“Cooperation with Iran is incompatible with supporting the Zionist regime. If one day America abandons that regime, removes its military bases from the region and stops interference, then issues could be reviewed -- but that time is not now.”
Growing debate over a legacy
While Khamenei defended the embassy seizure as a historic victory, his comments contrasted with those of several political figures who in recent years have described the event as a strategic mistake that complicated Iran’s international position.
Former parliament deputy speaker Ali Motahari said earlier this week that the takeover was “a hasty act influenced by leftist groups” that damaged Iran’s global image and “in the end worked in America’s favor.” He argued that while a short occupation could have been justifiable, prolonging it for 444 days was “unnecessary and damaging.”
Former speaker of parliament Ali Akbar Nategh-Nouri made similar remarks in past years, saying that “in the early years of the revolution there was inexperience and immaturity,” and that the embassy seizure was “a major mistake” that created long-term challenges for Iran’s foreign relations.
“Many of the difficulties we later faced began at that point,” he said, adding that reciprocal measures by Washington, including the freezing of Iranian assets, stemmed from the initial occupation.
At the same time, hardline media and conservative figures have defended the 1979 action, arguing that the embassy was then “a den of espionage” and that concerns about a repeat of the 1953 US-backed coup justified the students’ move.
Accounts from some of the former student organizers have also shed light on internal disagreements at the time.
Former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who represented the University of Science and Technology in student councils in 1979, was among those said to have opposed the embassy seizure -- not on diplomatic grounds, but because he believed occupying the Soviet embassy would have been more significant.
Former hostage-taker Abbas Abdi has confirmed that Ahmadinejad and a small group of others objected to the plan on those grounds.
During an interview in 2024, Ahmadinejad said, "For how much longer do we desire to remain in conflict with the US? Following the revolution, there was potential to resolve matters with the US, but certain individuals occupied the embassy, complicating matters."
In later years, figures such as Abdi and other former participants in the embassy takeover said the event should be viewed in its historical context, arguing that while it was driven by revolutionary fervor and fear of renewed foreign interference, its long-term political consequences were complex.
Analysts say such comments reflect a broader debate within Iran’s political class over the legacy of the embassy seizure and its impact on foreign policy. But Khamenei’s remarks reaffirmed his long-held view that resistance to US influence is central to Iran’s revolutionary identity.
“The United States cannot tolerate an independent Iran,” Khamenei said. “But this nation will never surrender. The path of dignity, independence and faith will continue.”
