Content note: State-radio report of the 1979 US embassy seizure, repeating the occupiers' labels for the US and the ex-shah ('world domineering', 'spying Embassy', 'criminal'), and naming Israel and 'Zionism' as enemies. This object is shown as it was published. Why
FBIS Daily Report: Tehran Domestic Service on the occupation of the U.S. Embassy (5 Nov 1979)
First page of the FBIS report on the seizure of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, carrying Tehran Domestic Service's broadcast of 4 November 1979. The state radio relays the occupying students' first statement, which calls the ex-shah 'the criminal and deposed shah', the United States 'world domineering' and its embassy 'the spying Embassy', and blames the United States for 'conspiracies' and 'poisonous propaganda' inside Iran. The broadcast reaches Iranian listeners the same morning, attributing the action to students acting on the Imam's message.
- Date
- November 5, 1979
- Period
- Cold War
- Made by
- Tehran Domestic Service (Iranian state radio), as translated by the U.S. Foreign Broadcast Information Service
- Country
- Iran
- Medium
- Broadcast
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Islamic Republic of Iran
- Leader
- Ruhollah Khomeini
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Event
- Iran Hostage Crisis
- Techniques
- Name-callingScapegoating
- Leader
- Mojtaba Khamenei
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- Internet Archive (US Government Documents, FBIS microfiche collection), retrieved October 2, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (U.S. government work)
FBIS (U.S. federal agency) Daily Report, 5 November 1979; Internet Archive item micro_IA1176908_0478, US Government Documents collection; item page states no copyright or restriction. Text is FBIS's translation.
Text on the object
V. 5 Nov 79 I R A N R 1 STUDENTS ENTER, OCCUPY AMERICAN EMBASSY Students Occupy U.S. Embassy LD041040 Tehran Domestic Service in Persian 0930 GMT 4 Nov 79 LD [Text] According to the central news bureau, this morning a group of Muslim students, who are followers of the imam, after taking part in a march entered the American Embassy and, as a protest against the behavior of the U.S. Government, staged a sit-in there. This group demanded that the United States extradite the deposed shah so that he can be tried in the Islamic Revolution Court of Iran and punished accordingly. This group also protested the sheltering of the deposed shah and using him to assist counterrevolutionary refugees actively working against the Islamic revolution of Iran, creating and hatching conspiracies in different parts of the country and spreading poisoned and monopolistic [as heard] propaganda against Iran. According to the central news bureau, the Muslim students issued their first statement after occupying the American Embassy: In the name of God, the compassionate, the merciful. (?We) are students--university students and students of theology--who are extending our attacks with full force against America and Israel to force America to extradite the criminal and deposed shah, according to the imam's message of 4 November. [...] We, the Muslim students [words indistinct] with the imam, against the world domineering United States and as a protest against the conspiracies of imperialism and Zionism have occupied the spying Embassy of the United States in Tehran in order to make the world hear our protests. We protest the United States giving shelter and support to the criminal who is the murderer of tens of thousands of men and women lying in their blood [words indistinct]; we protest against U.S. efforts to create a poisonous propaganda campaign in this country and its assistance to the refugee counterrevolutionary elements who plot against the Islamic revolution of Iran; we protest against U.S. designs to hatch cowardly conspiracies in different parts of our country and [words indistinct] in the executive organizations of the country; [...] [Signed] Muslim students, followers of the imam.
Already an English translation by FBIS from the Persian broadcast. No further translation made.
Read from the committed page image. The middle paragraphs of the statement (about the revolution and the 'two superpowers', and the list of U.S. actions in the region) are on the page but are elided here with [...] for length; nothing was reworded. Bracketed items such as [as heard], (?We) and [words indistinct] are FBIS's own marks. The Persian original is not reproduced here.
