Shocking eyewitness account of '79 Iranian revolution and hostage-taking of 52 Americans
Feature Picture: The Shah and his family at the Niavaran Palace yard in Iran in the 1970s.
By Cyrus Zal, WND News Center
Editor's note: Iran – the world's No. 1 state sponsor of terrorist groups, from Hamas and Hezbollah to other organizations throughout the Mideast – has rarely been under greater scrutiny than right now. Because of this, WorldNetDaily is sharing with readers the following eyewitness account of the catastrophic 1979 Iranian Revolution that ushered in the 45-year terror reign of Iran's radical Shiite mullahs.
California attorney Cyrus Zal was living in Iran at the time of the revolution and this account is excerpted from his new book, "Twice Dead, Once Saved." Zal describes his autobiographical life story as "a testament to God's transformation" of him "from certain death to life, from chaos to redemption," detailing his journey through "crime, addiction, and mental breakdown" until, in his words, he finally "meets and accepts the Lord Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior."
One note: Zal uses the unusual literary device of telling his own life story in the third person, referring to himself as "he" and "him" throughout. This is because, as he explained to WND, he is not the same person he was earlier in life. Looking back, however, Zal has managed to piece together a powerful and disturbingly revealing assessment of the revolution – and why and how it happened.
Copyright © 2025 Cyrus Zal
[Cyrus Zal] had arrived in Iran from Dubai in March of 1978 on the same day that one of the first mass demonstrations had taken place against the Shah in the city of Tabriz in northern Iran. The demonstrations and protests had started a couple of months earlier in January of 1978 in the city of Qom, the religious center of the Shi'a branch of Islam in Iran.
It was obvious to everyone that the Americans who were advising the Shah on what he should do, from the time that the demonstrations first started until the bitter end of the Revolution, had given the Shah terrible, useless and very harmful and counter-productive advice. The advice and counsel given to the Shah by the Americans was so bad and counter-productive that he ended up being driven out of his own country, and it was President Jimmy Carter and the Americans who pushed him out.
It should be noted that the Shah's chief advisors were Americans, and it was these American advisors who gave the final bad advice for the Shah to flee Iran on January 16, 1979, paving the way for Ayatollah Khomeini to leave France and to come to Iran on February 1, 1979, to take over the leadership of the country:
In fact, it was individuals in the American foreign policy establishment, led by Henry Kissinger, who had wanted the Shah deposed beginning several years before the Revolution, and with the cooperation of President Jimmy Carter, it was really President Carter and the American foreign policy establishment who deposed the Shah and forced him to leave Iran, a betrayal of the Shah that has had tragic and terrible consequences ever since for Iran, for America and for the entire world.
In betraying the Shah, President Carter (God rest his soul) traded a true friend of America for a terrorist regime that proudly and arrogantly shouts out "Death to America!" and a regime that to this day still refers to America as "the Great Satan" and to Israel as "the Little Satan." Before his death, President Carter never publicly took responsibility or accepted blame for betraying a true friend like the Shah and trading him for an insane and bloodthirsty enemy like Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (the supreme leader and first dictator of the Islamic government).
By President Carter's intentional act of losing Iran, and thus losing stability in the Middle East and elsewhere, he was responsible for unleashing the terrorist Islamic Regime on the world, with terrible consequences still occurring to this very day.
Cyrus was always an observer right in the middle of the demonstrations against America after Khomeini came to power, and he watched as the demonstrators performed on cue for the news crews who videotaped the events. Without the presence of news cameras to videotape the crowd, there was a carnival and happy atmosphere among the people pretending to be demonstrators, as they were having a big outdoor picnic and celebration, complete with food and snacks. But as soon as the news cameras would show up, these people would rush to the news cameras, affect an angry demeanor and, rhythmically beating their arms into the air to emphasize their words, they would begin shouting in Persian over and over "Death to America! Death to America!" These were ordinary people putting on a fake show for the fake news cameras and the fake news media of the day.
Anyone watching these news casts in America and around the world would undoubtedly think this was an angry mob ready to go to war against America, but they would be completely wrong. In reality, these "demonstrators" were "performers" who put on a very convincing show for the news cameras. As soon as the news cameras were gone, the people would revert to the happy and carnival atmosphere they had before the cameras showed up, and would begin enjoying the outdoor picnic again, until the next news camera crew showed up. Of course, the news reporters who accompanied the news cameras knew it was all an act and pure fake news, but why ruin a good story with actual facts? "Fake news" seemed to be the hallmark of the so-called "news media" covering Iran before, during and after the Revolution.
The most interesting conclusion reached by him about the aftermath of the Revolution was the real reason why Khomeini authorized the storming of the U.S. Embassy by "militants" and the subsequent taking of the American hostages who worked at the Embassy. To his knowledge, no other historians or analysts have reached the same conclusion because they were not eyewitnesses, and they did not have feet on the ground in Tehran like he did.
Here is the real reason for Khomeini's taking of the American Embassy and holding of the hostages:
While always referring to America as "the Great Satan," and with having people in the streets pretending to enthusiastically yell "Death to America!" for the fake news media and cameras, Khomeini and the entire Islamic government were chagrined, angry and embarrassed to see the many thousands and thousands of people who would line up day after day after day at the American Embassy in Tehran to try to obtain visas to go to America. (Many of these people waiting in line for visas to America were undoubtedly some of the very same people who were yelling "Death to America!" in the streets for the benefit of the fake news cameras.)
It was a great embarrassment and a harsh judgment on the Islamic regime, and a great embarrassment for Khomeini personally, that so many thousands of people were visibly trying to flee from Iran to live in America, the country officially declared by Khomeini to be the "Great Satan" and the Islamic regime's number one arch enemy. The people lining up every day in the thousands to go to America represented a big, intentional poke in the eye to Khomeini and the Islamic Regime. It was a highly visible, stark and public rejection of Khomeini and his Islamic Regime occurring day after day at the American Embassy, and a severe counteraction by Khomeini became necessary to demolish this peaceful, quiet, but very damaging and subversive, "counter-revolution" of people openly thumbing their nose at Khomeini and his Islamic Regime by going to America.
As of November 4, 1979, the day that the Embassy was stormed by militants and the hostages were taken, Cyrus had been employed for several months by Iran Air, the national airline of Iran, as an instructor to teach English to the cadet pilots who would one day be piloting aircraft for Iran Air. English is the universal language of air controllers in all international flights, and all pilots of all countries had to be proficient in English before they could be licensed as commercial pilots.
The Iran Air building where he taught English was only about a block and a half away from the American Embassy. He would always walk by the Embassy in the early morning when he reported to work, and again walk by it when he got off work in the afternoon to catch a taxi to his home in the northern part of Tehran. He would see the unending long lines of Iranians, with people standing 8 or 9 abreast on the broad sidewalks outside the high walls of the huge Embassy complex, patiently waiting to gain entry to the Visa Section via an outdoor entrance door which was in the back corner of the Embassy. These people were all trying to get visas to travel to America, and some of them even camped overnight to save their place in line in their desperation to get to America.
The Embassy occupied a huge square area of land, with each of its four sides consisting of several big city blocks, and the line of people trying to get visas to America were all lined up on one side of the Embassy, and the line with 8 or 9 people abreast continued for many, many blocks down the street away from the Embassy. People near the front of the line looked like they had camped out the night before to save their place in line. The line was seemingly without end, as he could never see the end of the line when he arrived in the morning to report to work at Iran Air. When he got off from work in the late afternoon, the line had not seemed to have shrunk at all, as he could still not see the end of the line, which went on for many blocks far away from the Embassy. But he did notice that the line was definitely moving forward, because the people in line he saw in the afternoon were always different folks from the people who were in line in the morning when he arrived for work.
These multitudes of people seemed to be openly mocking Khomeini and his mullahs day after day after day by voting with their feet – in effect, by conveying a very unfavorable and unmistakable visual for everyone to see, and giving the unspoken and unmistakable message that going to America (the supposed Great Satan!) was so much more preferable to living in Iran under the Islamic rule of the mullahs! That people were willing to go to such very great trouble, even camping out overnight in the streets, to give them a small chance to go to America, was a very unfavorable and damning judgment by the people of Khomeini and his Islamic Regime. Khomeini, a very prideful man, simply could not allow it to continue.
About nine months after the Revolution, and with no end in sight of people lining up to get visas for America, the situation finally became intolerable for Khomeini and the mullahs, as the optics were just terrible for Khomeini personally – thousands and thousands of Iranians lining up every day trying to flee from Iran to go to the country of the supposed enemy! No other foreign embassy in Tehran came close to generating the multitudes of people and the long lines found at the American Embassy – in fact, no other embassy in Tehran generated any crowds, or any lines at all, for Iranians wanting to obtain visas to go to that country.
Of course, none of this was ever reported by the fake Western "news" media "reporting" from Iran – for some reason, the news media had all become the public relations arm of Khomeini and his Islamic Regime, and they chose not to report any news as being seen unfavorable to the Regime. Since the fake news media had all unanimously promoted Khomeini as the "savior" of Iran before he came to Iran, they were all deeply invested in making sure Khomeini would continue to enjoy the illusion of success after he became the Supreme Leader of the country.
Khomeini and the mullahs were forced to do something drastic to end this embarrassing and intolerable situation representing a public slap in their faces administered by many thousands of ordinary Iranians publicly showing their preference for America over the Islamic Republic of Iran. Nothing significant or important was ever done at that time without Khomeini's specific approval and authorization, and Khomeini decided that it was finally time to do something about the strong rebuke and great embarrassment the Iranian people were inflicting on him by their very public, but quiet and peaceful, rejection of the Islamic Regime at the American Embassy.
Khomeini found the logical pretext for the attack on the Embassy when the deposed Shah was admitted into the United States as a humanitarian gesture for treatment of his advanced and fatal cancer. Khomeini demanded that the Shah be sent back immediately to Iran to stand trial for his supposed "atrocities," a demand Khomeini knew would never be granted by the U.S. government. (Although it was rumored that President Carter, after the taking of the American hostages and their captivity for many months, had seriously considered accepting Khomeini's proposal to trade the Shah for the Embassy hostages.)
Shortly after the U.S. rejected Khomeini's demand for the return of the Shah to Iran to stand trial, Khomeini had his perfect pretext to invade and take the Embassy. The invasion took place at his command. Thus, Khomeini was able to shrewdly hide and disguise his real reason for taking the Embassy – to get rid of the long, embarrassing lines of thousands and thousands of Iranians trying to escape Iran by seeking visas, or even worse, asylum, in hated America.
With the Embassy taken over by the Iranian "militants" (they were probably Iranian military, including special forces), there were no more long lines of Iranians outside the Embassy every day publicly thumbing their noses at Khomeini and poking him and the mullahs in the eye by showing everyone their preference to go to America instead of staying in Iran under Islamic rule. In short, there were no more harmful and embarrassing optics every day of thousands and thousands of Iranians openly rejecting Khomeini and his Islamic Republic as a place where they wanted to live. Totalitarian regimes always seek to keep their people captive in their own country by making it difficult, dangerous or impossible to leave, and now Iranians had to travel to other countries in order to obtain a visa to travel to America, something that was out of reach for many Iranians.
Of course, the Fake Western News Media to this day has never acknowledged or provided any coverage at all to these many, many thousands of Iranians lined up day after day and month after month at the Embassy who were trying to get visas to go to America. Not surprisingly, the Fake News Media never bothered to interview any of those many thousands and thousands of people in the lines, who undoubtedly had interesting and newsworthy stories to tell, and so people in the West have never been made aware of this important and newsworthy development which had gone on for many months at the American Embassy after the Revolution, from February to November of 1979.
These lines at the Embassy ran counter to the false narrative that the Fake News Media was promoting at that time – namely, that the Revolution was a huge success and a good thing for Iran and that it had the universal support of all Iranians – and so there were no "news" reports about these many thousands of Iranians who were lined desperately trying to flee the Islamic Regime. As a news person, you had to be willfully blind not to see the importance and newsworthiness of the thousands of people lined up every day in hopes of obtaining a visa for America, but the Fake News Media of that day shamelessly lived up to its name and never reported a word of any of this amazing story.
As a result of this fake news, historians and commentators to this day falsely claim that the refusal of America to return the Shah to Iran for trial was the triggering event for the invasion of the Embassy, but that is simply false and inaccurate. That was merely the pretext Khomeini used to disguise the real reason why the Embassy had to be taken – to get rid of the embarrassing long lines of Iranians eager to flee from the Islamic rule in Iran to enjoy true freedom in America.
On that fateful day of November 4, 1979, when the American Embassy was stormed by militants and taken, Cyrus got off work from Iran Air as usual in the mid-afternoon. As was his custom, he walked by the American Embassy on his way to catch a taxi home to see if anything of interest was happening there. As he got near the Embassy, he could hear some kind of commotion with loud chanting and yelling. When he arrived at the front of the Embassy, he saw that there were about one hundred or more very young school children lined up in the middle of the street, facing the main entrance of the Embassy. The Embassy had a big wall surrounding it and the children were facing the wall, which had a large and very high gate which could be opened to allow vehicles to enter the Embassy. The front gate was firmly closed and locked now.
The school children, all boys who looked to be no more than five or six years old, were raising their arms and enthusiastically yelling (in Persian) "Death to America!" The children were being led in their chants by numerous mullahs, who were prompting the children so that the yelling could be done in unison. Many of the children were even smiling and laughing as they yelled "Death to America!" The children looked like they were enjoying themselves immensely, as they got a lot of attention from the many bystanders watching the event.
He watched the scene in amusement for about half an hour, wondering if the situation would "escalate" into something more interesting for him to see. But the children just kept yelling the same death chant over and over, and other than the many spectators, he did not notice any adults who were part of the demonstration. There were the mullahs who were in charge of the children, but they were responsible for watching over the children as the kids were much too young to be left alone without supervision. He decided it was not worth his time to stay and watch, because he could not see or anticipate any further developments worth watching. So he left.
But was he ever wrong thinking that there would not be any further developments! To his everlasting regret at what he had missed, he found out later that same day that he had missed one of the most historic and important events of the entire Revolution and its aftermath – the storming of the Embassy and the taking of American hostages by the professional and elite soldiers of the Iranian military, disguised and wrongfully identified by the Western media as "students" or "militant students." The hostages who were taken were mostly Embassy staff, diplomats, attachés and other American citizens, including the Marines assigned to protect the Embassy.
Apparently, the attackers (who self-identified as "students" to perpetrate the ruse that mere students had captured the Embassy) had used the children in the street as a diversion and a decoy, to lull the Embassy security forces (consisting of U.S. Marines) into a false sense of security that nothing threatening or eventful was going to happen that day. The children were also used as a potential shield to protect the attackers, if necessary. The attackers, like professional soldiers, had suddenly come up and had stormed and climbed the Embassy wall and gate in overwhelming numbers, and even without defenseless small children in the street, it is doubtful that the Marines were ever going to fire their weapons in defense of the Embassy at "civilians."
It was obvious that mere "students" could never have arranged for the diversion provided by the school kids and the accompanying mullahs – the attack was clearly a well-planned professional operation carried out by professionals on behalf of Khomeini and his regime. None of the news stories ever mentioned the scores of small children who were chanting in the street just prior to the attack on the Embassy. Even today, if you Google "Were there children at the scene on November 4, 1979 when the U.S. embassy was taken in Iran," you will find no results with respect to the scores of children facing the Embassy and chanting "Death to America" which he had witnessed himself with his own eyes.
The Embassy was quickly overrun and taken over by the attackers, who were supposedly a group of students belonging to an organization called the "Muslim Student Followers of the Imam's Line," with the "Imam" being Imam Khomeini himself. He thought it was more likely that these "students" were actually highly trained commandos and special forces from Iran's military branches.
The hostages were held for exactly 444 days, from November 4, 1979 until the day and the very hour when Ronald Reagan was inaugurated as the president of the United States on January 20, 1981. President Reagan was a strong president as compared to the weak and pitiful Jimmy Carter, and Khomeini and the mullahs realized that if they did not immediately free the hostages, President Reagan was likely to take aggressive action against Iran and the mullahs. The hostages were released a few minutes after Reagan was sworn in as president.
NOTE: Cyrus Zal's new book, "Twice Dead, Once Saved," is available here.
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