While Imam Khomeini’s ‘anti-imperialist’ rhetoric had a profound impact on the domestic balance of social forces, it was also a major influence on the international relations, foreign outlook and policies of the Islamic Republic. This largely concerned the stance of the Islamic Republic with respect to the superpowers – in particular the United States – the universalist tendency of the Revolution and the drive to export the Revolution internationally. The Islamic Republic adopted a policy of hostility towards the international status quo dominated by the superpowers. The critical turning point in the external relations of the post-revolutionary regime was indubitably the occupation of the US embassy and the taking of US hostages in November 1979. From this moment, in the context of a tide of popular anti-US sentiment, a situation of extreme tension prevailed between the Islamic Republic and the United States and its allies. Souring of relations with the West did not, however, spell an era of flowering amicable relations with the Soviet Union as Iranian leaders continued to be reproachful of ‘imperialism of the East’ and, more specifically, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. With the resignation of the provisional government following the storming of the embassy in November 1979, the foreign policy of the Islamic Republic took a more extreme anti-US turn. While the Bazargan government had emphasised the need to maintain friendly relations with all countries on the basis of the independence of the country and the principle of non-alignment, there were now calls, supported by many of the leftist organisations, for the complete cessation of relations with the United States. Imam Khomeini, meanwhile, pandered to these anti-imperialist and anti-US sentiments. He refused all overt attempts by the Carter administration to negotiate the issue of the hostages in this period and referred to the United States as the ‘Great Satan’ and the source of all conspiracies against the Islamic Republic. ‘Today there are underground treacheries in these embassies ... and the most important and main one is the one belonging to the Great Satan which is America.’
Anti-American Sentiments, Hostage Crisis and Emergence of Revolutionary Iran
