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Khomeini on the Iran Hostage Crisis: 60 Minutes Interview

In mid-November 1979, just after the US embassy takeover, Mike Wallace spoke with Ayatollah Khomeini on 60 Minutes about the hostage seizure, Iran's revolution and relations with the United States.

Mar 28th 2026 · Iran

Insights

  • Mike Wallace interviewed Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini on 60 Minutes about two weeks after the US embassy seizure on November 4, 1979.
  • Khomeini granted the interview and described the embassy takeover as an action by revolutionary students opposing US interference in Iran.
  • He expressed support for the students and did not call for the immediate release of the hostages.
  • Fifty two Americans were held in Tehran for 444 days, a crisis that severed US-Iran diplomatic ties.
  • The broadcast became a primary contemporaneous record of the Islamic Republic's stance toward the United States.

Sources