Many in Washington were so charmed by Mr. Zahedi that they fully believed his assurances that the shah was secure in his power. President Jimmy Carter was among those deceived. Mr. Carter visited Iran in late 1977 and praised the shah for creating “an island of stability” in a turbulent region. Barely a year later the shah’s regime collapsed, leading to one of the biggest disasters in American foreign policy, when students seized the U.S. Embassy in 1979 and held more than 50 Americans hostage for 444 days. The shah was forced into exile, and the crisis helped upend the Carter presidency.
