ost ground to the due to the attacks from the far right and left. As their base of support narrowed, their dependence on Khomeini intensified. During this time, Iran's relation with the US went downhill. It reached a stage of outright confrontation, when, on November 4,1979, 500 extremist students seized the US embassy in Tehran. They took hostage 66 citizens at the embassy and the foreign ministry ("The Iranian Revolution" 835). The takeover seemingly sanctioned by Khomeini, continued for the next 444 days, and American-Iranian relations sunk to an all-time low. This led to trade conflicts with the United States and its allies, causing economic problems. During the rising fever stage there is a presence of a dual government. During Bazergan's rule, it became difficult to administerjustice with a court system that had been particularly lenient to the royal will. To deal with these problems on a temporary basis. Khomeini set up a system of revolutionary committees presided over by a revolutionary council. Religious leaders clearly predominated in the revolutionary council- committee-courts system, which came to be almost a parallel government. In November, 1979, Bazergan resigned, and in his place Khomeini appointed Abol Hassan Bani Sadr. Bani Sadr was an idealist, a bookworm, and most personally ambitious of all the liberal revolutionaries. Like the other moderates, he was a representative of the professional middle class, who had little skill or patience to build political organizations. Bani Sadr's efforts were fruitless in dealing with the hostage releases. After being elected Iran's first president in January 1980, he and his followers, out of self defense and desperation, formed an alliance with the Mujahedin-e Khalq ("Iran" 897). He also attempted to work hard to establish close relations with the military leaders. He ineffectively tried to appeal to the Iranian people, who had little in common with a Paris t...
