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3. Iran: a Regime Trapped in Its Past

On November 4, 1979, Islamist students stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, taking 52 American diplomats hostage for 444 days.

46 years later, Iran’s regime continues to commemorate this defining episode of the Islamic Republic, portraying it as a symbol of “resistance” against the West. 

Since then, the Islamic Republic has lived in perpetual commemoration, the same chants, the same faces, the same frozen narrative.