How important was the Iran hostage crisis to Carters prestige?
ZB: I think it was devastating. I think the Iran hostage crisis was one of the two central regions for Carter’s political defeat in 1980, the other reason being domestic inflation. Iran and inflation – both were politically devastating. INT: The downfall of the Shah and the Iranian hostage crisis – how much did they influence Americans’ reaction to Soviet policy in Afghanistan? ZB: I think the crisis in Iran heightened our sense of vulnerability in so far as that part of the world is concerned. After all, Iran was one of the two pillars on which both stability and our political preeminence in the Persian Gulf rested. Once the Iranian pillar had collapsed, we were faced with the possibility that one way or another, before too long, we may have either a hostile Iran on the northern shore of the Persian Gulf facing us, or we might even have the Soviets there; and that possibility arose very sharply when the Soviets marched into Afghanistan. If they succeed in occupying it, Iran would be e
