Iran hostage crisis WI

I read something interesting today (can't find it again, will look for it).
Apparently in the Iranian revolution when the protesters took over the US embassy that wasn't the first choice of all of them; many of the leaders including the current supreme leader wanted instead to target the Soviet embassy....

So what if they had done that?
Things could get very messy....
 
I read something interesting today (can't find it again, will look for it).
Apparently in the Iranian revolution when the protesters took over the US embassy that wasn't the first choice of all of them; many of the leaders including the current supreme leader wanted instead to target the Soviet embassy....

So what if they had done that?
Things could get very messy....

That ould have been a bad move on their part. The Soviets don't fool around when their own get taken hostage, as some terrorists in Beruit found out when they tried it and they KGB started taking body parts.
 
That ould have been a bad move on their part. The Soviets don't fool around when their own get taken hostage, as some terrorists in Beruit found out when they tried it and they KGB started taking body parts.

Quite likely, but what are the Soviets actually going to do? There isn't much of a KGB presence in Iran pre-Khomeini, the Communist Party is aligned with the protesters and can't go it alone, and I can't quite see an outright invasion on the table. This copuld be quite embarrassing for the Kremlin (though not as embarrassing as for the Americans since they would not feel bound to actually negotiate a ransom, just look impotent as their citizens die).
 
Quite likely, but what are the Soviets actually going to do? There isn't much of a KGB presence in Iran pre-Khomeini, the Communist Party is aligned with the protesters and can't go it alone, and I can't quite see an outright invasion on the table. This copuld be quite embarrassing for the Kremlin (though not as embarrassing as for the Americans since they would not feel bound to actually negotiate a ransom, just look impotent as their citizens die).

any hostage rescue op would be easier and Soviets wouldn't exactly be concerned with how many Iranians (or hostages) die in the process
 

MacCaulay

Banned
Did I just find the OP for my deep dark secret wish: The Soviet Invasion of Iran in 1979?

They thought the Iranians were American puppets that were going to be part of a grand South Asian alliance along their southern flank. This wouldn't help matters any...
 
Did I just find the OP for my deep dark secret wish: The Soviet Invasion of Iran in 1979?

They thought the Iranians were American puppets that were going to be part of a grand South Asian alliance along their southern flank. This wouldn't help matters any...

There is a book (Sword Point?) where SU invades Iran in 1980s (IIRC no Afghanistan invasion), US counter-invades and it turns into your run-off-the-mill three sided war with lines stabilising somewhere half way through Iran.
 
The Soviets had forces already on the ground and thus good intel when they took Afganistan. However, it was a skillfully executed operation. Hence, it makes me wonder what they could have done if they really tried.
 
They can do land? :confused:

AFAIK they can, as long as nothing gets in the way and you don't mind what the land looks like afterwards. Worse performance than hovercraft on both counts, and no way of stopping without major damage. Though I doubt the distance between the Caspian shore and Tehran ist that negligible...
 
as I recall there was already a thread about this very same subject a few months ago. Most people came to the conclusion that we may see a joint US/Soviet curbstomp, also some people started throwing the idea around that the Soviets might just nuke Tehran, dunno how plausible this is though.
 
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