The next opportunity to seize the American embassy was initially planned in September 1979 by
Ebrahim Asgharzadeh, a student at that time. He consulted with the heads of the Islamic associations of Tehran's main universities, including the
University of Tehran,
Sharif University of Technology,
Amirkabir University of Technology (Polytechnic of Tehran) and
Iran University of Science and Technology. Their group was named
Muslim Student Followers of the Imam's Line.
Asgharzadeh later said there were five students at the first meeting, two of whom wanted to target the Soviet embassy because the USSR was "a Marxist and anti-God regime."