A Provocative Question: Did Jimmy Carter Help Bring About Iran's Islamic Revolution?

According to the declassified 1980 CIA intelligence assessment "Islam in Iran," along with declassified U.S. diplomatic records, in the months leading up to Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini—then living in exile in France—secretly communicated with President Jimmy Carter's administration.

In those messages, Khomeini reportedly assured Washington that he was not hostile toward the United States. He also sought to calm American concerns by saying that even if Iran nationalized its oil industry, it would continue selling oil to the United States. The documents further suggest that the Carter administration conveyed that the Iranian military, which remained under significant U.S. influence, would refrain from launching a military coup and would ultimately accept Khomeini's return.

Taken together, these documents have led some observers to argue that the Carter administration indirectly helped pave the way for Khomeini's return to Iran.

The consequences proved disastrous for the United States. Just months after the revolution, the Iranian hostage crisis erupted—one of the greatest foreign policy failures in modern American history. From November 1979 to January 1981, 52 American diplomats and citizens were held hostage in Tehran for 444 days.

The Carter administration is often remembered as a champion of human rights. Yet a closer examination of its foreign policy presents a far more complicated record.

Beyond Iran, Carter's administration provided support to the Afghan Mujahideen as part of its effort to counter Soviet influence, remained largely silent during the Khmer Rouge atrocities under Pol Pot in Cambodia, backed China's invasion of Vietnam, and maintained support for South Korean strongman Chun Doo-hwan despite his authoritarian rule. After leaving office, Carter also visited North Korea three times—in 1994, 2010, and 2011.

On Israel, Carter was often accused of being far more critical of the Jewish state than of its enemies. After leaving the White House, he met with Hamas leaders on multiple occasions. His 2006 book, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid, sparked widespread controversy by comparing Israeli policies to apartheid.

To many Americans, Jimmy Carter came to symbolize an era of weak American leadership and failed foreign policy. For his critics, his presidency remains a lasting example of what they see as the Democratic Party's double standards on justice and human rights.