Since the United States launched a joint military campaign with Israel on Iran in February, many commentators and historians have revisted a chapter of modern history: the 1979 Iran hostage crisis.On 4 November, a student demonstration outside the US embassy in Tehran erupted into an all-out assault on the compound, and 66 Americans were taken hostage. It was the culmination of decades of tension, beginning with the US and Britain’s role in installing the Shah of Iran to safeguard energy interests, and ending with a popular uprising that toppled his oppressive regime and drove him into exile.As many recalled this...