Ahmad Alamolhoda, the firebrand Friday imam of Mashhad, marked the anniversary of Iran’s 1979 hostage crisis by boasting that Iran pioneered global anti-American sentiment, referencing the 444-day captivity of American hostages.

“We have exported the anti-Americanism movement so effectively that, beyond influencing Islamic societies, the resistance to imperialism and animosity toward the United States have evolved into global phenomena, even resonating within America itself,” Alamolhoda, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s representative in the city of Mashhad, said during his Friday sermon.

Iranian officials have often taken pride and praised anti-Israel and anti-US protest in Western countries since the Hamas invasion of Israel in October 2023. Over the past four decades, the Islamic government has spent enormous resources to create and support groups throughout the Middle East to fight against Israel and Western influence.

The Iran hostage crisis, unfolding from 1979 to 1981, saw militants seize 66 American citizens at the US embassy in Tehran, holding 52 of them captive for 444 days. Taking place in the turbulent wake of Iran’s Islamic Revolution and the collapse of the Pahlavi monarchy, the crisis left a lasting scar on US-Iranian relations, profoundly straining diplomatic ties for years to follow.

Highlighting the initial criticism of the act, even from supporters of the Islamic Revolution within Iran, Alamolhoda said, “At the time, many circles viewed this move as a profound error, claiming that we had invited misfortune upon ourselves.”

He continued, “Yet today, we are acknowledged as a formidable regional power, having not only consolidated our internal strength but also cultivated a vast network of resistance across Islamic societies.”

One of the officials criticizing the action is the controversial former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. In a June interview, he questioned, “For how much longer do we desire to remain in conflict with the US?” He lamented, “Following the revolution, there was potential to resolve matters with the US, but certain individuals occupied the embassy, complicating matters.”

Also, former lawmaker and outspoken politician Ali Motahari said in 2021 that it was “an unnecessary move instigated with the provocations of leftist groups to serve the interests of the Embassy of the Soviet Union and the Tudeh Communist Party.”