The Shah lost Iran not Jimmy Carter, aide says in eulogy

The ousted Shah and not the United States under Jimmy Carter was responsible for the the rise of the Islamic Republic, a senior aide delivering a eulogy at the late president's funeral said on Thursday.

"Jimmy Carter did not lose Iran, the Shah did," Stuart Eizenstat, Carter’s chief domestic policy adviser, told luminaries gathered at Washington DC's national cathedral.

"The hostage crisis was a major factor in denying him a second term, despite his support for the Shah, because he placed the safe return of the hostages above his own political fortunes."

President Joe Biden, President-elect Donald Trump and all other living former US presidents were in attendance.

Carter and Shah met twice during Carter's presidency, in Washington DC and Tehran, in November and December of 1977. In Tehran, Carter famously toasted the Shah, praising Iran as "an island of stability" in a turbulent region.

Two years later the Shah was forced to leave Iran as revolutionaries led by Ruhollah Khomeini gained control, storming the US embassy in Tehran and holding more than 50 Americans hostage.

The 444-day hostage crisis was an excruciating political liability for Carter, who was painted as weak by his Republican successor Ronald Reagan. A US military raid to free the captives failed, deepening Carter's humiliation.

It crystallized US domestic debates on how forceful US policy abroad should be and put Iran and Washington on track for nearly half century of mutual enmity.

"(Carter) took full responsibility for the failure of the hostage rescue mission and worked tirelessly even after his bitter re-election defeat to Ronald Reagan, securing their release on the last day of his presidency," Eizenstat added.

The US role in the 1979 events remains hotly contested by Iranian critics of the country's Islamic rulers, some of whom say Mohammed Reza Pahlavi was let down by Washington and long for a renewed monarchy under his US-based son, Reza.

Other Iranian dissidents say the late Shah's authoritarianism and mismanagement of the country deprived key ally Washington of an effective partner.