This Day In 1970's History: Saturday November 24, 1979
- Ayatollah Khomeini's attack against the United States continued. He accused President Carter of "ignoring all human international values," and charged that the United States and Israel were involved in seizure of sacred Moslem mosques in the holy cities of Mecca and Medina. He called on Moslems to "rise up and defend Islam." [New York Times]
- The administration is irritated by rumors that American military moves are imminent or under way to rescue the 49 hostages in Teheran. A formal protest was made to Ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin of the Soviet Union about a report by Tass, the Soviet press agency, that American "commandos" had been sent to Saudi Arabia in preparation for action in Iran. The State Department said the report was "untrue and completely inaccurate." [New York Times]
- Higher oil prices were threatened by Saudi Arabian leaders, who are said to be angry over an alleged failure by United States companies to pass lower Saudi oil prices along to American consumers. [New York Times]
- In a major assault, Saudi government troops seized the Grand Mosque in Mecca and apparently ended its occupation by religious radicals who seized it five days ago, according to diplomatic sources. Causalities were believed to be heavy. Witnesses reported that parts of the mosque were in flames. Hours earlier, King Khalid received authorization from 32 Moslem leaders to use force to subdue the gunmen. [New York Times]
- A Pakistani official expressed regret on behalf of his government over the attack on the American Embassy in Islamabad last Wednesday. Gen. Mujib ur-Rahman, Secretary of Information in the Military Secretariat, said that his government had accepted responsibility for rebuilding the embassy complex and that the work would be done at "maximum speed." [New York Times]
|
