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The left did try to help Iranian students, once, right down to the point of helping to organize demonstrations on U.S. campuses in which Iranian students marched in circles holding signs with paper bags over their heads, so they would not be recognized by the hated Shah's secret police. The Shah was finally deposed and a new Iranian regime, more bloodthirsty than the Shah's rose to take it's place. Many liberals spent much political capital opposing the Shah as an example of the U.S. propping up dictators around the world. When the student demonstrators stormed the U.S. embassy in Tehran, some even went so far as to say "See- this is what you get for supporting dictators." After it became apparent that the Ayathollah was no better than the Shah, liberals just sort of lost interest in Iran. After all, here was a brutal totalitarian government that they could no longer blame on the U.S. and could even be somewhat culpable for themselves. The conservatives being somewhat timid about challenging the Left, perhaps afraid of being labeled as "opportunists" (liberals used "name calling" tactics very successfully during the Vietnam-Civil Rights era) , missed a golden opportunity with the Lefts glaring miscalculation of Iranian politics. Since the release of the hostages, Iran has been left to simmer seemingly unnoticed by the agendas of either right or left.
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