Two past developments can help us understand the present. The first was when Ayatollah Khomeini, after the victory of the revolution, ordered the removal of the Israeli flag from its embassy in Tehran and that it be replaced with a Palestinian one. He changed the nature of his relations with the most challenging issue in the Middle East. The second was when the world watched as Americans became hostages in the embassy of their country in Tehran. The hostage crisis dragged on, irrevocably changing relations between Tehran and Washington. Iran has never made it a secret.