On June 29, 2005, shortly after Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won the Iranian presidential election, several major news outlets publicized allegations that he gunned down several Americans in the 1979–1981 Iran Hostage Crisis. Ahmadinejad and his political supporters have denied these allegations. Even his political opponents in Iran have specifically denied the allegations. On June 30, 2005, US President George W. Bush declared that these charges were serious. The United States Department of Homeland Security initially found Ahmadinejad ineligible for a visa to enter the US, citing "reason to believe" that he was involved in the seizure. The US Department of State interviewed hostages about their experiences. A later CIA investigation determined "with relative certainty" that he was not involved in the takeover. Another U.S. official said of the report that there was "no evidence" that he was among the captors. Alleged participation in the planning and leadership of the embassy takeover Masoumeh Ebtekar, a spokeswoman for the hostage takers who was nicknamed "Sister Mary" by U.S. media during the crisis, said Ahmadinejad had actually been opposed to the takeover of the embassy. Ahmadinejad has also said that he did not support the embassy takeover until Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini endorsed it. The endorsement came late on November 4, 1979, the day the embassy was seized. Reportedly, Ahmadinejad argued that the protest ought to be directed at the Soviet embassy instead, and al-Jazeera reported that when OSU leaders planned the attack on the US embassy in 1979, Ahmadinejad actually proposed simultaneous action against the Soviet embassy. Abolhassan Banisadr, the exiled former President of Iran stated that Ahmadinejad's job on the hostage holding team was to act as direct liaison reporting to Ayatollah Khomeini the status of the hostages. Bani-Sadr also reported that the photograph identified as Ahmadinejad was another agitator who was later imprisoned by Rafsanjani and "committed suicide" while in prison. Rejection by the CIA CNN has reported from multiple official sources the result of a CIA investigation into whether Ahmedinejad was involved in the hostage taking: The CNN report continues stating that "CIA analysis of a photograph of one of the hostage-takers determined that the man was not Ahmadinejad." Identification by some former hostages Several former hostages allege that during the 1979 Iran hostage crisis Ahmadinejad was one of the key individuals holding Americans inside the embassy. A former Iranian secret agent said that the allegations were untrue: "I'm opposed to