In Pakistan , it has been noted that the " press was largely favorable towards the new government " ; the Islamist parties were even more enthusiastic ; while the ruler , General Zia-ul-Haq , himself on an Islamization drive since he took power in 1977 , talked of " simultaneous triumph of Islamic ideology in both our countries " and that " Khomeini is a symbol of Islamic insurgence . " Some American analysts noted that , at this point , Khomeini 's influence and prestige in Pakistan was greater than Zia-ul-Haq 's himself . Because Khomeini claimed that Americans were behind the 1979 Grand Mosque seizure , some hundred student protesters from the Quaid-e-Azam University in Islamabad attacked the US embassy , setting it on fire and taking hostages . The crisis was eventually quickly defused by the Pakistan army but the next day , to some 120 senior Pakistani army officers in Iran , stationed there on their road to hajj , in a televised encounter , Khomeini said that " it is a cause of joy that … all Pakistan has risen against the United States " and the struggle is not that of the US and Iran but " the entire world of disbelief and the world of Islam " . According to journalist Yaroslav Trofimov , " the Pakistani officers , many of whom had graduated from Western military academies , seemed swayed by the ayatollah ’s intoxicating words . " Although ultimately only the Lebanese Islamists succeeded , other activities have had more long-term impact . The Ayatollah Khomeini 's 1989 fatwa calling for the killing of Indian-born British citizen Salman Rushdie had international impact . The Islamic revolutionary government itself is credited with helping establish Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq
attacked the US embassy
1979 U.S. embassy burning in Islamabad
Iranian Revolution