The Muslim Student Followers of the Imam's Line was an Iranian student group that occupied the United States embassy in Tehran on 4 November 1979, starting the Iran hostage crisis. Drawn from several major science and technology universities in Tehran, the 200-strong group supported the popular cleric Ayatollah Khomeini and was angry at the USA for giving asylum to Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. The student stormed the embassy and took 52 people hostage, holding them for 444 days, when the Iranian government decided to release them in exchange for the USA agreeing not to intervene in Iranian affairs.