WASHINGTON, July 29: The United States has concluded that Iran’s president-elect Mahmood Ahmadinejad was a leader of the movement behind the 1979 hostage crisis at the US embassy in Tehran but is unsure whether he took part, the White House said on Thursday.

“In terms of the president, we’ve looked into the allegations that were made about his involvement in the 1979 hostage crisis. We know he was a leader of the student movement that organized the attack on the embassy and the taking of American hostages,” said White House spokesman Scott McClellan.

“However, we are still looking into whether or not he was actually one of the hostage-takers. That’s something we continue to look into,” the spokesman said.

McClellan added: “I don’t think it’s a surprise to anyone, given the nature of the regime in Iran, that he might have been involved in this kind of activity.”

On November 4, 1979, following Iran’s Islamic revolution, a group of student followers of revolutionary leader Ayatollah Khomeini stormed the US embassy in Tehran and held 52 of its staff hostage for 444 days after the US refused to entertain Iran’s demand to deport late Shah of Iran who had taken asylum there after fleeing from Iran.

The White House and the US State Department said almost exactly one month ago that they were looking into allegations from five survivors of the siege that Ahmadinejad, an Islamist, was an active participant.

Iranian veterans of the standoff have flatly denied that Ahmadinejad was involved.

Ahmadinejad trounced moderate cleric Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani in the run-off to last month’s presidential vote to record the greatest upset in Iranian political history. Washington deemed the elections illegitimate.—AFP