What was the Iran Hostage Crisis?
What was the Iran Hostage Crisis?
United States Political Involvement in Iran in the Decades Before the Crisis
The Iran Hostage Crisis began on November 4, 1979 when a group of demonstrating Iranians cut through the gates of the American Embassy in Tehran, stormed the complex, and seized over fifty employees. The demonstrations were in response to the United States allowing the exiled Shah of Iran to enter the country in order to seek medical treatment. The Iranians, under their new government led by the Islamic fundamentalist Ayatollah Ruholla Khomeini, wanted a return of the Shah so that he could face trial and likely execution for his alleged crimes against the people and the Iranian state. When the United States government, under President Jimmy Carter refused to hand over the Shah to Iran, Iran kept the American employees hostage. Even after the Shah died in Egypt in July 1980, the antagonist of the conflict, there was still no end in sight. After a failed rescue mission by the United States which resulted in the deaths of eight American servicemen, Iran finally freed the hostages on January 21, 1980 after 444 days in captivity. The freeing of the hostages was only after Carter left office and Republican Ronald Reagan took office, and the United States release of over $8 billion in Iranian assets. The crisis would led to a disintegration in relations between the United States and Iran, a disintegration which still exists today.
