Iran-U.S.
Hostage Crisis (1979-1981)
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(1979-1981) On
November 4, 1979, radical Iranian students
seized the United States Embassy complex
in the Iranian capital of Tehran. The
immediate cause of this takeover was the
anger many Iranians felt over the U.S.
President Jimmy Carter allowing the
deposed former ruler of Iran, Shah Reza
Pahlavi, to enter the U.S. for medical
treatment. In Iran, this was believed to
be an opening move leading up an
American-backed return to power by the
Shah. The crisis which followed this
seizure created a near state of war,
ruined Jimmy Carter's presidency, and
began an environment of hostility between
America and Iran which continues to this
day. Though
fear of an American-backed return by the
Shah was the publicly stated reason, the
true cause of the seizure was the
long-standing U.S. support for the Shah's
government. Reza Pahlavi ruled Iran from
1941 to 1979, with a brief period of exile
in 1953 when he fled to Italy due to a
power struggle with Prime Minister
Mohammed Mossadegh. Because Mossadegh's
policies and announcements created concern
over access to Iranian oil, oil prices,
and possible Soviet influence in Iran, the
United States and British intelligence
services aided Iranian military officers
in a coup to overthrow the Prime Minister.
After his return to power, the Shah
established a very close alliance with the
United States. The U.S. supplied weapons,
training, and technical knowledge that
aided the Shah in modernizing his country.
However, the Shah ruled as a dictator,
using SAVAK, his secret police, to
terrorize his political enemies. The Shah
was opposed by both the Marxist Tudeh
Party, and by fundamentalist Islamic
leaders who believed his policies and his
reliance on the Americans were corrupting
Iranian society. By
1978, unrest against the Shah had
escalated into a violent uprising against
his authority called the Iranian
Revolution or the Islamic Revolution. On
January 16, 1979, the Shah fled into exile
for a second time, traveling to various
countries before finally entering the U.S.
for cancer treatments in October, 1979.
After the Shah's departure, the Ayatollah
Ruholla Khomeini returned from his own
exile in France to take power over Iran.
Khomeini was a leading member of the Shia
Muslim clergy. The Shia are a subset of
the Islamic faith, and form the majority
of the Iranian population. Vital parts of
this Islamic Revolution were propaganda
and demonstrations against the United
States and against President Jimmy Carter.
After the Shah's entry into the U.S., the
Ayatollah Khomeini called for
anti-American street demonstrations. On
November 4, 1979, one such demonstration ,
organized by Iranian student unions loyal
to Khomeini, took place outside the walled
compound housing the U.S.
Embassy. Members
of these Iranian student unions scaled the
walls of the U.S. Embassy on November 4,
1979, taking 63 Americans hostage. Three
more U.S. citizens were taken prisoner at
the Iranian Foreign Ministry, for a total
of 66 hostages. Within three weeks, the
hostage-takers released several women and
African-Americans, leaving 53. A sick
hostage was later released, reducing the
number to 52. Throughout their captivity,
the hostages were paraded in front of
television cameras, often blindfolded or
hooded. Though the hostage-takers were not
members of the Iranian government or
military, their obvious, publicly-stated
loyalty to Khomeini and the Islamic
government created an international
crisis. Immediate
official American reactions involved
halting oil exports from Iran, expelling
many Iranians living in the U.S., and
freezing Iranian government assets and
investments. Many Americans called for
military action to free the hostages, but
the situation became much more complicated
when the Soviet Union invaded Iran's
neighbor, Afghanistan, in order to crush
an Islamic-based rebellion against that
nation's Marxist government. President
Carter now faced a crisis with oil-rich,
but hostile Iran, a new Cold War crisis
with the Soviets, and a growing sense in
his own country that he was increasingly
showing himself to be an ineffective
leader. Partly
to counter the criticisms against him, as
well as to free the hostages, President
Carter ordered a military rescue mission
code-named "Operation Eagle Claw." This
mission was a total and complete failure
resulting in the deaths of eight U.S.
military personnel. On April 24, 1980,
units of the rescue force landed in the
Iranian desert to refuel their aircraft
before heading to Tehran. A confusing
series of events took place at this
refueling point, including failed
equipment, and desert sandstorms which
reduced visibility. As a result of these
problems, the rescue was called off.
During the retreat, one of the helicopters
collided with a transport airplane,
causing an explosion which killed eight
members of the rescue mission. Several of
the burned American bodies were later part
of grisly street demonstrations protesting
the abortive U.S. "invasion" of Iran. A
second rescue attempt was planned but
never implemented, largely due to
equipment failure. On
July 27, 1980, the former Shah died. Then,
in September, 1980, President Saddam
Hussein of Iraq invaded Iran. These two
events led the Iranian government to enter
into negotiations with the U.S., with
Algeria acting as a mediator. Domestically,
the Hostage Crisis ruined President
Carter's presidency. Unfortunately for
him, the one-year anniversary of the
embassy takeover fell on the same day as
the United States Presidential election of
1980. Carter lost that election to former
California Governor Ronald Reagan, who,
though never publicly criticizing Carter
over the hostage crisis, promised to
rebuild American power and influence in
the world. The
negotiations between Iran and the U.S.
culminated in a deal that released the
hostages and the eight billion dollars
worth of frozen Iranian assets. Moments
after Ronald Reagan took the oath of
office on January 20, 1981, the hostages
were allowed to fly out of Iran after 444
days of captivity. The
legacy of this prolonged crisis continue
to affect Iranian-U.S. relations over 25
years later. Iran and the U.S. still do
not have official diplomatic relations
with each other, and both nations hurl
hostile accusations at each other over
issues such as the American invasion of
Iraq and Iranian nuclear research. The
June, 2005 election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
as President of Iran opened up old wounds.
Several of the former hostages contend
that Ahmadinejad was one of the leaders of
the student groups that seized the embassy
in 1979. The Iranian government denies he
had anything to do with the seizure, but
it is another sign that tensions remain
over the entire episode. RELATED
CONFLICTS: PREDECESSOR
(Prior related conflicts): CONCURRENT
(Related conflicts occurring at the same
time): SUCCESSOR
(Related conflicts which began later)
: SOURCES: List
of Americans held hostage and the
servicemen who lost their lives in the
rescue attempt--From
the James Earl Carter Library. It's
Time for the US and Iran to Sit Down and
Talk
- An opinion piece by Bruce Laingen, who
spent 444 days as a hostage. Online
Casebook - The Iranian Hostages
Case
- Online international law cases from
Stanford University. Operation
Eagle Claw
- Including a bibliography, articles, and
a QuickTime movie. TIME:
Can Iran Be
Forgiven?
- Essay by Scott Macleod for Time
Magazine. US-Iranian
Relations and the Hostage
Crisis--Well-researched
account of the hostage crisis and its
influence in the fall of Jimmy Carter and
the rise of Ronald Reagan. Joel
Mayo - Sergeant, United States Air
Force
- Killed In Action at Desert
One. President
Jimmy Carter The
80s Server Icons: Jimmy
Carter
--Short biography of Jimmy
Carter. The
Shah of Iran The
80s Server Icons: Mohammed Reza Shah
Pahlavi--Short
biography of the Shah. "The
History Guy" is a Registered Trademark. Contact
the webmaster Please
cite this source when appropriate: Lee,
R. "The History Guy: Iran-U.S. Hostage Crisis
(1979-1981) " http://www.historyguy.com/iran-us_hostage_crisis.html
Recent
Iranian Political and Military
History: 1953-Military
Coup overthrows anti-Western government.
Coup backed arranged by the U.S. and the
UK 1979--Iranian
Revolution-The Shah of Iran flees, and
Ayatollah Khomeini sets up the Islamic
Republic 1979-1981--U.S.-Iran
Hostage Crisis 1980-1988-
Iran-Iraq War. Began with an Iraqi
invasion of Iran in Sept. 1980 1987-1988-"Tanker
War" with the United States 1981-1988-Contra
War in Nicaragua. Honduras served as a
major base for the Contras, and had a
large American military presence in
Honduras during the war. 2009-
Unrest and civic protest due to
allegations of fraud in Iranian
Presidential Election Pages
on Middle Eastern History Site
Map--revision
in progress
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Copyright
© 1998-2011 Roger A. Lee and History Guy
Media; Last Modified: 01.17.11
"Operation
Ajax" Anti-Mossedegh Coup (1953),
Iranian Revolution (1979)
The
Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan
(1979-1989), Iran-Iraq War
(1980-1988)
U.S-Iran
"Tanker War" (1987-1988)
