Iranian hostage crisis
The Iranian hostage crisis, which unfolded from November 4, 1979, to January 20, 1981, was a pivotal event in U.S.-Iran relations and had lasting implications for both nations. Following the 1979 Iranian Revolution, a group of Iranian students seized the U.S. embassy in Tehran, taking 63 American hostages in response to the U.S. allowing the exiled Shah to enter for medical treatment. The crisis lasted for 444 days, during which hostages were paraded in front of the media, provoking outrage in the United States and leading to President Jimmy Carter's unsuccessful attempts at resolution, including economic sanctions and a military rescue mission that ended in failure.
The eventual release of the hostages coincided with Ronald Reagan's inauguration, sparking political shifts in the U.S. and contributing to a growing tension between the two nations. The crisis not only influenced U.S. foreign policy but also led to significant changes in military strategy and counterterrorism operations. It remains a crucial chapter in understanding modern Iranian-American relations, marked by mutual distrust and geopolitical maneuvering. Additionally, the hostage crisis was revisited in popular culture, notably through the film "Argo," which highlighted aspects of the event and its significance.
Iranian hostage crisis
The Event Extremist Muslim students take Americans hostage
Date November 4, 1979 to January 20, 1981
Place US embassy, Tehran, Iran
The Iranian hostage crisis represented the United States’ first confrontation with Shiite fundamentalist extremists. Taking place in a nation long considered to be one of America’s closest allies in the Middle East, the crisis revealed the extent of anti-Americanism in the region. Failure to gain release of the hostages was a national humiliation, and it became a major factor in the defeat of President Jimmy Carter in his 1980 reelection bid.
Since 1953, Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi’s Iran had stood second only to Israel as the United States’ closest ally in the Middle East. His loyalty had been partly secured in 1953, when he was involved in deposing Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh at the behest of the United States and the United Kingdom after Mossadegh had attempted to nationalize Iran’s oil industry. Because the shah seemed to be firmly in power during the 1970s, there was little US concern over mounting demonstrations against his regime in 1978. The demonstrations originated on both sides of the political spectrum: liberal reformers and leftists were alienated by the shah’s repressive tactics and desired the institution of democracy, while religious traditionalists were incensed by the pro-Western policies of the shah’s regime. By December 1978, a mass protest of nearly one million people clearly indicated that changes had to be made. The shah appointed a reformist government to placate the masses and left Iran in January 1979, to seek extensive medical treatment for cancer. Continuing demonstrations led to the return of Ayatollah Khomeini , a religious leader who had been in exile from Iran since 1962. By March, an Islamic republic under Khomeini was formed.
On October 22, 1979, the shah traveled to the United States for cancer treatment. Suspicion and anger flared. Khomeini denounced the United States as the “Great Satan” and an enemy of Islam, as students burned American flags in the streets. Mass protests were launched daily in front of the US embassy. Used to the large number of demonstrations taking place, the embassy staff did not suspect that a group of three hundred students planned to take part in one of the demonstrations, cut the chains that bound the embassy gates, and then break into the compound. The plan, executed on November 4, worked flawlessly. The students were not fired on by embassy guards, who instead joined staff in destroying sensitive communications equipment and shredding documents. The scene was reminiscent of the last hours of the US embassy in Saigon, Vietnam.
444 Days of Captivity
The students seized control of the embassy compound, and they took hostage sixty-three members of the embassy’s staff, as well as three other Americans who were present. While the US population raged at this flaunting of the basic principles of international law, the government remained calm. President Jimmy Carter fruitlessly asked for the release of hostages on humanitarian grounds. He then decided to exert pressure. On November 12, oil imports from Iran were terminated. Two days later, $8 billion in Iranian assets were frozen in US banks. These tactics had no apparent effect. On November 19, the students released thirteen of their hostages, all women or African Americans, claiming it was a gesture of solidarity with repressed minorities and of Islamic respect for women. No other hostages were released. Months passed. As the crisis dragged on, blindfolded hostages were frequently paraded before the press for the edification of the Iranian people. An American public still traumatized by the disastrous outcome of the war in Vietnam watched in horror as their government groped for a strategy to gain release of the hostages.
Clearly, Carter found it impossible to give in to student demands. Instead, an ambitious rescue mission code-named Operation Eagle Claw was planned. Eagle Claw was to be the first (known) mission undertaken by Delta Force, an elite counterterrorism unit of the US Army formed under orders from Carter in 1977. On April 24, 1980, eight US Marine Corps helicopters were landed in a desert near Tabas for use in the mission. Disaster soon struck. One of the helicopters broke down while landing, and two more broke down in a sandstorm. A decision was soon made to abort the mission, but as one helicopter took off, it sideswiped a transport plane. Eight servicemen lay dead. Compounding the public humiliation caused by the failure of the mission, the Iranian government gloated, claiming the debacle was the result of divine intervention.
Settlement
On July 11, 1980, the hostage-takers released Richard Queen, who had become seriously ill. (He was later diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.) The shah died of cancer on July 27, thus rendering moot the students’ demand that he be returned to Iran to stand trial. Iran faced a host of other problems, including a major war with Iraq that began in September 1980. Nevertheless, they held the hostages through early November, when Ronald Reagan was elected president. Algerian intermediaries were used to broker an agreement that was concluded on January 19, 1981. The terms of the negotiations are subject to radical dispute. It was claimed that the United States promised not to intervene in Iranian affairs, to release the $8 billion in frozen Iranian assets, and to grant immunity to Iran from lawsuits arising out of the seizure.
Subsequently, the United States sold weapons to Iran, and the Reagan administration repeatedly denied charges that there had been a secret agreement to provide those weapons in return for the hostages. Those on the far left, meanwhile, claimed that the weapons were sold, not in exchange for releasing the hostages but for delaying their release until after Reagan’s victory, thereby assuring his election. Such allegations were never proven, but they became one of the many conspiracy theories that helped define the decade. On January 20, 1981, as Reagan was completing his inaugural speech, the hostages were flown to Algeria. Waiting to receive them was former president Jimmy Carter, who was sent by Reagan as a special emissary. The 444 days of captivity were at an end, for both the hostages and the nation.
Because of the nature of the settlement reached with Iran to secure the release, the hostages involved in the ordeal were not able to receive any compensation despite efforts that included a Supreme Court appeal. However, at the end of 2015, a provision in a spending bill signed into law granted each of the fifty-three men and women held captive for 444 days or their estates as much as $4.4 million. The funds became available when banks were required to pay a penalty totaling $9 billion dollars reportedly for violating sanctions against Iran, Sudan, and Cuba. Spouses and children of the ex-hostages were allocated a lump payment of up to $600,000.
Impact
The Iranian hostage crisis was a major humiliation for a nation that still had not recovered from the Vietnam War. It was a debacle that led to a feeling of national impotence that proved lethal to the reelection bid of Jimmy Carter. On the other hand, the affair provided a kick start for Ronald Reagan, who gained release of the hostages within his first hour as president. Bitterness felt toward Iran was manifest in US support for Iraq in the Iran-Iraq War. However, this bitterness did not preclude the Reagan administration from selling missiles to Iran covertly to gain illegal funds that were funneled to aid the Contras fighting to overthrow a pro-Marxist regime in Nicaragua. In spite of events in Iran, the United States was still preoccupied with the Cold War, and it saw any chance to resist communism as a chance worth taking, even if it strengthened the military capabilities of an anti-American extremist Muslim regime.
In addition to its geopolitical effects, the hostage crisis had a direct and lasting impact upon US military structure and counterterrorist strategy and tactics. In the wake of the Operation Eagle Claw debacle, the US Army sought to ensure that a similar air disaster involving special operations forces would never be repeated. It established the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (the Night Stalkers), which was specially trained and tasked with providing air transportation and support for special operations forces, as well as for general forces. In addition, a unified command, dubbed the US Special Operations Command (USSOCCOM), was created in 1987 to oversee the special operations forces of all four branches of the military. This unified command was first conceived in response to Operation Eagle Claw, and it later arose out of the passage of the Goldwater-Nichols Act of 1986, which established a unified command structure for all US armed forces.
Interest in the hostage crisis was once again renewed when the film Argo was released in 2012 to great commercial and critical success. The film, which stars Ben Affleck and tells the story of the covert operation to rescue six Americans who had escaped the takeover of the American embassy and were sheltered at the home of the Canadian ambassador in Tehran, went on to receive several Academy Award nominations, including for best picture, which it ultimately won.
Bibliography
Bowden, Mark. Guests of the Ayatollah: The Iran Hostage Crisis, the First Battle in America’s War with Militant Islam. Atlantic Monthly Press, 2006.
Farber, David. Taken Hostage: The Iran Hostage Crisis and America’s Encounter with Radical Islam. Princeton UP, 2004.
Herszenhorn, David M. "Americans Held Hostage in Iran Win Compensation 36 Years Later." The New York Times, 24 Dec. 2015, www.nytimes.com/2015/12/25/us/politics/americans-held-hostage-in-iran-win-compensation-36-years-later.html. Accessed 29 Nov. 2016.
Houghton, David P. US Foreign Policy and the Iran Hostage Crisis. Cambridge UP, 2001.
Kinzer, Stephen. "Thirty-Five Years after Iranian Hostage Crisis, Aftershocks Remain." The Boston Globe, 4 Nov. 2014, www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2014/11/04/thirty-five-years-after-iranian-hostage-crisis-aftershocks-remain/VIEKSajEUvSmDQICGF8R7K/story.html. Accessed 29 Nov. 2016.