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((Short description|1979–1981 diplomatic standoff between the United States and Iran))
((About|the siege of the American embassy in Tehran|the siege of the Iranian embassy in London|Iranian Embassy siege))
((Use mdy dates|date=March 2013))
((Infobox military conflict
| conflict          = Iran hostage crisis
| date              = November 4, 1979 – January 20, 1981<br />(444 days)
| partof            = the [[consolidation of the Iranian Revolution]]
| image             = Iran hostage crisis - Iraninan students comes up U.S. embassy in Tehran.jpg
| image_size        = 300px
| caption           = Iranian students crowd the [[Embassy of the United States, Tehran|U.S. Embassy in Tehran]] (November 4, 1979)
| place             = [[Tehran]], Iran
| result            = Hostages released by [[Algiers Accords]]
* Severance (and end) of [[Iran–United States relations]]
* Prime Minister [[Mehdi Bazargan]] and [[Interim Government of Iran|his cabinet]] resigned
* [[Sanctions against Iran|Sanctions imposed on Iran]]
| territory         = 
| combatant1        = ((flag|Iran))
* [[Muslim Student Followers of the Imam's Line]]
* ((flagicon image|Flag of the People's Mujahedin of Iran.svg)) [[People's Mujahedin of Iran|People's Mujahedin]]<ref>((cite book|title=Microeconomics|editor=David Gold|pages=66–67|isbn=978-1-317-04590-8|publisher=Routledge|year=2016|chapter=An Analysis of the Role of the Iranian Diaspora in the Financial Support System of the ''Mujaheddin-e-Khalid''|last=Clark |first=Mark Edmond |quote=Following the seizure of the US embassy in Tehran, the MEK participated physically at the site by assisting in defending it from attack. The MEK also offered strong political support for the hostage-taking action.))</ref>
| combatant2        = ((ubl|((flag|United States))|((flag|Canada))))
| commander1        = ((ubl|((flagicon|Iran)) [[Ruhollah Khomeini]]|((flagicon|Iran)) [[Mohammad Mousavi Khoeiniha]]<ref>((cite book |author=Buchan, James |title=Days of God: The Revolution in Iran and Its Consequences|publisher=Simon and Schuster|page=257|date=2013|isbn=978-1-4165-9777-3))</ref>|((flagicon|Iran)) [[Massoud Rajavi]]))
| commander2        = ((ubl|((flagicon|United States)) [[Jimmy Carter]]|((flagicon|United States)) [[James B. Vaught]]|((flagicon|Canada)) [[Joe Clark]]))
| strength1         = 
| casualties1       = 8 American servicemen and 1 Iranian civilian killed during an [[Operation Eagle Claw|attempt to rescue the hostages]].
| campaignbox       = ((Campaignbox consolidation of the Iranian Revolution))
((History of Iranian hostage crisis))
))

The '''Iran hostage crisis''' was a diplomatic standoff between [[Iran]] and the [[United States]]. Fifty-three  American diplomats and citizens were held hostage after a group of militarized Iranian college students belonging to the [[Muslim Student Followers of the Imam's Line]], who supported the [[Iranian Revolution]], including [[Hossein Dehghan]] (future Iranian Minister of Defense), [[Mohammad Ali Jafari]] (future [[IRGC|Revolutionary Guards]] Commander-In-Chief) and [[Mohammad Bagheri (Iranian commander)|Mohammad Bagheri]] (future Chief of the General Staff of the [[Iranian Army]]),<ref>https://iranwire.com/en/features/65968/</ref><ref>((cite web | url=https://www.iranintl.com/en/20211105051120 | title=What Became of Those Who Seized the US Embassy in Tehran ))</ref> took over the [[Embassy of the United States, Tehran|U.S. Embassy]] in [[Tehran]]<ref>((cite web|author=Penn, Nate|date=November 3, 2009|title=444 Days in the Dark: An Oral History of the Iran Hostage Crisis|url=https://www.gq.com/story/iran-hostage-crisis-tehran-embassy-oral-history|access-date=January 6, 2020|magazine=[[GQ]]|archive-date=May 5, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210505094637/https://www.gq.com/story/iran-hostage-crisis-tehran-embassy-oral-history|url-status=live))</ref><ref>((cite web|author=Sahimi, Muhammad|date=November 3, 2009|title=The Hostage Crisis, 30 Years On|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/tehranbureau/2009/11/30-years-after-the-hostage-crisis.html|access-date=January 6, 2020|work=[[Frontline (American TV program)|Frontline]]|publisher=[[PBS]]|archive-date=April 10, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210410094257/https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/tehranbureau/2009/11/30-years-after-the-hostage-crisis.html|url-status=live))</ref> and took them as hostages. The hostages were held for 444 days, from November 4, 1979 to their release on January 20, 1981. The crisis is considered a pivotal episode in the history of [[Iran–United States relations]].<ref>((cite magazine |url=http://www.smithsonianmag.com/people-places/iran-fury.html |archive-url=https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20130419175811/http://www.smithsonianmag.com/people-places/iran-fury.html |archive-date=April 19, 2013 |first=Stephen |last=Kinzer |date=October 2008 |title=Inside Iran's Fury |magazine=Smithsonian Magazine  |access-date=May 5, 2016 ))</ref>

Western media described the crisis as an "entanglement" of "vengeance and mutual incomprehension".<ref name="TIME_1981-01-26">((cite magazine |title=The Long Ordeal of the Hostages |last=Skow |first=John |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |date=January 26, 1981 |access-date=May 27, 2015 |url=http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,954605,00.html))</ref> [[U.S. President]] [[Jimmy Carter]] called the hostage-taking an act of "blackmail" and the hostages "victims of terrorism and anarchy".<ref name=Carter1>((cite web |url=http://www.airforce-magazine.com/MagazineArchive/Documents/2010/April%202010/0410fullkeeper.pdf |title=Air Force Magazine |publisher=Air Force Magazine |date=April 5, 2016 |access-date=May 5, 2016 |archive-date=November 27, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121127221703/http://www.airforce-magazine.com/MagazineArchive/Documents/2010/April%202010/0410fullkeeper.pdf ))</ref> In Iran, it was widely seen as an act against the U.S. and its influence in Iran, including its perceived attempts to undermine the Iranian Revolution and its [[1953 Iranian coup d'état|long-standing support]] of the Shah of Iran, [[Mohammad Reza Pahlavi]], who was overthrown in 1979.<ref name="BG">((cite web|last1=Kinzer|first1=Stephen|title=Thirty-five years after Iranian hostage crisis, the aftershocks remain|work=The Boston Globe|url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2014/11/04/thirty-five-years-after-iranian-hostage-crisis-aftershocks-remain/VIEKSajEUvSmDQICGF8R7K/story.html|access-date=April 15, 2018|archive-date=April 16, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180416073434/https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2014/11/04/thirty-five-years-after-iranian-hostage-crisis-aftershocks-remain/VIEKSajEUvSmDQICGF8R7K/story.html|url-status=live))</ref> After Shah Pahlavi was overthrown, he was granted asylum and admitted to the U.S. for cancer treatment. The new Iranian regime demanded his return in order to stand trial for the crimes he was accused of committing against Iranians during his rule through [[SAVAK|his secret police]]. These demands were rejected, which Iran saw as U.S. complicity in those abuses. The U.S. saw the hostage-taking as an egregious violation of the principles of international law, such as the [[Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations|Vienna Convention]], which granted [[diplomatic immunity|diplomats immunity from arrest]] and made diplomatic compounds inviolable.<ref>((cite news|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1979/11/06/111115000.pdf|title=Doing Satan's Work in Iran|date=November 6, 1979|access-date=January 4, 2016|work=The New York Times|archive-date=February 1, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220201125040/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1979/11/06/111115000.html?pdf_redirect=true&site=false|url-status=live))</ref><ref>Kinzer, Stephen (2003). ''All The Shah's Men: An American Coup and the Roots of Middle East Terror''. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons.</ref><ref>((cite journal|last=Nalle |first=David |year=2003 |title=All the Shah's Men: An American Coup and the Roots of Middle East Terror |journal=Middle East Policy |volume=10 |issue=4 |pages=148–155))</ref><ref>((cite journal|last=Pryce-Jones |first=David |year=2003 |title=A Very Elegant Coup |journal=National Review |volume=55 |issue=17 |pages=48–50))</ref> The Shah left the U.S. in December 1979 and was ultimately granted asylum in [[Egypt]], where he died from complications of cancer at age 60 on July 27, 1980.

Seven American diplomats who had evaded capture were rescued by a [[Canadian Caper#Rescue|joint CIA–Canadian effort]] on January 27, 1980. The crisis reached a climax in early 1980 after [[Iran hostage crisis negotiations|diplomatic negotiations]] failed to win the release of the hostages. Carter ordered the U.S. military to attempt a rescue mission – [[Operation Eagle Claw]] – using warships that included ((USS|Nimitz|CVN-68|6)) and ((USS|Coral Sea|CV-43|6)), which were patrolling the waters near Iran. The failed attempt on April 24, 1980, resulted in the death of one Iranian civilian and the accidental deaths of eight American servicemen after one of the helicopters crashed into a transport aircraft. U.S. Secretary of State [[Cyrus Vance]] resigned his position following the failure. In September 1980, [[Ba'athist Iraq|Iraq]] invaded Iran, beginning the [[Iran–Iraq War]]. These events led the Iranian government to enter negotiations with the U.S., with [[Algeria]] acting as a mediator. 

Political analysts cited the standoff as a major factor in the continuing downfall of [[Carter's presidency]] and his landslide loss in the [[1980 United States presidential election|1980 presidential election]].<ref>[http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2001/01/19/iran/main265499.shtml "Reagan's Lucky Day: Iranian Hostage Crisis Helped The Great Communicator To Victory"]. ''[[CBS News]]''. January 21, 2001. ((webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130515223652/http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2001/01/19/iran/main265499.shtml |date=May 15, 2013 )).</ref> The hostages were formally released into United States custody the day after the signing of the [[Algiers Accords]], just minutes after American President [[Ronald Reagan]] was [[First inauguration of Ronald Reagan|sworn into office]]. In Iran, the crisis strengthened the prestige of [[Ayatollah]] [[Ruhollah Khomeini]] and the political power of [[theocrats]] who opposed any normalization of relations with the West.<ref>Mackey, Sandra (1996). ''The Iranians: Persia, Islam and the Soul of a Nation''. New York: Dutton. p. 298. ((ISBN|9780525940050))</ref> The crisis also led to American economic [[sanctions against Iran]], which further weakened ties between the two countries.<ref>((cite web |url=http://www.mafhoum.com/press3/108E16.htm |title=A Review Of US Unilateral Sanctions Against Iran |website=Mafhoum |date=August 26, 2002 |access-date=May 5, 2016 |archive-date=October 10, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171010024317/http://www.mafhoum.com/press3/108E16.htm |url-status=live ))</ref>

==Background==
===1953 coup d'état===
((Further|Operation Ajax|Iranian Revolution))
During the [[Second World War]], the [[Government of the United Kingdom|British]] and the [[Soviet government]]s [[Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran|invaded and occupied Iran]], forcing the first Pahlavi monarch, [[Reza Shah Pahlavi]] to abdicate in favor of his eldest son, [[Mohammad Reza Pahlavi]].<ref>Abrahamian, ''Iran Between Two Revolutions'', (1982), p. 164</ref> The two nations claimed that they acted preemptively in order to stop Reza Shah from aligning his petroleum-rich country with [[Nazi Germany]]. However, the Shah's declaration of neutrality, and his refusal to allow Iranian territory to be used to train or supply [[Red Army|Soviet troops]], were probably the real reasons for the invasion of Iran.<ref>((cite web |title=Country name calling: the case of Iran vs. Persia. |url=http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/gi_0199-6583215/Country-name-calling-the-case.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080213175117/http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/gi_0199-6583215/Country-name-calling-the-case.html |archive-date=February 13, 2008 |access-date=May 2, 2013))</ref>

The United States did not participate in the invasion but it secured Iran's independence after the war ended by applying intense diplomatic [[Iran crisis of 1946|pressure on the Soviet Union which forced it to withdraw from Iran in 1946]]. 

By the 1950s, [[Mohammad Reza Pahlavi]] was engaged in a power struggle with Iran's prime minister, [[Mohammad Mosaddegh]], an immediate descendant of the preceding [[Qajar dynasty]]. Mosaddegh led a general strike, demanding an increased share of the nation's petroleum revenue from the [[Anglo-Iranian Oil Company]] which was operating in Iran. The UK retaliated by reducing the amount of revenue which the Iranian government received.<ref>((cite book|pages=52, 54, 63 |title=The Persian Puzzle|author=Pollack, Kenneth M. |place=New York|publisher= Random House|year= 2004|isbn=978-1-4000-6315-4))</ref>((better source needed|date=February 2014)) In 1953, the [[CIA]] and [[MI6]] helped Iranian royalists depose Mosaddegh in a military ''[[coup d'état]]'' codenamed [[Operation Ajax]], allowing the Shah to extend his power. For the next two decades the Shah reigned as an [[absolute monarch]]. "Disloyal" elements within the state were purged.<ref>((cite book |last=O'Reilly |first=Kevin |title=Decision Making in U.S.&nbsp;History. The Cold War & the 1950s |publisher=Social Studies |year=2007 |page=108 |isbn=978-1-56004-293-8 ))</ref><ref>Amjad, Mohammed (1989). ''Iran: From Royal Dictatorship to Theocracy''. [[Greenwood Press]]. ((ISBN|9780313264412)). p. 62: "the United States had decided to save the 'free world' by overthrowing the democratically elected government of Mosaddegh."</ref><ref>((cite book | last1=Burke | first1=Andrew | last2=Elliott | first2=Mark | publisher=Lonely Planet Publications | title=Iran | publication-place=Footscray, Vic. | date=2008 | isbn=978-1-74104-293-1 | oclc=271774061 | page=37))</ref> The U.S. continued to support the Shah after the coup, with the CIA training the [[SAVAK|Iranian secret police]]. In the subsequent decades of the [[Cold War]], various economic, cultural, and political issues united Iranian opposition against the Shah and led to his eventual overthrow.<ref name = "bbc">((cite news |title=Iran's century of upheaval |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/618649.stm |publisher=BBC |access-date=January 5, 2007 |date=February 2, 2000 |archive-date=May 8, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210508151519/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/618649.stm |url-status=live ))</ref><ref name = "bbc2">((cite news |title=1979: Shah of Iran flees into exile |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/16/newsid_2530000/2530475.stm |publisher=BBC |access-date=January 5, 2007 |date=January 16, 1979 |archive-date=October 29, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091029071947/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/16/newsid_2530000/2530475.stm |url-status=live ))</ref><ref name = "cnn">((cite news |title=January 16 Almanac |url=http://www.cnn.com/almanac/9801/16/ |publisher=CNN |access-date=January 5, 2007 |archive-date=November 26, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201126024118/http://www.cnn.com/almanac/9801/16/ |url-status=live ))</ref>

===Carter administration===
Months before the [[Iranian Revolution]], on New Year's Eve 1977, U.S. President [[Jimmy Carter]] further angered anti-Shah Iranians with a televised toast to Pahlavi, claiming that the Shah was "beloved" by his people. After the revolution commenced in February 1979 with the return of the Ayatollah [[Ruhollah Khomeini|Khomeini]], the American Embassy was occupied, and its staff held hostage briefly. Rocks and bullets had broken so many of the embassy's front-facing windows that they were replaced with [[bulletproof glass]]. The embassy's staff was reduced to just over 60 from a high of nearly one thousand earlier in the decade.<ref name="Bowden 2006, p. 19">[[#Bowden|Bowden]], p. 19</ref>
[[File:Shah Farah Leave.jpg|thumb|Iran attempted to use the occupation to provide leverage in its demand for the return of the shah to stand trial in Iran]]
The [[Carter administration]] tried to mitigate anti-American feeling by promoting a new relationship with the ''de facto'' Iranian government and continuing military cooperation in hopes that the situation would stabilize. However, on October 22, 1979, the United States permitted the Shah, who had [[lymphoma]], to enter [[New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center]] for medical treatment.<ref>((cite news|last=Daniels|first=Lee A.|date=October 24, 1979|title=Medical tests in Manhattan|newspaper=The New York Times|page=A1|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1979/10/24/archives/medical-tests-in-manhattan-jaundice-in-patient-reported.html|access-date=July 22, 2018|archive-date=March 7, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210307222436/http://www.nytimes.com/1979/10/24/archives/medical-tests-in-manhattan-jaundice-in-patient-reported.html|url-status=live))<br />((cite news|last=Altman|first=Lawrence K.|date=October 24, 1979|title=Jaundice in patient reported|newspaper=The New York Times|page=A1|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1979/10/24/archives/medical-tests-in-manhattan-jaundice-in-patient-reported.html|access-date=July 22, 2018|archive-date=March 7, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210307222436/http://www.nytimes.com/1979/10/24/archives/medical-tests-in-manhattan-jaundice-in-patient-reported.html|url-status=live))<br />((cite news|last=Altman|first=Lawrence K.|date=October 25, 1979|title=Shah's surgeons unblock bile duct and also remove his gallbladder|newspaper=The New York Times|page=A1|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1979/10/25/archives/shahs-surgeons-unblock-bile-duct-and-also-remove-his-gallbladder.html|access-date=July 22, 2018|archive-date=July 22, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180722220939/https://www.nytimes.com/1979/10/25/archives/shahs-surgeons-unblock-bile-duct-and-also-remove-his-gallbladder.html|url-status=live))</ref> The State Department had discouraged this decision, understanding the political delicacy.<ref name="Bowden 2006, p. 19"/> But in response to pressure from influential figures including former [[United States Secretary of State|Secretary of State]] [[Henry Kissinger]] and [[Council on Foreign Relations]] Chairman [[David Rockefeller]], the Carter administration decided to grant it.<ref>((cite web |url=http://www.unc.edu/depts/diplomat/archives_roll/2003_01-03/dauherty_shah/dauherty_shah.html |title=Daugherty &#124; Jimmy Carter and the 1979 Decision to Admit the Shah into the United States |website=Unc.edu |access-date=May 5, 2016 |archive-date=October 4, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111004121457/http://www.unc.edu/depts/diplomat/archives_roll/2003_01-03/dauherty_shah/dauherty_shah.html ))</ref><ref name="David Farber">[[#Farber|Farber]], p. 122</ref><ref>((cite interview |url=http://www.roozonline.com/english/archives/2007/06/005063.php |title=Weak Understanding is Cause of Bad Iran Policies |first=Ebrahim|last=Yazdi |work=[[Rooz]] |access-date=February 8, 2016 |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080610193827/http://www.roozonline.com/english/archives/2007/06/005063.php |archive-date=June 10, 2008 ))</ref><ref>Kirkpatrick, David D. (December 29, 2019) [https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/29/world/middleeast/shah-iran-chase-papers.html How a Chase Bank Chairman Helped] ((Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191229165639/https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/29/world/middleeast/shah-iran-chase-papers.html |date=December 29, 2019 )). ''New York Times''. The activities of the Chase Manhattan Bank  triggered the whole hostages crisis.</ref>

The Shah's admission to the United States intensified Iranian revolutionaries' anti-Americanism and spawned rumors of another U.S.–backed coup that would re-install him.<ref name="multiref1">((cite web |url=http://www.democracynow.org/2008/3/3/stephen_kinzer_on_the_us_iranian |title=Stephen Kinzer on US-Iranian Relations, the 1953 CIA Coup in Iran and the Roots of Middle East Terror |publisher=Democracy Now! |date=March 3, 2008 |access-date=May 5, 2016 |archive-date=February 15, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220215014229/https://www.democracynow.org/2008/3/3/stephen_kinzer_on_the_us_iranian |url-status=live ))</ref> Khomeini, who had been exiled by the shah for 15 years, heightened the rhetoric against the "[[Great Satan]]", as he called the U.S, talking of "evidence of American plotting."<ref>[[#Moin|Moin]], p. 220</ref> In addition to ending what they believed was American sabotage of the revolution, the hostage takers hoped to depose the [[The Interim Government of Iran|provisional revolutionary government]] of Prime Minister [[Mehdi Bazargan]], which they believed was plotting to normalize relations with the U.S. and extinguish Islamic revolutionary order in Iran.<ref>[[#Bowden|Bowden]], p. 10</ref> The occupation of the embassy on November 4, 1979, was also intended as leverage to demand the return of the Shah to stand trial in Iran in exchange for the hostages.

A later study claimed that there had been no American plots to overthrow the revolutionaries, and that a CIA intelligence-gathering mission at the embassy had been "notably ineffectual, gathering little information and hampered by the fact that none of the three officers spoke the local language, [[Persian language|Persian]]." Its work, the study said, was "routine, prudent espionage conducted at diplomatic missions everywhere."<ref name="Journal">((cite web|url=http://www.homelandsecurity.org/newjournal/BookReviews/displayBookReview2.asp?review=63 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20101124132652/http://www.homelandsecurity.org/newjournal/BookReviews/displayBookReview2.asp?review=63 |archive-date=November 24, 2010 |title=Journal of Homeland Security review of Mark Bowden's "Guests of the Ayatollah" |access-date=February 25, 2007 ))</ref>

==Prelude==
===First attempt===
((Further|Kenneth Kraus))
On the morning of February 14, 1979, the [[Organization of Iranian People's Fedai Guerrillas]] stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and took a Marine named [[Kenneth Kraus]] hostage. Ambassador [[William H. Sullivan]] surrendered the embassy to save lives, and with the assistance of Iranian Foreign Minister [[Ebrahim Yazdi]], returned the embassy to U.S. hands within three hours.<ref name=Houghton_Book>((cite book |last=Houghton |first=David Patrick |title=US foreign policy and the Iran hostage crisis |year=2001 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge [u.a.] |isbn=978-0-521-80509-4 |page=77 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cPf-vBzU46EC&q=Kraus |access-date=June 20, 2015 |archive-date=July 5, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230705205917/https://books.google.com/books?id=cPf-vBzU46EC&q=Kraus |url-status=live ))</ref> Kraus was injured in the attack, kidnapped by the militants, tortured, tried, and convicted of murder. He was to be executed, but President Carter and Sullivan secured his release within six days.<ref name=Deseret>((cite news|author=Engelmayer, Sheldon|title=Hostage Suit Tells Torture|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=336&dat=19810204&id=hj8jAAAAIBAJ&pg=4479,414133|newspaper=The Deseret News|date=February 4, 1981|access-date=October 18, 2020|archive-date=November 25, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211125193501/https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=336&dat=19810204&id=hj8jAAAAIBAJ&pg=4479%2C414133|url-status=live))</ref> This incident became known as the Valentine's Day Open House.<ref name=CIA_DAugherty>((cite news |last=Daugherty |first=William J. |title=A First Tour Like No Other |url=https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/spring98/iran.html |publisher=Central Intelligence Agency |year=1996 |access-date=October 12, 2011 |archive-date=August 3, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190803183920/https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/spring98/iran.html ))</ref>

[[File:Shredded 1979-09-01 1305Z CIA cable from American Embassy Tehran.jpg|thumb|Anticipating the takeover of the embassy, the Americans tried to destroy [[classified document]]s in a furnace. The furnace malfunctioned and the staff was forced to use cheap paper shredders.<ref>[[#Bowden|Bowden]], p. 30</ref><ref>[[#Farber|Farber]], p. 134</ref> Skilled carpet weavers were later employed to reconstruct the documents.<ref>[[#Bowden|Bowden]], p. 337</ref>]]

===Second attempt===
The next attempt to seize the American Embassy was planned for September 1979 by [[Ebrahim Asgharzadeh]], a student at the time. He consulted with the heads of the Islamic associations of Tehran's main universities, including the [[University of Tehran]], [[Sharif University of Technology]], [[Amirkabir University of Technology]] (Polytechnic of Tehran), and [[Iran University of Science and Technology]]. They named their group [[Muslim Student Followers of the Imam's Line]].

Asgharzadeh later said there were five students at the first meeting, two of whom wanted to target the Soviet Embassy because the USSR was "a [[Marxist]] and anti-God regime". Two others, [[Mohsen Mirdamadi]] and [[Habibolah Bitaraf]], supported Asgharzadeh's chosen target, the United States. "Our aim was to object against the American government by going to their embassy and occupying it for several hours," Asgharzadeh said. "Announcing our objections from within the occupied compound would carry our message to the world in a much more firm and effective way."<ref>((cite web |author=Bowden, Mark |author-link=Mark Bowden |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200412/bowden |title=Among the Hostage-Takers |work=The Atlantic |date=December 2004 |access-date=May 5, 2016 |archive-date=May 12, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080512023231/http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200412/bowden |url-status=live ))</ref> Mirdamadi told an interviewer, "We intended to detain the diplomats for a few days, maybe one week, but no more."<ref>Molavi, Afshin (2005) ''The Soul of Iran'', Norton. p.&nbsp;335. ((ISBN|0393325970))</ref> [[Masoumeh Ebtekar]], the spokeswoman for the Iranian students during the crisis, said that those who rejected Asgharzadeh's plan did not participate in the subsequent events.<ref>((cite web |url=http://irannegah.com/Video.aspx?id=579 |title=Iran Negah |publisher=Iran Negah |access-date=May 5, 2016 |archive-date=May 29, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120529010557/http://irannegah.com/Video.aspx?id=579 |url-status=live ))</ref>

The students observed the procedures of the [[Marine Security Guard]]s from nearby rooftops overlooking the embassy. They also drew on their experiences from the recent revolution, during which the U.S. Embassy grounds were briefly occupied. They enlisted the support of police officers in charge of guarding the embassy and of the Islamic [[Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps|Revolutionary Guards]].<ref>[[#Bowden|Bowden]], pp. 8, 13</ref>

According to the group and other sources, Ayatollah Khomeini did not know of the plan beforehand.<ref>((cite news |title=Radicals Reborn |author=Scott Macleod |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,992548,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070313093649/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,992548,00.html|archive-date=March 13, 2007|newspaper=Time|date=November 15, 1999|access-date=April 26, 2012))</ref> The students had wanted to inform him, but according to the author [[Mark Bowden]], Ayatollah [[Mohammad Mousavi Khoeiniha]] persuaded them not to do so. Khoeiniha feared that the government would use the police to expel the students as they had the occupiers in February. The provisional government had been appointed by Khomeini, so Khomeini was likely to go along with the government's request to restore order. On the other hand, Khoeiniha knew that if Khomeini first saw that the occupiers were faithful supporters of him (unlike the leftists in the first occupation) and that large numbers of pious Muslims had gathered outside the embassy to show their support for the takeover, it would be "very hard, perhaps even impossible," for him to oppose the takeover, and this would paralyze the Bazargan administration, which Khoeiniha and the students wanted to eliminate.<ref>[[#Bowden|Bowden]], p. 12</ref>

Supporters of the takeover stated that their motivation was fear of another American-backed coup against their popular revolution.

===Takeover===
[[File:Two American hostages in Iran hostage crisis.jpg|300px|thumbnail|Two American hostages during the siege of the U.S. Embassy.]]
On November 4, 1979, one of the demonstrations organized by Iranian student unions loyal to Khomeini erupted into an all-out conflict right outside the walled compound housing the U.S.&nbsp;Embassy.

At about 6:30&nbsp;a.m., the ringleaders gathered between three hundred and five hundred selected students and briefed them on the battle plan. A female student was given a pair of metal cutters to break the chains locking the embassy's gates and hid them beneath her [[chador]].<ref>((cite magazine|last=Macleod |first=Scott |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,992548,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070313093649/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,992548,00.html |archive-date=March 13, 2007 |title=Radicals Reborn |magazine=TIME |date=November 15, 1999 |access-date=May 5, 2016))</ref>

At first, the students planned a symbolic occupation, in which they would release statements to the press and leave when government security forces came to restore order. This was reflected in placards saying: "Don't be afraid. We just want to sit in." When the embassy guards brandished firearms, the protesters retreated, with one telling the Americans, "We don't mean any harm."<ref>[[#Bowden|Bowden]], pp. 40, 77</ref> But as it became clear that the guards would not use deadly force and that a large, angry crowd had gathered outside the compound to cheer the occupiers and jeer the hostages, the plan changed.<ref>[[#Bowden|Bowden]], pp. 127–28</ref> According to one embassy staff member, buses full of demonstrators began to appear outside the embassy shortly after the Muslim Student Followers of the Imam's Line broke through the gates.<ref name="multiref2">[[#Bowden|Bowden]]</ref>

As Khomeini's followers had hoped, Khomeini supported the takeover. According to Foreign Minister Yazdi, when he went to [[Qom]] to tell Khomeini about it, Khomeini told him to "go and kick them out." But later that evening, back in Tehran, Yazdi heard on the radio that Khomeini had issued a statement supporting the seizure, calling it "the second revolution" and the embassy an "[[Embassy of the United States, Tehran|American spy den in Tehran]]."<ref>[[#Bowden|Bowden]], p. 93</ref>

[[File:Iran Hostage Crisis Newsreel.ogg|thumb|thumbtime=7|A two-minute [[video clip|clip]] from a [[newsreel]] regarding the hostage crisis (1980)]]
The Marines and embassy staff were blindfolded by the occupiers and then paraded in front of assembled photographers. In the first couple of days, many of the embassy workers who had sneaked out of the compound or had not been there at the time of the takeover were rounded up by Islamists and returned as hostages.<ref>[[#Bowden|Bowden]], pp. 50, 132–34</ref> Six American diplomats managed to avoid capture and took refuge in the British Embassy before being transferred to the Canadian Embassy. In a joint covert operation known as the [[Canadian caper]], the Canadian government and the CIA managed to smuggle them out of Iran on January 28, 1980, using Canadian passports and a cover story that identified them as a film crew.<ref>((cite web|url=http://www.jimmycarterlibrary.org/documents/list_of_hostages.phtml |title=The Hostages and The Casualties |work=JimmyCarterLibrary.org |access-date=November 4, 2004 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041108083936/http://www.jimmycarterlibrary.org/documents/list_of_hostages.phtml |archive-date=November 8, 2004 ))</ref> Others went to the Swedish Embassy in Tehran for three months.

A State Department diplomatic cable of November 8, 1979, details "A Tentative, Incomplete List of U.S. Personnel Being Held in the Embassy Compound."<ref>((cite web|url=https://aad.archives.gov/aad/|title=National Archives and Records Administration, Access to Archival Databases (AAD): Central Foreign Policy Files, created 7/1/1973 – 12/31/1979; Electronic Telegrams, 1979 (searchable database)|website=Aad.archives.gov|access-date=May 5, 2016|archive-date=May 1, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160501092934/https://aad.archives.gov/aad/|url-status=live))</ref>

===Motivations===
The [[Muslim Student Followers of the Imam's Line]] demanded that Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi return to Iran for trial and execution. The U.S. maintained that the Shah – who was to die less than a year later, in July 1980 – had come to America for medical attention. The group's other demands included that the U.S. government apologize for its interference in the internal affairs of Iran, including the overthrow of Prime Minister Mosaddegh in 1953, and that [[Iran's frozen assets]] in the United States be released.

[[File:Iran-hostages-b.jpg|thumb|left|[[Barry Rosen]], the embassy's press attaché, was among the hostages. The man on the right holding the briefcase is [[Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the 1979 hostage crisis|alleged by some former hostages]] to be future President [[Mahmoud Ahmadinejad]], although he, Iran's government, and the [[CIA]] deny this.]]
The initial plan was to hold the embassy for only a short time, but this changed after it became apparent how popular the takeover was and that Khomeini had given it his full support.<ref name="multiref2"/> Some attributed the decision not to release the hostages quickly to President Carter's failure to immediately deliver an ultimatum to Iran.<ref>[[#Moin|Moin]], p. 226</ref> His initial response was to appeal for the release of the hostages on humanitarian grounds and to share his hopes for a strategic [[Anti-communism|anti-communist]] alliance with the Ayatollah.<ref>[[#Moin|Moin]], p. 221; "America Can't do a *** Thing" by Amir Taheri ''New York Post,'' November 2, 2004</ref> As some of the student leaders had hoped, Iran's moderate prime minister, Bazargan, and his cabinet resigned under pressure just days after the takeover.

The duration of the hostages' captivity has also been attributed to internal Iranian revolutionary politics. As Ayatollah Khomeini told Iran's president:

<blockquote>This has united our people. Our opponents do not dare act against us. We can put the constitution to the people's vote without difficulty, and carry out presidential and parliamentary elections.<ref>[[#Moin|Moin]], p. 228</ref></blockquote>

Various leftist student groups also supported the taking of hostages at the US embassy.<ref name=terronomics>((cite book|title=Terrornomics |editor=Costigan, Sean S. |editor2=Gold, David |publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]]|page=66-67|year=2007|isbn=978-0-7546-4995-3))</ref><ref>((cite book|year=2009|isbn=978-0-230-61811-4|title=The United States and Iran: Policy Challenges and Opportunities |author=Roshandel, Jalil |author2=Cook, Alethia H. |page=78|publisher=[[Palgrave Macmillan]]))</ref><ref>Abrahamian, Ervand (1989), ''The Iranian Mojahedin''. Yale University Press. p. 196. ((ISBN|978-0300052671))</ref> The embassy take-over was aimed at strengthening the new regime against liberal elements in the government, portraying the regime as a "revolutionary force" while winning over the major following that the People's Mojahedin of Iran had amongst students in Iran.<ref name=twquarterly>((cite journal|last1=Sreberny-Mohammadi|first1=Annabelle|first2=Ali|last2=Mohammadi|title=Post-Revolutionary Iranian Exiles: A Study in Impotence|journal=Third World Quarterly|date=January 1987|volume=9|issue=1|pages=108–129|jstor=3991849|doi=10.1080/01436598708419964))</ref> According to scholar [[Daniel Pipes]], writing in 1980, the [[Marxism|Marxist]]-leaning leftists and the Islamists shared a common antipathy toward market-based reforms under the late Shah, and both subsumed individualism, including the unique identity of women, under conservative, though contrasting, visions of collectivism. Accordingly, both groups favored the Soviet Union over the United States in the early months of the Iranian Revolution.<ref name="PipesNYT1980">((cite news|last1=Pipes|first1=Daniel|author-link1=Daniel Pipes|title=Khomeini, the Soviets and U.S.: why the Ayatollah fears America|work=[[New York Times]]|date=May 27, 1980))</ref> The Soviets, and possibly their allies [[Cuba]], [[History of Libya under Muammar Gaddafi#Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya (1977–2011)|Libya]], and East Germany, were suspected of providing indirect assistance to the participants in the takeover of the U.S. embassy in Tehran. The [[Palestine Liberation Organization|PLO]] under [[Yasser Arafat]] provided personnel, intelligence liaisons, funding, and training for Khomeini's forces before and after the revolution and was suspected of playing a role in the embassy crisis.<ref name="Bergman">((cite book|last1=Bergman|first1=Ronan|title=The Secret War with Iran: the 30-Year Clandestine Struggle against the World's Most Dangerous Terrorist Power|url=https://archive.org/details/secretwarwithira00berg|url-access=registration|date=2008|publisher=[[Free Press (publisher)|Free Press]]|location=[[New York City|New York]]|isbn=978-1-4165-7700-3|pages=[https://archive.org/details/secretwarwithira00berg/page/30 30–31]|edition=1st))</ref> [[Fidel Castro]] reportedly praised Khomeini as a revolutionary anti-imperialist who could find common cause between revolutionary leftists and anti-American Islamists. Both expressed disdain for modern [[capitalism]] and a preference for authoritarian collectivism.<ref name="Geyer">((cite book|last1=Geyer|first1=Georgie Anne|author-link1=Georgie Anne Geyer|title=Guerrilla Prince: the Untold Story of Fidel Castro|date=2001|publisher=[[Andrews McMeel Universal]]|location=[[Kansas City, Missouri|Kansas City]]|isbn=0-7407-2064-3|page=348|edition=3rd))</ref> Cuba and its socialist ally Venezuela, under [[Hugo Chávez]], would later form [[ALBA]] in alliance with the Islamic Republic as a counter to [[neoliberalism|neoliberal]] American influence.

Revolutionary teams displayed secret documents purportedly taken from the embassy, sometimes painstakingly reconstructed after [[paper shredder|shredding]],<ref name="Retrieved">((cite web |url=http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/nsa/publications/iran/irdoc.html |title=Iran, 1977–1980/Document |website=Gwu.edu |access-date=May 5, 2016 |archive-date=March 8, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140308175026/http://www2.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/nsa/publications/iran/irdoc.html |url-status=live ))</ref> to buttress their claim that the U.S. was trying to destabilize the new regime.

By embracing the hostage-taking under the slogan "America can't do a thing," Khomeini rallied support and deflected criticism of his controversial [[Constitution of Islamic Republic of Iran|theocratic constitution]],<ref>Arjomand, Said Amir (1988) ''Turban for the Crown: The Islamic Revolution in Iran''. Oxford University Press. p. 139. ((ISBN|9780195042580))</ref> which was scheduled for a referendum vote in less than one month.<ref>[[#Moin|Moin]], p. 227</ref> The referendum was successful, and after the vote, both leftists and theocrats continued to use allegations of [[pro-Americanism]] to suppress their opponents: relatively moderate political forces that included the Iranian Freedom Movement, the [[National Front (Iran)|National Front]], Grand Ayatollah [[Mohammad Kazem Shariatmadari]],<ref>[[#Moin|Moin]], pp. 229, 231</ref><ref>[[#Bakhash|Bakhash]], pp. 115–16</ref> and later President [[Abolhassan Banisadr]]. In particular, carefully selected diplomatic dispatches and reports discovered at the embassy and released by the hostage-takers led to the disempowerment and resignation of moderate figures<ref>[[#Bakhash|Bakhash]], p. 115</ref> such as Bazargan. The failed rescue attempt and the political danger of any move seen as accommodating America delayed a negotiated release of the hostages. After the crisis ended, leftists and theocrats turned on each other, with the stronger theocratic group annihilating the left.
((Wikisource|Portal:Documents Seized from the US Embassy in Tehran))
[[File:Man holding sign during Iranian hostage crisis protest, 1979.jpg|thumb|An anti-Iranian protest in Washington, D.C., in 1979. The front of the sign reads "Deport all Iranians" and "Get the hell out of my country", and the back reads "Release all Americans now".]]

== Documents discovered inside the American embassy ==
Supporters of the takeover claimed that in 1953, the American Embassy had been used as a "den of spies" from which the coup was organized. Later, documents which suggested that some of the members of the embassy's staff had been working with the Central Intelligence Agency were found inside the embassy. Afterwards, the CIA confirmed its role and that of MI6 in ''Operation Ajax''.<ref>((cite web |author=Kamali Dehghan, Saeed |author2=Norton-Taylor, Richard |title=CIA admits role in 1953 Iranian coup |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/19/cia-admits-role-1953-iranian-coup |website=The Guardian |date=August 19, 2013 |access-date=November 10, 2019 |archive-date=April 12, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200412154106/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/19/cia-admits-role-1953-iranian-coup |url-status=live ))</ref> After the Shah entered the United States, Ayatollah Khomeini called for street demonstrations.<ref>((cite web |last1=Afary |first1=Janet |title=Iranian Revolution |url=https://www.britannica.com/event/Iranian-Revolution |website=Encyclopaedia Britannica |access-date=November 10, 2019 |archive-date=November 24, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191124183040/https://www.britannica.com/event/Iranian-Revolution |url-status=live ))</ref>

Revolutionary teams displayed secret documents purportedly taken from the embassy, sometimes painstakingly reconstructed after [[paper shredder|shredding]],<ref name="Retrieved"/> in order to buttress their claim that "the Great Satan" (the U.S.) was trying to destabilize the new regime with the assistance of Iranian moderates who were in league with the U.S. The documents – including telegrams, correspondence, and reports from the U.S. [[State Department]] and the CIA – were published in a series of books which were titled ''Documents from the U.S. Espionage Den'' (((lang-fa|اسناد لانه جاسوسی امریكا))).<ref>((cite news |last1=Sciolino |first1=Elaine |title=7 Years after Embassy Seizure, Iran Still Prints U.S. Secrets |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/07/10/world/7-years-after-embassy-seizure-iran-still-prints-us-secrets.html |date=July 10, 1986 |work=[[New York Times]] |access-date=November 10, 2019 |archive-date=November 10, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191110080145/https://www.nytimes.com/1986/07/10/world/7-years-after-embassy-seizure-iran-still-prints-us-secrets.html |url-status=live ))</ref> According to a 1997 [[Federation of American Scientists]] bulletin, by 1995, 77 volumes of ''Documents from the U.S. Espionage Den'' had been published.<ref>((cite web |url=https://fas.org/sgp/bulletin/sec70.html |title=Secrecy & Government Bulletin, Issue 70 |website=Fas.org |date=May 29, 1997 |access-date=May 5, 2016 |archive-date=May 10, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170510204553/https://fas.org/sgp/bulletin/sec70.html |url-status=live ))</ref> Many of these volumes are now available online.<ref>((cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/DocumentsFromTheU.s.EspionageDen |title=Documents from the U.S. Espionage Den |via=[[Internet Archive]] |date=March 10, 2001 |access-date=August 1, 2013))</ref>

==The 444-day crisis==
((For timeline|Timeline of the Iranian hostage crisis))

===Living conditions of the hostages===
The hostage-takers, declaring their solidarity with other "oppressed minorities" and declaring their respect for "the special place of [[women in Islam]]," released one woman and two [[African Americans]] on November 19.<ref name="If">Efty, Alex; 'If Shah Not Returned, Khomeini Sets Trial for Other Hostages'; ''[[Kentucky New Era]]'', November 20, 1979, pp. 1–2</ref> Before release, these hostages were required by their captors to hold a press conference in which Kathy Gross and William Quarles praised the revolution's aims,<ref>[[#Farber|Farber]], pp. 156–57</ref> but four further women and six African-Americans were released the following day.<ref name="If"/> According to the then United States Ambassador to Lebanon, [[John Gunther Dean]], the 13 hostages were released with the assistance of the Palestine Liberation Organization, after [[Yassir Arafat]] and [[Abu Jihad]] personally traveled to Tehran to secure a concession.<ref>((Cite web | title = American Ambassador Recalls Israeli Assassination Attempt—With U.S. Weapons | last = Killgore | first = Andrew I. | publisher = [[Washington Report on Middle East Affairs]] | date = November 2002 | url = https://www.wrmea.org/002-november/american-ambassador-recalls-israeli-assassination-attempt-with-u.s.-weapons.html | access-date = August 22, 2021 | archive-date = August 22, 2021 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210822075925/https://www.wrmea.org/002-november/american-ambassador-recalls-israeli-assassination-attempt-with-u.s.-weapons.html | url-status = live ))</ref>  The only African-American hostage not released that month was Charles A. Jones, Jr.<ref>((cite news|url = https://www.nytimes.com/1981/01/27/us/no-headline-240600.html|title = Black Hostage Reports Abuse|date = January 27, 1981|access-date = January 4, 2016|newspaper = The New York Times|archive-date = January 5, 2016|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160105095448/http://www.nytimes.com/1981/01/27/us/no-headline-240600.html|url-status = live))</ref> One more hostage, a white man named [[Richard Queen]], was released in July 1980 after he became seriously ill with what was later diagnosed as [[multiple sclerosis]]. The remaining 52 hostages were held until January 1981, up to 444 days of captivity.

The hostages were initially held at the embassy, but after the takers took the cue from the failed rescue mission, the detainees were scattered around Iran in order to make a single rescue attempt impossible. Three high-level officials – [[Bruce Laingen]], [[Victor L. Tomseth]], and Mike Howland – were at the Foreign Ministry at the time of the takeover. They stayed there for several months, sleeping in the ministry's formal dining room and washing their socks and underwear in the bathroom. At first, they were treated as diplomats, but after the provisional government fell, the treatment of them deteriorated. By March, the doors to their living space were kept "chained and padlocked."<ref>[[#Bowden|Bowden]], pp. 151, 219, 372</ref>

By midsummer 1980, the Iranians had moved the hostages to prisons in Tehran<ref>[[#Bowden|Bowden]], p. 528</ref> to prevent escapes or rescue attempts and to improve the logistics of guard shifts and food deliveries.<ref>[[#Bowden|Bowden]], pp. 514–15</ref> The final holding area, from November 1980 until their release, was the [[Teymur Bakhtiar]] mansion in Tehran, where the hostages were finally given tubs, showers, and hot and cold running water.<ref>[[#Bowden|Bowden]], p. 565</ref> Several foreign diplomats and ambassadors – including the former Canadian ambassador [[Kenneth D. Taylor|Ken Taylor]] – visited the hostages over the course of the crisis and relayed information back to the U.S. government, including dispatches from Laingen.

[[File:Revolutionary occupation of U.S. embassy Title of Islamic Republican newspaper in November 5, 1979.jpg|300px|thumbnail|left|A headline in an [[Islamic Republican newspaper]] on November 5, 1979, read "Revolutionary occupation of U.S. embassy".]]

Iranian propaganda stated that the hostages were "guests" and it also stated that they were being treated with respect. Asgharzadeh, the leader of the students, described the original plan as a nonviolent and symbolic action in which the students would use their "gentle and respectful treatment" of the hostages to dramatize the offended sovereignty and dignity of Iran to the entire world.<ref>[[#Bowden|Bowden]], p. 128</ref> In America, an Iranian [[chargé d'affaires]], Ali Agha, stormed out of a meeting with an American official, exclaiming: "We are not mistreating the hostages. They are being very well taken care of in Tehran. They are our guests."<ref>[[#Bowden|Bowden]], p. 403</ref>

The actual treatment of the hostages was far different. They described beatings,<ref>[[#Bowden|Bowden]], pp. 81, 295</ref> theft,<ref>[[#Bowden|Bowden]], pp. 257, p. 585</ref> and fear of bodily harm. Two of them, William Belk and Kathryn Koob, recalled being paraded blindfolded before an angry, chanting crowd outside the embassy.<ref>[[#Bowden|Bowden]], p. 267</ref> Others reported having their hands bound "day and night" for days<ref>[[#Bowden|Bowden]], pp. 65, 144, 507–11</ref> or even weeks,<ref>[[#Bowden|Bowden]], pp. 258, 284</ref> long periods of solitary confinement,<ref>[[#Bowden|Bowden]], pp. 307, 344, 405, 540</ref> and months of being forbidden to speak to one another<ref>[[#Bowden|Bowden]], pp. 149, 351–52</ref> or to stand, walk, or leave their space unless they were going to the bathroom.<ref>[[#Bowden|Bowden]], p. 161</ref> All of the hostages "were threatened repeatedly with execution, and took it seriously."<ref>[[#Bowden|Bowden]], p. 203</ref> The hostage-takers played [[Russian roulette]] with their victims.<ref>((cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=hfhkAAAAIBAJ&pg=6225,19155|title=Russian roulette played with hostages|place=New York|agency=Associated Press|work=Edmonton Journal|date=January 21, 1981|page=A3|access-date=June 20, 2015|archive-date=October 17, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151017151448/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=hfhkAAAAIBAJ&pg=6225,19155|url-status=live))</ref>

One hostage, Michael Metrinko, was kept in solitary confinement for several months. On two occasions, when he expressed his opinion of Ayatollah Khomeini, he was severely punished. The first time, he was kept in handcuffs for two weeks,<ref>[[#Bowden|Bowden]], p. 284</ref> and the second time, he was beaten and kept alone in a freezing cell for two weeks.<ref>[[#Bowden|Bowden]], p. 544</ref>

Another hostage, U.S. Army medic Donald Hohman, went on a [[hunger strike]] for several weeks,<ref>[[#Bowden|Bowden]], p. 335</ref> and two hostages attempted [[suicide]]. Steve Lauterbach broke a water glass and slashed his wrists after being locked in a dark basement room with his hands tightly bound. He was found and rushed to the hospital by guards.<ref>[[#Bowden|Bowden]], p. 345</ref> Jerry Miele, a CIA communications technician, smashed his head into the corner of a door, knocking himself unconscious and cutting a deep gash. "Naturally withdrawn" and looking "ill, old, tired, and vulnerable," Miele had become the butt of his guards' jokes, and they had rigged up a mock electric chair to emphasize the fate that awaited him. His fellow hostages applied [[first aid]] and raised the alarm, and he was taken to a hospital after a long delay which was caused by the guards.<ref>[[#Bowden|Bowden]], pp. 516–17</ref>

Other hostages described threats to boil their feet in oil (Alan B. Golacinski),<ref>[[#Bowden|Bowden]], p. 158</ref> cut their eyes out (Rick Kupke),<ref>[[#Bowden|Bowden]], pp. 81–83</ref> or kidnap and kill a disabled son in America and "start sending pieces of him to your wife" (David Roeder).<ref>[[#Bowden|Bowden]], p. 318</ref>

Four hostages tried to escape,<ref>[[#Bowden|Bowden]], pp. 344, 507–11</ref> and all of them were punished with stretches of solitary confinement when their escape attempts were discovered.

[[File:DF-SN-82-06759.jpg|thumb|A group photograph of the fifty-two hostages in a Wiesbaden hospital where they spent a few days after their release.]]
Queen, the hostage who was sent home because of his [[multiple sclerosis]], first developed dizziness and numbness in his left arm six months before his release.<ref>December 1979</ref> At first, the Iranians misdiagnosed his symptoms as a reaction to drafts of cold air. When warmer confinement did not help, he was told that it was "nothing" because the symptoms would disappear soon.<ref>[[#Bowden|Bowden]], p. 258</ref> Over the months, the numbness spread to his right side, and the dizziness worsened until he "was literally flat on his back, unable to move without growing dizzy and throwing up."<ref>[[#Bowden|Bowden]], p. 520</ref>

The cruelty of the Iranian prison guards became "a form of slow torture."<ref>[[#Bowden|Bowden]], p. 397</ref> The guards often withheld mail – telling one hostage, Charles W. Scott, "I don't see anything for you, Mr. Scott. Are you sure your wife has not found another man?"<ref>[[#Bowden|Bowden]], p. 354</ref> – and the hostages' possessions went missing.<ref>[[#Bowden|Bowden]], pp. 257, 570</ref>

As the hostages were taken to the aircraft that would fly them out of Tehran, they were led through a gauntlet of students forming parallel lines and shouting, "Marg bar Amrika" ("[[death to America]]").<ref>[[#Bowden|Bowden]], p. 584</ref> When the pilot announced that they were out of Iran, the "freed hostages went wild with happiness. Shouting, cheering, crying, clapping, falling into one another's arms."<ref>[[#Bowden|Bowden]], p. 587</ref>

===Impact in the United States===
[[File:Heckler2.jpg|thumb|A heckler in Washington, D.C., leans across a police line toward a demonstration of Iranians in August 1980.]]
In the United States, the hostage crisis created "a surge of patriotism" and left "the American people more united than they have been on any issue in two decades."<ref name="TIMEkhomeini">((cite news |title=Man of the Year: The Mystic Who Lit The Fires of Hatred |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,923854,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071023031644/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,923854,00.html |archive-date=October 23, 2007 |newspaper=Time |date=January 7, 1980 |access-date=April 26, 2012))</ref> The hostage-taking was seen "not just as a diplomatic affront," but as a "declaration of war on diplomacy itself."<ref name="ReferenceA">"Doing Satan's Work in Iran", ''New York Times'', November 6, 1979.</ref> Television news gave daily updates.<ref>The [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] late-night program ''America Held Hostage'', anchored by [[Ted Koppel]], later became a stalwart news magazine under the title ''[[Nightline]]''.</ref> In January 1980, the ''[[CBS Evening News]]'' anchor [[Walter Cronkite]] began ending each show by saying how many days the hostages had been captive.<ref>Zelizer, Julian E. ''Jimmy Carter: the 39th President, 1977–81.'' New York: Times, 2010.
Print.</ref> President Carter applied economic and diplomatic pressure: Oil imports from Iran were ended on November 12, 1979, and with [[Executive Order 12170]], around US$8&nbsp;billion of Iranian assets in the United States were frozen by the [[Office of Foreign Assets Control]] on November 14.

During the weeks leading up to Christmas in 1979, high school students made cards that were delivered to the hostages.<ref name="TIME_1981-01-26"/> Community groups across the country did the same, resulting in bales of Christmas cards. The [[National Christmas Tree (United States)|National Christmas Tree]] was left dark except for the top star.

At the time, two Trenton, N.J., newspapers – ''[[The Trenton Times]]'' and ''[[The Trentonian]]'' and perhaps others around the country – printed full-page color American flags in their newspapers for readers to cut out and place in the front windows of their homes as support for the hostages until they were brought home safely.

A severe backlash against Iranians in the United States developed. One [[Iranian Americans|Iranian American]] later complained, "I had to hide my Iranian identity not to get beaten up, even at university."<ref>((cite web |last=Bahari |first=Maziar |url=http://www.newstatesman.com/asia/2008/09/iran-ahmadinejad-government |title=Inside Iran |website=Newstatesman.com |date=September 11, 2008 |access-date=May 5, 2016 |archive-date=March 15, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160315042131/http://www.newstatesman.com/asia/2008/09/iran-ahmadinejad-government |url-status=live ))</ref>

According to Bowden, a pattern emerged in President Carter's attempts to negotiate the hostages' release: "Carter would latch on to a deal proffered by a top Iranian official and grant minor but humiliating concessions, only to have it scotched at the last minute by Khomeini."<ref>[[#Bowden|Bowden]], p. 401</ref>

===Canadian rescue of hostages===
((Main|Canadian Caper))
[[File:ThanksCanada.JPG|upright=1.35|thumb|[[United States|Americans]] expressed gratitude for Canadian efforts to rescue American diplomats during the hostage crisis.]]
On the day the hostages were seized, six American diplomats evaded capture and remained in hiding at the home of the Canadian diplomat [[John Sheardown]], under the protection of the Canadian ambassador, [[Kenneth D. Taylor|Ken Taylor]]. In late 1979, the government of Prime Minister [[Joe Clark]] secretly issued an [[Order in council|Order in Council]]<ref>((cite web |url=http://www.parl.gc.ca/MarleauMontpetit/DocumentViewer.aspx?DocId=1001&Sec=Ch09&Seq=5&Language=E |title=Sittings of the House – Special or Unusual Sittings |website=Parl.gc.ca |access-date=May 5, 2016 |archive-date=April 18, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160418194036/http://www.parl.gc.ca/marleaumontpetit/DocumentViewer.aspx?DocId=1001&Language=E&Sec=Ch09&Seq=5 |url-status=live ))</ref> allowing Canadian passports to be issued to some American citizens so that they could escape. In cooperation with the CIA, which used the cover story of a film project, two CIA agents and the six American diplomats boarded a [[Swissair]] flight to [[Zürich]], Switzerland, on January 28, 1980. Their rescue from Iran, known as the Canadian Caper,<ref>((cite journal |url=https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/winter99-00/art1.html |title=CIA Goes Hollywood: A Classic Case of Deception |last=Mendez |first=Antonio J. |author-link=Tony Mendez |journal=[[Studies in Intelligence]] |date=Winter 1999–2000 |access-date=November 1, 2010 |archive-date=February 19, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130219204103/https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/winter99-00/art1.html ))</ref><ref>((cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9k6tEwOfnyEC&pg=PA304 |title=The Master of Disguise: My Secret Life in the CIA |last=Mendez |first=Antonio J. |author-link=Tony Mendez |publisher=HarperCollins |year=2000 |isbn=0-06-095791-3 |access-date=June 20, 2015 |archive-date=July 5, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230705205917/https://books.google.com/books?id=9k6tEwOfnyEC&pg=PA304 |url-status=live ))</ref><ref>((cite magazine |title=The Talk of the Town |magazine=The New Yorker |page=87 |date=May 12, 1980 |volume=56 |number=3 ))</ref> was fictionalized in the 1981 film ''[[Escape from Iran: The Canadian Caper]]'' and the 2012 film ''[[Argo (2012 film)|Argo]]''.

===Negotiations for release===
((Main|Iran hostage crisis negotiations))

===Rescue attempts===
((Further|Operation Eagle Claw))

====First rescue attempt====
[[Cyrus Vance]], the [[United States Secretary of State]], had argued against the push by [[Zbigniew Brzezinski]], the [[National Security Advisor (United States)|National Security Advisor]], for a military solution to the crisis.<ref name=NYTmag>((cite news|last1=Douglas Brinkley|title=The Lives They Lived; Out of the Loop|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/29/magazine/the-lives-they-lived-out-of-the-loop.html|access-date=May 3, 2017|work=[[The New York Times Magazine]]|date=December 29, 2002|author1-link=Douglas Brinkley|archive-date=June 14, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170614220459/http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/29/magazine/the-lives-they-lived-out-of-the-loop.html|url-status=live))</ref> Vance, struggling with [[gout]], went to Florida on Thursday, April 10, 1980, for a long weekend.<ref name=NYTmag/> On Friday Brzezinski held a newly scheduled meeting of the [[United States National Security Council|National Security Council]] where the president authorized [[Operation Eagle Claw]], a military expedition into Tehran to rescue the hostages.<ref name=NYTmag/> Deputy Secretary [[Warren Christopher]], who attended the meeting in Vance's place, did not inform Vance.<ref name=NYTmag/> Furious, Vance handed in his resignation on principle, calling Brzezinski "evil."<ref name=NYTmag/>

Late in the afternoon of April 24, 1980, eight [[Sikorsky CH-53 Sea Stallion|RH‑53D]] helicopters flew from the aircraft carrier [[USS Nimitz|USS ''Nimitz'']] to a remote road serving as an airstrip in the [[Dasht-e Kavir|Great Salt Desert]] of Eastern Iran, near [[Tabas]]. They encountered severe dust storms that disabled two of the helicopters, which were traveling in complete [[radio silence]]. Early the next morning, the remaining six helicopters met up with several waiting [[Lockheed C-130 Hercules]] transport aircraft at a landing site and refueling area designated "Desert One".

At this point, a third helicopter was found to be unserviceable, bringing the total below the six deemed vital for the mission. The commander of the operation, Col. [[Charles Alvin Beckwith]], recommended that the mission be aborted, and his recommendation was approved by President Carter. As the helicopters repositioned themselves for refueling, one ran into a C‑130 tanker aircraft and crashed, killing eight U.S. servicemen and injuring several more.<ref>[[#Holloway|Holloway]], pp. 9–10.</ref>

Two hours into the flight, the crew of helicopter No. 6 saw a warning light indicating that a main rotor might be cracked. They landed in the desert, confirmed visually that a crack had started to develop, and stopped flying in accordance with normal operating procedure. Helicopter No. 8 landed to pick up the crew of No. 6, and abandoned No. 6 in the desert without destroying it. The report by Holloway's group pointed out that a cracked helicopter blade could have been used to continue the mission and that its likelihood of catastrophic failure would have been low for many hours, especially at lower flying speeds.<ref>[[#Holloway|Holloway]], p. 44.</ref> The report found that the pilot of No. 6 would have continued the mission if instructed to do so.

When the helicopters encountered two [[dust storm]]s along the way to the refueling point, the second more severe than the first, the pilot of No. 5 turned back because the mine-laying helicopters were not equipped with [[terrain-following radar]]. The report found that the pilot could have continued to the refueling point if he had been told that better weather awaited him there, but because of the command for radio silence, he did not ask about the conditions ahead. The report also concluded that "there were ways to pass the information" between the refueling station and the helicopter force "that would have small likelihood of compromising the mission" – in other words, that the ban on communication had not been necessary at this stage.<ref>[[#Holloway|Holloway]], p. 45.</ref>

Helicopter No. 2 experienced a partial [[Hydraulics|hydraulic system]] failure but was able to fly on for four hours to the refueling location. There, an inspection showed that a hydraulic fluid leak had damaged a pump and that the helicopter could not be flown safely, nor repaired in time to continue the mission. Six helicopters were thought to be the absolute minimum required for the rescue mission, so with the force reduced to five, the local commander radioed his intention to abort. This request was passed through military channels to President Carter, who agreed.<ref name="Holloway1980">[[#Holloway|Holloway]]</ref>

In May 1980, the [[Joint Chiefs of Staff]] commissioned a [[Special Forces (United States Army)|Special Operations]] review group of six senior military officers, led by Adm. [[James L. Holloway III]], to thoroughly examine all aspects of the rescue attempt. The group identified 23 issues that were significant in the failure of the mission, 11 of which it deemed major. The overriding issue was [[operational security]] – that is, keeping the mission secret so that the arrival of the rescue team at the embassy would be a complete surprise. This severed the usual relationship between pilots and weather forecasters; the pilots were not informed about the local dust storms. Another security requirement was that the helicopter pilots come from the same unit. The unit picked for the mission was a U.S. Navy mine-laying unit flying [[Sikorsky CH-53 Sea Stallion|CH-53D Sea Stallions]]; these helicopters were considered the best suited for the mission because of their long range, large capacity, and compatibility with shipboard operations.

After the mission and its failure were made known publicly, Khomeini credited divine intervention on behalf of Islam, and his prestige skyrocketed in Iran.<ref>Mackey, ''Iranians'', (2000), p. 298</ref> Iranian officials who favored release of the hostages, such as President [[Bani Sadr]], were weakened. In America, President Carter's political popularity and prospects for being re-elected in 1980 were further damaged after a television address on April 25 in which he explained the rescue operation and accepted responsibility for its failure.

====Planned second attempt====
((Main|Operation Credible Sport))
A second rescue attempt, planned but never carried out, would have used highly modified YMC-130H Hercules aircraft.<ref name="t241">Thigpen, (2001), p. 241.</ref> Three aircraft, outfitted with rocket thrusters to allow an extremely short landing and takeoff in the [[Shahid Shiroudi Stadium|Shahid Shiroudi football stadium]] near the embassy, were modified under a rushed, top-secret program known as [[Operation Credible Sport]].<ref>[http://www.defenceaviation.com/2007/06/c-130-hercules-on-aircraft-carrier.html "C-130 Hercules on Aircraft carrier"] ((Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081203110835/http://www.defenceaviation.com/2007/06/c-130-hercules-on-aircraft-carrier.html |date=December 3, 2008 )). ''Defence Aviation'', 2 May 2007. Retrieved: 2 October 2010.</ref> One crashed during a demonstration at [[Eglin Air Force Base]] on October 29, 1980, when its braking rockets were fired too soon. The misfire caused a hard touchdown that tore off the starboard wing and started a fire, but all on board survived. After Carter lost the [[1980 United States presidential election|presidential election]] in November, the project was abandoned.<ref>((cite book |last1=Shanty |first1=Frank |title=Counterterrorism [2 volumes]: From the Cold War to the War on Terror |date=August 17, 2012 |publisher=Abc-Clio |isbn=978-1-59884-545-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o5NxDwAAQBAJ&q=Operation+Credible+Sport++on+2+November&pg=RA1-PA104 |access-date=October 18, 2020 |archive-date=July 5, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230705205925/https://books.google.com/books?id=o5NxDwAAQBAJ&q=Operation+Credible+Sport++on+2+November&pg=RA1-PA104 |url-status=live ))</ref>

The failed rescue attempt led to the creation of the [[160th SOAR]], a helicopter aviation Special Operations group. [[File:DF-SC-82-06566 Bush hostages Iran.JPEG|thumb|left|Vice President George H. W. Bush and other VIPs wait to welcome the hostages home.]]
[[File:Iran hostages return.jpg|thumb|left|The hostages disembark ''Freedom One'', an Air Force [[Boeing C-137 Stratoliner]] aircraft, upon their return.]]

===Release===
((seealso|First inauguration of Ronald Reagan))
With the completion of [[Iran hostage crisis negotiations|negotiations]] signified by the signing of the [[Algiers Accords]] on January 19, 1981, the hostages were released on January 20, 1981. That day, minutes after Ronald Reagan was [[First inauguration of Ronald Reagan|sworn in]] as president and while he was giving his inaugural address, the 52 American hostages were released to U.S. personnel.<ref name="Weisman A1">((cite news|last=Weisman|first=Steven R.|date=January 21, 1981|title=Reagan Takes Oath as 40th President; Promises an 'Era of National Renewal'—Minutes Later, 52 U.S. Hostages in Iran Fly to Freedom After 444-Day Ordeal|page=A1|newspaper=The New York Times|url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0120.html|url-status=live|access-date=August 25, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190829165248/https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0120.html|archive-date=August 29, 2019|issn=0362-4331))</ref><ref>((cite web |url=http://www.upi.com/Audio/Year_in_Review/Events-of-1981/Iranian-Hostages-Released/12311754163167-2/ |title=Iranian Hostages Released – 1981 Year in Review – Audio |website=UPI.com |access-date=May 5, 2016 |archive-date=July 22, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130722081704/http://www.upi.com/Audio/Year_in_Review/Events-of-1981/Iranian-Hostages-Released/12311754163167-2/ |url-status=live ))</ref> There are theories and conspiracy theories regarding why Iran postponed the release until that moment.<ref>((cite web |url=https://www.vox.com/2016/1/25/10826056/reagan-iran-hostage-negotiation |title=The Republican myth of Ronald Reagan and the Iran hostages, debunked |date=January 25, 2016 |publisher=Vox |access-date=May 5, 2016 |archive-date=May 1, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160501075714/http://www.vox.com/2016/1/25/10826056/reagan-iran-hostage-negotiation |url-status=live ))</ref><ref>((cite web |url=http://www.wrmea.org/1987-october/did-iran-delay-hostages-release-to-ensure-reagan-s-election.html |title=Did Iran Delay Hostages Release To Ensure Reagan's Election? |publisher=WRMEA |access-date=May 5, 2016 |archive-date=April 3, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160403023155/http://www.wrmea.org/1987-october/did-iran-delay-hostages-release-to-ensure-reagan-s-election.html |url-status=live ))</ref><ref>((cite news |last=Lewis |first=Neil A. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/04/15/world/new-reports-say-1980-reagan-campaign-tried-to-delay-hostage-release.html |title=New Reports Say 1980 Reagan Campaign Tried to Delay Hostage Release |location=IRAN |website=[[The New York Times]] |date=April 15, 1991 |access-date=May 5, 2016 |archive-date=April 25, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160425153424/http://www.nytimes.com/1991/04/15/world/new-reports-say-1980-reagan-campaign-tried-to-delay-hostage-release.html |url-status=live ))</ref>

The hostages were flown on an [[Air_Algérie|Air Algeria]] [[Boeing 727]]-200 commercial airliner (registration 7T-VEM) from [[Tehran]], [[Iran]] to [[Algiers]], [[Algeria]], where they were formally transferred to [[Warren Christopher|Warren M. Christopher]], the representative of the United States, as a symbolic gesture of appreciation for the Algerian government's help in resolving the crisis.<ref name="christopher-obitu">((cite news|last=Barnes|first=Bart|title=Former secretary of state Warren Christopher dies at 85|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/former-secretary-of-state-warren-christopher-dies-at-85/2010/09/21/ABCPk6t_story.html|access-date=May 9, 2011|newspaper=Washington Post|date=March 19, 2011|archive-date=November 16, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171116152857/https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/former-secretary-of-state-warren-christopher-dies-at-85/2010/09/21/ABCPk6t_story.html|url-status=live))</ref><ref>((Cite news|last=Gwertzman|first=Bernard|date=January 21, 1981|title=Reagan Takes Oath as 40th President; Promises an 'Era of National Renewal'- Minutes Later, 52 U.S. Hostages in Iran Fly to Freedom After 444-Day Ordeal|language=en-US|page=A1|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/01/21/world/reagan-takes-oath-40th-president-promises-era-national-renewal-minutes-later-52.html|url-status=live|access-date=August 25, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200825115230/https://www.nytimes.com/1981/01/21/world/reagan-takes-oath-40th-president-promises-era-national-renewal-minutes-later-52.html|archive-date=August 25, 2020|issn=0362-4331))</ref> The flight continued to [[Rhein-Main Air Base]] in West Germany and on to an Air Force hospital in [[Wiesbaden]], where former President Carter, acting as emissary, received them. After medical check-ups and debriefings, the hostages made a second flight to a refueling stop in [[Shannon, County Clare|Shannon, Ireland]], where they were greeted by a large crowd.<ref>((cite news |last1=Vinocur |first1=John |title=52 FORMER HOSTAGES START READAPTING IN U.S. AIR FORCE HOSPITAL IN GERMANY |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/01/22/world/52-former-hostages-start-readapting-in-us-air-force-hospital-in-germany.html |newspaper=The New York Times |date=January 22, 1981 |access-date=November 5, 2019 |archive-date=November 5, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191105093838/https://www.nytimes.com/1981/01/22/world/52-former-hostages-start-readapting-in-us-air-force-hospital-in-germany.html |url-status=live ))</ref> The released hostages were then flown to [[Stewart Air National Guard Base]] in [[Newburgh (town), New York|Newburgh, New York]]. From Newburgh, they traveled by bus to the [[United States Military Academy]] at West Point and stayed at the [[Thayer Hotel]] for three days, receiving a heroes' welcome all along the route.<ref>((cite news |last1=Haberman |first1=Clyde |title=NEWBURGH, N.Y. FORMER HOSTAGES HOME FROM IRAN, FAMILIES JOIN THEM AT WEST POINT; PRESIDENT LEADS NATION IN THANKS |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/01/26/us/newburgh-ny-former-hostages-home-iran-families-join-them-west-point-president.html |newspaper=The New York Times |date=January 26, 1981 |access-date=November 5, 2019 |archive-date=November 5, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191105095633/https://www.nytimes.com/1981/01/26/us/newburgh-ny-former-hostages-home-iran-families-join-them-west-point-president.html |url-status=live ))</ref> Ten days after their release, they were given a [[ticker tape parade]] through the [[Canyon of Heroes]] in New York City.<ref>((cite news |last1=Haberman |first1=Clyde |title=HOSTAGES' PARADE SET A RECORD, DIDN'T IT? |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/02/06/nyregion/hostages-parade-set-a-record-didn-t-it.html |newspaper=The New York Times |date=February 6, 1981 |access-date=November 5, 2019 |archive-date=November 5, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191105101104/https://www.nytimes.com/1981/02/06/nyregion/hostages-parade-set-a-record-didn-t-it.html |url-status=live ))</ref>

==Aftermath==
===Iran–Iraq War===
The [[Iran–Iraq War|Iraqi invasion of Iran]] occurred less than a year after the embassy employees were taken hostage. The journalist [[Stephen Kinzer]] argues that the dramatic change in American–Iranian relations, from allies to enemies, helped embolden the Iraqi leader, [[Saddam Hussein]], and that the United States' anger with Iran led it to [[United States support for Iraq during the Iran–Iraq war|aid the Iraqis]] after the war turned against them.<ref name="smithsonianmag">((cite web|title = Inside Iran's Fury|url = https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/inside-irans-fury-11823881/|website = Smithsonian|last = Kinzer|first = Stephen|date = 2008|access-date = October 26, 2022|archive-date = October 26, 2022|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20221026020303/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/inside-irans-fury-11823881/|url-status = live))</ref> The United States supplied Iraq with, among other things, "helicopters and satellite intelligence that was used in selecting bombing targets." This assistance "deepened and widened anti-American feeling in Iran."<ref name="smithsonianmag"/>

===Consequences for Iran===
[[File:13 Aban (3).jpg|thumb|A protest in Tehran on November 4, 2015, against the United States, Israel, and Saudi Arabia.]]
[[File:13 Aban (4).jpg|thumb|The November 2015 protest in Tehran.]]

The hostage-taking is considered largely unsuccessful for Iran, as the negotiated settlement with the U.S. did not meet any of Iran's original demands. Iran lost international support for its war against Iraq.<ref>Keddie, Nikki (2003) ''Modern Iran: Roots and Results of Revolution''. Yale University Press. p. 252. ((ISBN| 9780300098563))</ref> However, anti-Americanism intensified, and the crisis served to benefit those Iranians who had supported it.<ref>[[#Bakhash|Bakhash]], p. 236</ref> Politicians such as Khoeiniha and [[Behzad Nabavi]]<ref>Brumberg, Daniel (2001) ''Reinventing Khomeini''. University of Chicago Press. p. 118. ((ISBN|9780226077581))</ref> were left in a stronger position, while those associated with&nbsp;– or accused of association with&nbsp;– the U.S. were removed from the political picture. Khomeini biographer, [[Baqer Moin]], described the crisis as "a watershed in Khomeini's life" that transformed him from "a cautious, pragmatic politician" into "a modern revolutionary single-mindedly pursuing a dogma." In Khomeini's statements, ''imperialism'' and ''liberalism'' were "negative words," while ''revolution'' "became a sacred word, sometimes more important than ''Islam''."<ref>[[#Moin|Moin]], p. 229</ref>

The Iranian government commemorates the event every year with a demonstration at the embassy and the [[Flag desecration|burning of an American&nbsp;flag]]. However, on November 4, 2009, pro-democracy protesters and reformists demonstrated in the streets of Tehran. When the authorities encouraged them to chant "death to America," the protesters instead chanted "death to the dictator" (referring to [[Supreme Leader of Iran|Iran's Supreme Leader]], Ayatollah [[Ali Khamenei]]) and other anti-government slogans.<ref>((cite news|url=http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2009/11/irans-prodemocracy-protesters-to-obama-with-us-or-against-us-what-a-difference-30-years-makes.html|title=Iran's pro-democracy protesters to Obama: With us or against us? What a difference 30 years makes|work=Los Angeles Times|access-date=November 4, 2009|date=November 4, 2009|archive-date=November 8, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091108131003/http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2009/11/irans-prodemocracy-protesters-to-obama-with-us-or-against-us-what-a-difference-30-years-makes.html|url-status=live))</ref>

===Consequences for the United States===
[[File:13 Aban protests in Tehran 02.jpg|thumb|left|Simulation of the first day of the event, 3 November 2016, Tehran]]
Gifts, including lifetime passes to any [[minor league baseball|minor league]] or [[Major League Baseball]] game,<ref>((cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/19/AR2006011903068.html |title=Safe at Home |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |date=January 20, 2006 |access-date=July 28, 2007 |last=Carpenter |first=Les |archive-date=May 13, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110513234757/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/19/AR2006011903068.html |url-status=live ))</ref> were showered on the hostages upon their return to the United States.

In 2000, the hostages and their families tried unsuccessfully to sue Iran under the [[Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996|Antiterrorism Act]] of 1996. They originally won the case when Iran failed to provide a defense, but the State Department then tried to end the lawsuit,<ref>((Cite news|title = Seeking Damages From Iran, Ex-Marine Must Battle Bush Administration, Too|url = https://www.nytimes.com/2002/02/10/us/nation-challenged-former-hostage-seeking-damages-iran-ex-marine-must-battle-bush.html|newspaper = The New York Times|date = February 10, 2002|access-date = January 5, 2016|issn = 0362-4331|first = Matthew L.|last = Wald|archive-date = January 5, 2016|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160105095448/http://www.nytimes.com/2002/02/10/us/nation-challenged-former-hostage-seeking-damages-iran-ex-marine-must-battle-bush.html|url-status = live))</ref> fearing that it would make international relations difficult. As a result, a federal judge ruled that no damages could be awarded to the hostages because of the agreement the United States had made when the hostages were freed.<ref>((Cite news|title = Judge Rules Iran Hostages Can't Receive Compensation|url = https://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/19/world/judge-rules-iran-hostages-can-t-receive-compensation.html|newspaper = The New York Times|date = April 19, 2002|access-date = January 5, 2016|issn = 0362-4331|first = Matthew L.|last = Wald|archive-date = January 5, 2016|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160105095448/http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/19/world/judge-rules-iran-hostages-can-t-receive-compensation.html|url-status = live))</ref>

The former U.S. Embassy building is now used by Iran's government and affiliated groups. Since 2001 it has served as a museum to the revolution. Outside the door, there is a bronze model based on the [[Statue of Liberty]] on one side and a statue portraying one of the hostages on the other.<ref>((cite web|work = [[BBC News]]|title = In pictures: Iran hostage crisis|url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/picture_gallery/04/middle_east_iran_hostage_crisis/html/12.stm|access-date = January 5, 2016|archive-date = January 5, 2016|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160105095448/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/picture_gallery/04/middle_east_iran_hostage_crisis/html/12.stm|url-status = live))</ref>

''[[The Guardian]]'' reported in 2006 that a group called the Committee for the Commemoration of Martyrs of the Global Islamic Campaign had used the embassy to recruit "martyrdom seekers": volunteers to carry out operations against Western and [[Iran Israel relations|Israeli]] targets.<ref name="theguardian">((cite news |title=Iranian group seeks British suicide bombers |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/apr/19/iran.israel |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |date=April 19, 2006 |access-date=May 10, 2008 |location=London |first=Robert |last=Tait |archive-date=August 30, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130830021651/http://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/apr/19/iran.israel |url-status=live ))</ref> Mohammad Samadi, a spokesman for the group, signed up several hundred volunteers in a few days.<ref name="theguardian"/>
[[File:Iran hostage crisis memmorial.jpg|thumb|Iran hostage crisis memorial]]

===Diplomatic relations===
The United States and Iran broke off formal diplomatic relations over the hostage crisis. Iran selected Algeria as its [[protecting power]] in the United States, transferring the mandate to Pakistan in 1992. The United States selected Switzerland as its protecting power in Iran. Relations are maintained through the [[Interests Section of the Islamic Republic of Iran in the United States|Iranian Interests Section]] of the Pakistani Embassy and the [[Embassy of the United States, Tehran|U.S. Interests Section]] of the Swiss Embassy.
[[File:Operation Eagle Claw remnant in the former embessy.jpg|thumb|Operation Eagle Claw remnant in the former embassy]]

==Hostages==
((more citations needed|section|date=October 2020))
There were 66 original captives: 63 of them were taken at the embassy and three of them were captured and held at the Foreign Ministry offices. Three of the hostages were operatives of the CIA. One of them was a chemical engineering student from URI.<ref name="Journal" />

Thirteen hostages were released on November 19–20, 1979, and one hostage was released on July 11, 1980.

===Diplomats who evaded capture===
* Robert Anders,  – consular officer
* Mark J. Lijek, 29 – consular officer
* Cora A. Lijek, 25 – consular assistant
* Henry L. Schatz, 31 – agriculture attaché
* Joseph D. Stafford, 29 – consular officer
* Kathleen F. Stafford, 28 – consular assistant

===Hostages who were released on November 19, 1979===
* Kathy Gross, 22 – secretary<ref name="If"/>
* Sgt Ladell Maples, USMC, 23 – Marine Corps embassy guard
* Sgt William Quarles, USMC, 23 – Marine Corps embassy guard

===Hostages who were released on November 20, 1979===
* Sgt James Hughes, USAF, 30 – Air Force administrative manager
* Lillian Johnson, 32 – secretary
* Elizabeth Montagne,  – secretary
* Lloyd Rollins – administrative officer
* Capt Neal (Terry) Robinson, USAF, – Air Force military intelligence officer
* Terri Tedford, 24 – secretary
* MSgt Joseph Vincent, USAF, – Air Force administrative manager
* Sgt David Walker, USMC, 25 – Marine Corps embassy guard
* Joan Walsh, 33 – secretary
* Cpl Wesley Williams, USMC, 24 – Marine Corps embassy guard

===Hostage who was released in July 1980===
* [[Richard Queen]], 28 – vice consul

===Hostages who were released on January 1981===
((Multiple image
| image1 = Iran hostages 1, State 1981-02- Iss 231 (IA sim state-magazine 1981-02 231) (page 11 crop).jpg
| image2 = Iran hostages 2, State 1981-02- Iss 231 (IA sim state-magazine 1981-02 231) (page 12 crop).jpg
| image3 = Iran hostages 3, State 1981-02- Iss 231 (IA sim state-magazine 1981-02 231) (page 13 crop).jpg
| image4 = Iran hostages 4, State 1981-02- Iss 231 (IA sim state-magazine 1981-02 231) (page 14 crop).jpg
| image5 = Iran hostages 5, State 1981-02- Iss 231 (IA sim state-magazine 1981-02 231) (page 15 crop).jpg
| image6 = Iran hostages 6, State 1981-02- Iss 231 (IA sim state-magazine 1981-02 231) (page 16 crop).jpg
| perrow = 2
| footer = The 52 hostages released in January 1981, pictured in ''[[State Magazine]]''
))
* Thomas L. Ahern,&nbsp;Jr. – narcotics control officer<ref group="note">Later identified as CIA station chief</ref><ref>((cite news|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,920697-6,00.html|title=The Hostages in Danger|date=December 17, 1979|newspaper=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|access-date=April 25, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071117102054/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,920697-6,00.html|archive-date=November 17, 2007))</ref><ref>((cite news |url=http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0627/p17s01-bogn.html |title=444 days in captivity as the world watched |author=Michael B. Farrell |date=June 27, 2006 |newspaper=[[The Christian Science Monitor]] |access-date=January 11, 2024 |archive-date=September 30, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930084801/http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0627/p17s01-bogn.html |url-status=live ))</ref>
* Clair Cortland Barnes,  – communications specialist
* William E. Belk, – communications and records officer
* Robert O. Blucker, – economics officer
* Donald J. Cooke,  – vice consul
* William J. Daugherty,  – third secretary of U.S. mission (CIA officer<ref>((cite web |url=https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/spring98/iran.html |title=A First Tour Like No Other — Central Intelligence Agency |website=Cia.gov |access-date=May 5, 2016 |archive-date=August 3, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190803183920/https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/spring98/iran.html ))</ref>)
* LCDR Robert Engelmann, USN, – Navy attaché
* Sgt William Gallegos, USMC,  – Marine Corps guard
* Bruce W. German,  – budget officer
* IS1 Duane L. Gillette,  – Navy communications and intelligence specialist
* Alan B. Golacinski, – chief of embassy security, [[Regional Security Officer|regional security officer]]
* John E. Graves,  – public affairs officer
* CW3 Joseph M. Hall, USA,  – Army attaché
* Sgt Kevin J. Hermening, USMC,  – Marine Corps guard
* SFC Donald R. Hohman, USA,  – Army medic
* COL Leland J. Holland, USA,  – military attaché
* Michael Howland,  – assistant regional security officer
* Charles A. Jones, Jr. – communications specialist, teletype operator<ref group="note">Only unreleased African-American hostage</ref>
* Malcolm K. Kalp, commercial officer
* Moorhead C. Kennedy,&nbsp;Jr.,  – economic and commercial officer<ref>Totter, Bill, [http://bangordailynews.com/2009/11/05/news/mainer-recalls-time-as-hostage-in-iran-30-years-ago/ "Mainer recalls time as hostage in Iran  years ago"] ((Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150823080531/http://bangordailynews.com/2009/11/05/news/mainer-recalls-time-as-hostage-in-iran-30-years-ago/ |date=August 23, 2015 )), ''[[Bangor Daily News]]'', Bangor, Maine, Nov. 05, 2009.</ref>
* William F. Keough, Jr.,&nbsp – superintendent of the [[American Schools and Hospitals Abroad|American School in Islamabad]]<ref group="note">Visiting Tehran at time of embassy seizure</ref>
<!--  ** Keough, the final superintendent (principal) of the [[Tehran American School]] (TAS), was shipping out the TAS' students' transcripts; the transcripts were not sent.<ref>"[http://tasassociation.com/About/TASSchoolTranscripts.aspx Tehran American School Transcripts] ((Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160923041201/http://tasassociation.com/About/TASSchoolTranscripts.aspx |date=September 23, 2016 ))." [[Tehran American School]] Association. Retrieved on September 22, 2016.</ref>  -->
* Cpl Steven W. Kirtley, USMC – Marine Corps guard
* Kathryn L. Koob,  – embassy cultural officer<ref group="note" name="two">One of two unreleased female hostages</ref>
* Frederick Lee Kupke, – communications officer and electronics specialist
* [[Bruce Laingen|L. Bruce Laingen]],– chargé d'affaires
* Steven Lauterbach, – administrative officer
* Gary E. Lee,  – administrative officer
* Sgt Paul Edward Lewis, USMC,  – Marine Corps guard
* [[John Limbert|John W. Limbert, Jr.]],  – political officer
* Sgt James M. Lopez, USMC,  – Marine Corps guard
* Sgt John D. McKeel, Jr., USMC,  – Marine Corps guard
* Michael J. Metrinko,  – political officer
* Jerry J. Miele,  – communications officer
* SSgt Michael E. Moeller, USMC, – head of Marine Corps guard unit
* Bert C. Moore, – administration counselor
* [[Richard Morefield]], – consul general
* Capt Paul M. Needham, Jr., USAF, – Air Force logistics staff officer
* Robert C. Ode, – retired foreign service officer on temporary duty in Tehran
* Sgt Gregory A. Persinger, USMC, – Marine Corps guard
* Jerry Plotkin,  – civilian businessman visiting Tehran
* MSG Regis Ragan, USA, – Army soldier, defense attaché's office
* Lt Col David M. Roeder, USAF,  – deputy Air Force attaché
* [[Barry Rosen|Barry M. Rosen]],  – press attaché
* William B. Royer, Jr.,  – assistant director of Iran–American Society
* Col Thomas E. Schaefer, USAF, – Air Force attaché
* COL Charles W. Scott, USA, – Army attaché
* CDR Donald A. Sharer, USN,  – Naval attaché
* Sgt Rodney V. (Rocky) Sickmann, USMC,  – Marine Corps guard
* SSG Joseph Subic, Jr., USA, – military police, Army, defense attaché's office
* Elizabeth Ann Swift,  – deputy head of political section<ref group="note" name="two"/>
* [[Victor L. Tomseth]],  – counselor for political affairs
* Phillip R. Ward,  – CIA communications officer

===Civilian hostages===
A small number of hostages, not captured at the embassy, were taken in Iran during the same time period. All were released by late 1982.
* Jerry Plotkin – American Businessman released January 1981.<ref>((cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/06/08/us/jerry-plotkin-62-who-spent-444-days-as-a-hostage-in-iran.html|title=Jerry Plotkin, 62, Who Spent 444 Days as a Hostage in Iran|last=Ap|newspaper=The New York Times|date=June 8, 1996|access-date=September 1, 2017|archive-date=November 10, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171110225340/http://www.nytimes.com/1996/06/08/us/jerry-plotkin-62-who-spent-444-days-as-a-hostage-in-iran.html|url-status=live))</ref>
* Mohi Sobhani – Iranian American engineer and member of the [[Baháʼí Faith]]. Released February 4, 1981.<ref>[http://articles.latimes.com/2005/jul/16/local/me-sobhani16 'Mohi Sobhani, 70; Held Hostage at U.S. Embassy in Iran in 1980'] ((Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140110093516/http://articles.latimes.com/2005/jul/16/local/me-sobhani16 |date=January 10, 2014 )), ''Los Angeles Times''</ref>
* Zia Nassry – Afghan American. Released November 1982.<ref>[http://articles.mcall.com/1993-03-02/news/2899907_1_afghan-rebels-afghanistan-civil-war Nassry Was Political Prisoner In Iran Red Cross Traces Path To Lost Relatives] ((Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208162926/http://articles.mcall.com/1993-03-02/news/2899907_1_afghan-rebels-afghanistan-civil-war |date=December 8, 2015 )), ''[[The Morning Call]]'', March 2, 1993</ref>
* Cynthia Dwyer – American reporter, arrested May 5, 1980, charged with espionage and freed on February 10, 1981.<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2457&dat=19810212&id=soU-AAAAIBAJ&sjid=IFoMAAAAIBAJ&pg=4213,3582873 Cynthia Dwyer home] ((Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208222533/https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2457&dat=19810212&id=soU-AAAAIBAJ&sjid=IFoMAAAAIBAJ&pg=4213,3582873 |date=December 8, 2015 )), ''[[Bangor Daily News]]'', Feb 12, 1981</ref>
* Paul Chiapparone and Bill Gaylord – [[Electronic Data Systems]] (EDS) employees, rescued by team led by retired [[United States Army Special Forces]] Colonel [[Arthur D. Simons|"Bull" Simons]], funded by EDS owner [[Ross Perot]], in 1979.((Disputed inline|On Wings of Eagles|date=November 2020))
* Four British missionaries, including John Coleman; his wife, Audrey Coleman; and Jean Waddell; released in late 1981<ref>((cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1439978/Canon-John-Coleman.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220111/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1439978/Canon-John-Coleman.html |archive-date=January 11, 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=Canon John Coleman |newspaper=Telegraph |date=August 29, 2003 |access-date=August 1, 2013))((cbignore))</ref>

===Hostages who were honored===
All State Department and CIA employees who were taken hostage received the [[State Department Award for Valor]]. Political Officer Michael J. Metrinko received two: one for his time as a hostage and another for his daring rescue of Americans who had been jailed in [[Tabriz]] months before the embassy takeover.<ref name="multiref2"/>

The U.S. military later awarded the 20 servicemen among the hostages the [[Defense Meritorious Service Medal]]. The only hostage serviceman not issued the medal was Staff Sgt Joseph Subic, Jr., who "did not behave under stress the way noncommissioned officers are expected to act"<ref>((cite news | url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A03E1D61138F932A35754C0A967948260 | work=The New York Times | title=Around the World; Former Iranian Hostage To Get Early Discharge | date=July 1, 1981 | access-date=February 9, 2017 | archive-date=March 21, 2008 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080321061919/http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A03E1D61138F932A35754C0A967948260 | url-status=live ))</ref> – that is, he cooperated with the hostage-takers, according to other hostages.<ref>[[#Bowden|Bowden]], p. 374</ref>

The [[Humanitarian Service Medal]] was awarded to the servicemen of Joint Task Force 1–79, the planning authority for Operation Rice Bowl/Eagle Claw, who participated in the rescue attempt.

The Air Force Special Operations component of the mission was given the Air Force Outstanding Unit award for performing their part of the mission flawlessly, including evacuating the Desert One refueling site under extreme conditions.

===Compensation payments===
The Tehran hostages received $50 for each day in captivity after their release. This was paid by the US Government. The deal that freed them reached between the United States and Iran and brokered by Algeria in January 1981 prevented the hostages from claiming any restitution from Iran due to foreign sovereign immunity and an executive agreement known as the ''Algiers Accords'', which barred such lawsuits.<ref>((cite news | url=https://www.cnn.com/2015/12/24/us/american-iran-hostages-compensation/index.html | work=CNN | title=Former American hostages in Iran will receive compensation | date=December 25, 2015 | access-date=January 21, 2021 | archive-date=February 4, 2021 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210204162326/https://www.cnn.com/2015/12/24/us/american-iran-hostages-compensation/index.html | url-status=live ))</ref> After failing in the courts, the former hostages turned to Congress and won support from both Democrats and Republicans, resulting in Congress passing a bill (2015 United States Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism Act [USVSST]) in December 2015 that afforded the hostages compensation from a fund to be financed from fines imposed on companies found guilty of breaking American sanctions against Iran. The bill authorised a payment of US$10,000 for each day in captivity (per hostage) as well as a lump sum of $600,000 in compensation for each of the spouses and children of the Iran hostages. This meant that each hostage would be paid up to US$4.4 million.<ref>((cite news | url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/dec/24/americans-iran-hostage-crisis-financial-compensation | work=The Guardian | title=Americans in Iran hostage crisis to receive compensation – 36 years later | date=December 24, 2015 | access-date=January 21, 2021 | archive-date=February 4, 2021 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210204015303/https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/dec/24/americans-iran-hostage-crisis-financial-compensation | url-status=live ))</ref> The first funds into the trust account from which the compensation would be paid came from a part of the $9 billion penalty paid by the Paris-based bank [[BNP Paribas]] for violating sanctions against Iran, Cuba and Sudan.<ref name="The Washington Post">((cite news | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/americans-held-in-iran-waited-decades-for-relief-now-they-face-a-new-challenge/2019/02/22/c8b03de4-308f-11e9-8ad3-9a5b113ecd3c_story.html | newspaper=The Washington Post | title=Americans held in Iran waited decades for relief. Now they face a new challenge. | date=February 23, 2019 | access-date=January 21, 2021 | archive-date=February 4, 2021 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210204232207/https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/americans-held-in-iran-waited-decades-for-relief-now-they-face-a-new-challenge/2019/02/22/c8b03de4-308f-11e9-8ad3-9a5b113ecd3c_story.html | url-status=live ))</ref>

Some of the ex-hostages and their families received payments, but then Justice Department lawyers interpreted the law to allow 9/11 family members to get a judgment against Iran as well and to apply to the USVSST fund. Later, victims of the 1983 Beirut bombings also instituted claims against USVSST fund. Due to depletion of the fund, by February 2019, only 17.8% of the legislated amount had been paid to the freed hostages and their direct families.<ref name="The Washington Post"/>

===Notable hostage-takers, guards, and interrogators===
[[File:Former US Embassy in Tehran, now museum (42387693352).jpg|thumb|right|The former US embassy, known as the "espionage den," "den of espionage", and "nest of spies" by the Iranians after the crisis.]]
* [[Abbas Abdi]] – reformist, journalist, self-taught sociologist, and social activist.
* [[Hamid Aboutalebi]] – former Iranian ambassador to the United Nations.
* [[Ebrahim Asgharzadeh]] – then a student; later an Iranian political activist and politician, member of [[Parliament of Iran|Parliament]] (1989–1993), and chairman of [[City Council of Tehran]] (1999–2003).
* [[Mohsen Mirdamadi]] – member of Parliament (2000–2004), head of [[Islamic Iran Participation Front]].
* [[Masoumeh Ebtekar]] – interpreter and spokeswoman for the student group that occupied the embassy; later a scientist, journalist, first female [[Vice President of Iran]], and head of Environment Protection Organization of Iran.
* [[Mohammad Mousavi Khoeiniha]] – spiritual leader of the hostage-takers.
* [[Hossein Sheikholeslam]] – then a student; later a member of Parliament and Iranian ambassador to Syria, died during the [[COVID-19]] outbreak in 2020.

==October Surprise theory==
((Main|1980 October Surprise theory))

The timing of the release of the hostages gave rise to allegations that representatives of Reagan's presidential [[political campaign|campaign]] had conspired with Iran to delay the release until after the [[1980 United States presidential election]] to thwart Carter from pulling off an "[[October surprise]]".((sfn|"October Surprise Task Force"|1993|p=1|ps=: "The serious implications of the allegations-generally that members of the 1980 Reagan/Bush campaign met secretly with Iranian nationals to delay the release of American Embassy personnel then being held hostage in Iran-lent added importance to the debate."))((sfn|Weingarten|1992|p=1|ps=: "These allegations hold that Republican presidential campaign operatives and representatives of the Ayatollah Khomeini secretly agreed to delay the release of the American hostages held in Iran until after the November 1980 election, thereby assisting the defeat of incumbent President Jimmy Carter.")) In 1992, [[Gary Sick]], the former national security adviser to Ford and Carter, presented the strongest accusations in an editorial that appear in ''The New York Times'', and others, including former Iranian president [[Abolhassan Banisadr]], repeated and added to them.<ref name=Keller>((cite news |last=Keller |first=Jared |date=October 11, 2016 |title=The History of the October Surprise |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/history-october-surprise-180960741/ |work=smithsonianmag.com |access-date=November 14, 2020 |archive-date=November 12, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201112134756/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/history-october-surprise-180960741/ |url-status=live ))</ref> This alleged plot to influence the outcome of the [[1980 United States presidential election]] between Carter and Reagan became known as the 1980 October Surprise theory.<ref name=Keller/>

After twelve years of varying media attention, both houses of the [[United States Congress]] held separate inquiries and concluded that credible evidence supporting the allegation was absent or insufficient.((sfn|Weingarten|1992|p=114))<ref name="October Surprise Task Force">((cite book |author=Task Force to Investigate Certain Allegations Concerning the Holding of American Hostages by Iran in 1980 |author-link=House October Surprise Task Force |title=Joint report of the Task Force to Investigate Certain Allegations Concerning the Holding of American Hostages by Iran in 1980 ("October Surprise Task Force") |date=January 3, 1993 |publisher=United States Government Printing Office |location=Washington, D.C. |pages=7–11 |id=H. Rept. No. 102-1102 |oclc=27492534 |ref=((harvid|"October Surprise Task Force"|1993))|hdl=2027/mdp.39015060776773))</ref>

In May 2023, Sick, former Carter administration [[United States Domestic Policy Council|Chief Domestic Policy Advisor]] [[Stuart E. Eizenstat]], author [[Kai Bird]], and journalist [[Jonathan Alter]] published an article in ''[[The New Republic]]'' outlining the various allegations and circumstantial evidence (including Barnes' allegations) that have emerged in the decades following the earlier investigations, declaring the credibility of the theory to be "all but settled."<ref name="TNR 2023">((cite magazine |last1=Alter |first1=Jonathan |author-link1=Jonathan Alter |last2=Sick |first2=Gary |author-link2=Gary Sick |last3=Bird |first3=Kai |author-link3=Kai Bird |last4=Eizenstat |first4=Stu |author-link4=Stuart E. Eizenstat | title=It's All but Settled: The Reagan Campaign Delayed the Release of the Iranian Hostages |url=https://newrepublic.com/article/172324/its-settled-reagan-campaign-delayed-release-iranian-hostages |access-date=22 July 2023 |magazine=[[The New Republic]] |date=3 May 2023))</ref>

==In popular culture==
Over 80 songs which are about the Iran hostage crisis or contain references to it have been released.<ref>((cite web |last1=Keesing |first1=Hugo |title=The Hugo Keesing Collection on the Gulf Wars |url=https://www.lib.umd.edu/binaries/content/assets/public/scpa/hk--gulf-wars-finding-aid.pdf |website=University of Maryland |access-date=August 9, 2019 |archive-date=August 9, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190809101052/https://www.lib.umd.edu/binaries/content/assets/public/scpa/hk--gulf-wars-finding-aid.pdf  )); ((cite web |last1=Brummer |first1=Justin |title=Iranian Hostage Crisis Songs |url=https://rateyourmusic.com/list/JBrummer/iranian-hostage-crisis-songs/ |website=RYM |access-date=August 9, 2019 |archive-date=February 18, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210218213157/https://rateyourmusic.com/list/JBrummer/iranian-hostage-crisis-songs/ |url-status=live ))</ref>
* [[Laurie Anderson]]'s surprise 1982 UK #2 hit "[[O Superman]]" was a response to the crisis, and to [[Operation Eagle Claw]] in particular.<ref>((cite news |last1=Honigmann |first1=David |title=O Superman — Laurie Anderson's experimental hit proved to be uncannily prophetic |url=https://ig.ft.com/life-of-a-song/o-superman.html |access-date=November 14, 2020 |work=Financial Times |date=May 13, 2019 |archive-date=September 19, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190919030054/https://ig.ft.com/life-of-a-song/o-superman.html |url-status=live )); ((cite book |last1=Sayers |first1=Jentery |title=Making Things and Drawing Boundaries: Experiments in the Digital Humanities |publisher=U of Minnesota Press |isbn=978-1-4529-5596-4 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Eip0DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT11 |language=en |chapter=Introduction |date=January 15, 2018 |access-date=November 14, 2020 |archive-date=July 5, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230705205918/https://books.google.com/books?id=Eip0DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT11 |url-status=live ))</ref>
* The 1982 international hit "[[I Ran (So Far Away)]]" by [[A Flock of Seagulls]] does not actually refer to the crisis, but as [[Dave Thompson (author)|Dave Thompson]] has pointed out, the song was "punningly political" to American listeners.<ref name="Thompson">((cite book|first= Dave |last= Thompson |year= 2000 |title= Alternative Rock: Third Ear – The Essential Listening Companion |publisher= [[Miller Freeman, Inc.|Miller Freeman Books]] |location= San Francisco |page= 142 |isbn= 978-0-87930-607-6))</ref> 

The 2012 Hollywood movie ''[[Argo (2012 film)|Argo]],'' which won the Academy Award for Best Picture, was based on the [[Canadian Caper]] rescue.

In 2022, HBO released a 4-part documentary series titled ''[[Hostages (2022 TV series)|Hostages]]''.

==See also==
* [[Robert Whitney Imbrie]] – First US diplomat murdered in Persia
*  [[1979 U.S. embassy burning in Islamabad]]
* [[2011 attack on the British Embassy in Iran]]
* [[2016 attack on the Saudi diplomatic missions in Iran]]
* [[Attack on the United States embassy in Baghdad]]
* [[Avenue of Flags]], park in the city of [[Hermitage, Pennsylvania|Hermitage]] in [[Mercer County, Pennsylvania|Mercer County]], [[Pennsylvania]], United States, erected during the crisis in order to honor the American diplomats who were being held hostage in [[Tehran]], [[Iran]].
* [[Case Concerning United States Diplomatic and Consular Staff in Tehran]]
* [[Lebanon hostage crisis]]
* [[List of foreign nationals detained in Iran]]
* [[List of hostage crises]]
* ''[[Nightline]]'': This [[ABC News]] program named "The Iran Crisis: America Held Hostage" got its start as a method for informing viewers of the latest developments during the crisis. The current title premiered on March 24, 1980, with [[Ted Koppel]] as anchor.
* [[United Nations Security Council Resolution 457]] and [[United Nations Security Council Resolution 461|461]] (1979) on the hostage crisis

==Notes==
((reflist|group="note"))

==References==
((Reflist))

==Cited sources==
* ((cite book|ref=Bakhash|author=Bakhash, Shaul |year=1984|title=The Reign of the Ayatollahs: Iran and the Islamic Revolution|publisher= Basic Books|isbn=0-465-06887-1))
* ((cite book|ref=Bowden|author=Bowden, Mark|year=2006|title=Guests of the Ayatollah: The Iran Hostage Crisis: The First Battle in America's War with Militant Islam|place=New York|publisher= Grove Press|isbn=0-87113-925-1))
*((cite book|ref=Farber|title=Taken Hostage|author=Farber, David |date=1979 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=1-4008-2620-9 ))
*((cite web|ref=Holloway|url=http://www.history.navy.mil/library/online/hollowayrpt.htm#issue10 |year=1980 |last=Holloway |first=J. L. III |author-link=James L. Holloway III |author2=Special Operations Review Group |title=[Iran Hostage] Mission Rescue Report |publisher=U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff |access-date=December 12, 2013 |archive-url=http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20130502082348/http://www.history.navy.mil/library/online/hollowayrpt.htm |archive-date=May 2, 2013 ))
* ((cite book|ref=Moin|author=Moin, Baqer |year=2000|title=Khomeini: Life of the Ayatollah|publisher= Thomas Dunne Books|isbn=978-1-85043-128-2))
*((cite book |last=Weingarten |first=Reid H. |title=The "October Surprise" allegations and the circumstances surrounding the release of the American hostages held in Iran |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=pst.000021071829&view=2up&seq=1 |date=November 19, 1992 |publisher=United States Government Printing Office |location=Washington, D.C. |id=S. Rpt. No. 102-125 |isbn=0-16-039795-2 |oclc=28306929))

==Further reading==
* ((cite book |author=Ammann, Daniel|author-link=Daniel Ammann| title=[[The King of Oil: The Secret Lives of Marc Rich]] | publisher=[[St. Martin's Press]] | location=New York | year=2009 | isbn=978-0-312-57074-3))
* Ebtekar, Massoumeh; Reed, Fred (2000). ''Takeover in Tehran: The Inside Story of the 1979 U.S. Embassy Capture''. Burnaby, BC: Talonbooks. ((ISBN|0889224439)).
* Harris, Les (1997). ''444 Days to Freedom: What Really Happened in Iran''. DVD UPC 033909253390
* ((cite book |author=Stewart, James |title=[[The Partners (book)|The Partners]]: Inside America's Most Powerful Law Firms |publisher=[[Simon & Schuster]] |location=New York |year=1983 |isbn=0-671-42023-2 |author-link=James B. Stewart))
* ((cite book |last=[[Shammai Engelmayer|Engelmayer]] |first=Sheldon D.|title=Hostage: a Chronicle of the 444 Days in Iran |year=1981 |publisher=Caroline House Publishing |location=New York |isbn=0-89803-084-6))
* Sick, Gary (1991). ''October Surprise: America's Hostages in Iran and the Election of Ronald Reagan''. New York: Random House.

==External links ==
* [http://tarikhirani.ir/fa/news/3/bodyView/5234/0/%DB%B4%DB%B4%DB%B4.%D8%B1%D9%88%D8%B2.%DA%AF%D8%B1%D9%88%DA%AF%D8%A7%D9%86%DA%AF%DB%8C%D8%B1%DB%8C.html Recently-published pictures of event] ''tarikhirani.ir''
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20050908065442/http://thememoryhole.org/espionage_den/photos.htm The Memory Hole] hosts a gallery of photographs taken from inside the U.S. Embassy during the crisis.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20161226033359/https://www.jimmycarterlibrary.gov/documents/list_of_hostages.phtml List of hostages and casualties]
* [https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R43210.pdf The Iran Hostages: Efforts to Obtain Compensation] [[Congressional Research Service]]
* ((Internet Archive short film|id=gov.archives.arc.4524406|name=Hostage Report (1981)))

===Declassified documents===
; United States
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20130712231837/http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/International_security_affairs/iranian_hostage_crisis/ Iran Hostage Crisis page] on the [[Office of the Secretary of Defense|Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD)]] & [[Joint Staff]] [[Freedom of Information Act (United States)|FOIA]] Center site.
<!-- ((Dead link |date=July 2015 |url=http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/International_security_affairs/iranian_hostage_crisis/))  See the talk page § 44 US declassified documents link is dead: anyone want to follow up on it? --><!-- Link replaced prior to this comment. -->

; United Kingdom
Records of the Prime Minister's Office, Correspondence & Papers; 1979–97 at discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk: IRAN. Internal situation in Iran; Attack on British Embassy; Hostage-taking at US Embassy; Freezing of Iranian Assets; US Mission to release hostages; Relations with US & UK following hostage taking at US Embassy.
((div col|colwidth=15em))
* [http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/SearchUI/Details?uri=C11522043 Part 1]
* [http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/SearchUI/Details?uri=C11522044 Part 2]
* [http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/SearchUI/Details?uri=C11555963 Part 3]
* [http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/SearchUI/Details?uri=C11555964 Part 4]
* [http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/SearchUI/Details?uri=C11555965 Part 5]
* [http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/SearchUI/Details?uri=C11555966 Part 6]
* [http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/SearchUI/Details?uri=C11555967 Part 7]
((div col end))

((Commons category-inline))

((US history))
((Iran–United States relations))
((Jimmy Carter))
((Ronald Reagan))
((Ruhollah Khomeini))
((Authority control))
((Subject bar|q=y))

((DEFAULTSORT:Iran Hostage Crisis))
[[Category:Iran hostage crisis| ]]
[[Category:1979 in Iran|Hostage crisis]]
[[Category:1980 in Iran|Hostage crisis]]
[[Category:1981 in Iran|Hostage crisis]]
[[Category:20th-century military history of the United States]]
[[Category:Articles containing video clips]]
[[Category:Attacks on diplomatic missions in Iran|United States]]
[[Category:Attacks on diplomatic missions of the United States]]
[[Category:Carter administration controversies]]
[[Category:Conflicts in 1979]]
[[Category:Conflicts in 1980]]
[[Category:Conflicts in 1981]]
[[Category:Conflicts involving the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran]]
[[Category:Diplomatic crises of the Cold War]]
[[Category:History of the foreign relations of the United States]]
[[Category:History of the Islamic Republic of Iran|Hostage crisis]]
[[Category:1979 in the United States]]
[[Category:1980 in the United States]]
[[Category:1981 in the United States]]
[[Category:Hostage taking in Iran]]
[[Category:Iran–United States relations]]
[[Category:Kidnappings in Iran]]
[[Category:Political controversies]]
[[Category:Political controversies in the United States]]
[[Category:United States Marine Corps in the 20th century]]

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