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Iran hostage crisis

(1979 – 81) Political crisis involving Iran's detention of U.S. diplomats. Anti-American sentiment in Iran — fueled in part by close ties between the U.S. and the unpopular leader Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi — peaked when Pahlavi fled Iran during the 1979 Iranian revolution. When the monarch entered the U.S. for medical treatment later that year, Islamic militants stormed the U.S. embassy in Tehran and seized 66 Americans. The hostage-takers, who enjoyed the tacit support of the new Iranian regime of Ruhollah Khomeini, demanded the shah's extradition to Iran, but Pres. Jimmy Carter refused and froze all Iranian assets in the U.S. The Iranians released 13 women and African Americans on Nov. 19 – 20, 1979, and another hostage was released in July 1980. A rescue attempt in April 1980 failed. Negotiations for the hostages' return began after the shah died in July 1980, but the remaining 52 hostages were kept in captivity until Jan. 20, 1981, when they were released moments after the inauguration of Ronald Reagan. The crisis contributed to Carter's failure to win reelection. See also Iran-Contra Affair.

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