Iran hostage crisis
Iran hostage crisis | |||||||
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Part of the consolidation of the Iranian Revolution | |||||||
Iranian students crowd the U.S. Embassy in Tehran (November 4, 1979) | |||||||
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Commanders and leaders | |||||||
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8 American servicemen and 1 Iranian civilian killed during an Consolidation of the Iranian Revolution | |||||||
Iran hostage crisis |
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The Iran hostage crisis was a diplomatic standoff between
Western media described the crisis as an "entanglement" of "vengeance and mutual incomprehension".
Six American diplomats who had evaded capture were rescued by a
Political analysts cited the standoff as a major factor in the continuing downfall of
Background
1953 coup d'état
During the
The United States did not participate in the invasion but it secured Iran's independence after the war ended by applying intense diplomatic pressure on the Soviet Union which forced it to withdraw from Iran in 1946.
By the 1950s,
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 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.[27]
The
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.
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." Its work, the study said, was "routine, prudent espionage conducted at diplomatic missions everywhere."[36]
Prelude
First attempt
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.[37] 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.[38] This incident became known as the Valentine's Day Open House.[39]
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
The students observed the procedures of the Marine Security Guards 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 Revolutionary Guards.[46]
According to the group and other sources, Ayatollah Khomeini did not know of the plan beforehand.[47] 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.[48]
Supporters of the takeover stated that their motivation was fear of another American-backed coup against their popular revolution.
Takeover
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. Embassy.
At about 6:30 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.[49]
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."[50] 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.[51] 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.[52]
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 "American spy den in Tehran."[53]
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.
A State Department diplomatic cable of November 8, 1979, details "A Tentative, Incomplete List of U.S. Personnel Being Held in the Embassy Compound."[56]
Motivations
The
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.[52] Some attributed the decision not to release the hostages quickly to President Carter's failure to immediately deliver an ultimatum to Iran.[57] His initial response was to appeal for the release of the hostages on humanitarian grounds and to share his hopes for a strategic anti-communist alliance with the Ayatollah.[58] 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:
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.[59]
Various leftist student groups also supported the taking of hostages at the US embassy.[60][61][62] 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.[63] According to scholar Daniel Pipes, writing in 1980, the 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.[64] The Soviets, and possibly their allies Cuba, Libya, and East Germany, were suspected of providing indirect assistance to the participants in the takeover of the U.S. embassy in Tehran. The 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.[65] 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.[66] Cuba and its socialist ally Venezuela, under Hugo Chávez, would later form ALBA in alliance with the Islamic Republic as a counter to neoliberal American influence.
Revolutionary teams displayed secret documents purportedly taken from the embassy, sometimes painstakingly reconstructed after shredding,[67] 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
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.[73] After the Shah entered the United States, Ayatollah Khomeini called for street demonstrations.[74]
Revolutionary teams displayed secret documents purportedly taken from the embassy, sometimes painstakingly reconstructed after
The 444-day 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
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."[82]
By midsummer 1980, the Iranians had moved the hostages to prisons in Tehran[83] to prevent escapes or rescue attempts and to improve the logistics of guard shifts and food deliveries.[84] 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.[85] Several foreign diplomats and ambassadors – including the former Canadian ambassador Ken Taylor – visited the hostages over the course of the crisis and relayed information back to the U.S. government, including dispatches from Laingen.
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.[86] 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."[87]
The actual treatment of the hostages was far different. They described beatings,[88] theft,[89] 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.[90] Others reported having their hands bound "day and night" for days[91] or even weeks,[92] long periods of solitary confinement,[93] and months of being forbidden to speak to one another[94] or to stand, walk, or leave their space unless they were going to the bathroom.[95] All of the hostages "were threatened repeatedly with execution, and took it seriously."[96] The hostage-takers played Russian roulette with their victims.[97]
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,[98] and the second time, he was beaten and kept alone in a freezing cell for two weeks.[99]
Another hostage, U.S. Army medic Donald Hohman, went on a hunger strike for several weeks,[100] 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.[101] 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.[102]
Other hostages described threats to boil their feet in oil (Alan B. Golacinski),[103] cut their eyes out (Rick Kupke),[104] or kidnap and kill a disabled son in America and "start sending pieces of him to your wife" (David Roeder).[105]
Four hostages tried to escape,[106] and all of them were punished with stretches of solitary confinement when their escape attempts were discovered.
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.[107] 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.[108] 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."[109]
The cruelty of the Iranian prison guards became "a form of slow torture."[110] 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?"[111] – and the hostages' possessions went missing.[112]
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").[113] 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."[114]
Impact in the United States
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."[115] The hostage-taking was seen "not just as a diplomatic affront," but as a "declaration of war on diplomacy itself."[116] Television news gave daily updates.[117] In January 1980, the CBS Evening News anchor Walter Cronkite began ending each show by saying how many days the hostages had been captive.[118] 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 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.[8] Community groups across the country did the same, resulting in bales of Christmas cards. The National Christmas Tree was left dark except for the top star.
At the time, two Trenton, N.J., newspapers –
A severe backlash against Iranians in the United States developed. One Iranian American later complained, "I had to hide my Iranian identity not to get beaten up, even at university."[119]
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."[120]
Canadian rescue of hostages
On the day the hostages were seized, six American diplomats evaded capture and remained in hiding at the home of the Canadian diplomat
Negotiations for release
Rescue attempts
First rescue attempt
Cyrus Vance, the United States Secretary of State, had argued against the push by Zbigniew Brzezinski, the National Security Advisor, for a military solution to the crisis.[125] Vance, struggling with gout, went to Florida on Thursday, April 10, 1980, for a long weekend.[125] On Friday Brzezinski held a newly scheduled meeting of the National Security Council where the president authorized Operation Eagle Claw, a military expedition into Tehran to rescue the hostages.[125] Deputy Secretary Warren Christopher, who attended the meeting in Vance's place, did not inform Vance.[125] Furious, Vance handed in his resignation on principle, calling Brzezinski "evil."[125]
Late in the afternoon of April 24, 1980, eight RH‑53D helicopters flew from the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz to a remote road serving as an airstrip in the 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.[126]
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.[127] 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 storms 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.[128]
Helicopter No. 2 experienced a partial 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.[129]
In May 1980, the
After the mission and its failure were made known publicly, Khomeini credited divine intervention on behalf of Islam, and his prestige skyrocketed in Iran.
Planned second attempt
A second rescue attempt, planned but never carried out, would have used highly modified YMC-130H Hercules aircraft.[131] Three aircraft, outfitted with rocket thrusters to allow an extremely short landing and takeoff in the Shahid Shiroudi football stadium near the embassy, were modified under a rushed, top-secret program known as Operation Credible Sport.[132] 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 presidential election in November, the project was abandoned.[133]
The failed rescue attempt led to the creation of the
Release
With the completion of 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 sworn in as president and while he was giving his inaugural address, the 52 American hostages were released to U.S. personnel.[134][135] There are theories and conspiracy theories regarding why Iran postponed the release until that moment.[136][137][138]
The hostages were flown on an
Aftermath
Iran–Iraq War
The
Consequences for Iran
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.[145] However, anti-Americanism intensified, and the crisis served to benefit those Iranians who had supported it.[146] Politicians such as Khoeiniha and Behzad Nabavi[147] were left in a stronger position, while those associated with – or accused of association with – 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."[148]
The Iranian government commemorates the event every year with a demonstration at the embassy and the burning of an American 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 Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei) and other anti-government slogans.[149]
Consequences for the United States
Gifts, including lifetime passes to any
In 2000, the hostages and their families tried unsuccessfully to sue Iran under the 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,[151] 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.[152]
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.[153]
Diplomatic relations
The United States and Iran broke off formal diplomatic relations over the hostage crisis. Iran selected Algeria as its
Hostages
This section needs additional citations for verification. (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.[36]
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[78]
- 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
- Thomas L. Ahern, Jr. – narcotics control officer[note 1][155][156]
- 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[157])
- 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
- 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[note 2]
- Malcolm K. Kalp, commercial officer
- Moorhead C. Kennedy, Jr., – economic and commercial officer[158]
- William F. Keough, Jr. – superintendent of the American School in Islamabad[note 3]
- Cpl Steven W. Kirtley, USMC – Marine Corps guard
- Kathryn L. Koob, – embassy cultural officer[note 4]
- Frederick Lee Kupke, – communications officer and electronics specialist
- L. Bruce Laingen,– chargé d'affaires
- Steven Lauterbach, – administrative officer
- Gary E. Lee, – administrative officer
- Sgt Paul Edward Lewis, USMC, – Marine Corps guard
- 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 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[note 4]
- 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.[159]
- Mohi Sobhani – Iranian American engineer and member of the Baháʼí Faith. Released February 4, 1981.[160]
- Zia Nassry – Afghan American. Released November 1982.[161]
- Cynthia Dwyer – American reporter, arrested May 5, 1980, charged with espionage and freed on February 10, 1981.[162]
- Paul Chiapparone and Bill Gaylord – disputed]
- Four British missionaries, including John Coleman; his wife, Audrey Coleman; and Jean Waddell; released in late 1981[163]
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.[52]
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"[164] – that is, he cooperated with the hostage-takers, according to other hostages.[165]
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.[166] 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.[167] 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.[168]
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.[168]
Notable hostage-takers, guards, and interrogators
- Abbas Abdi – reformist, journalist, self-taught sociologist, and social activist.
- Hamid Aboutalebi – former Iranian ambassador to the United Nations.
- 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
The timing of the release of the hostages gave rise to allegations that representatives of Reagan's presidential 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".[169][170] 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.[171] 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.[171]
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.[172][173]
In May 2023, Sick, former Carter administration 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."[174]
In popular culture
Over 80 songs which are about the Iran hostage crisis or contain references to it have been released.[175]
- Laurie Anderson's surprise 1982 UK #2 hit "O Superman" was a response to the crisis, and to Operation Eagle Claw in particular.[176]
- 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 has pointed out, the song was "punningly political" to American listeners.[177]
The 2012 Hollywood movie 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.
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 in 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 461 (1979) on the hostage crisis
Notes
References
- ISBN 978-1-317-04590-8.
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.
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- ^ "October Surprise Task Force" 1993, p. 1: "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."
- ^ Weingarten 1992, p. 1: "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."
- ^ a b Keller, Jared (October 11, 2016). "The History of the October Surprise". smithsonianmag.com. Archived from the original on November 12, 2020. Retrieved November 14, 2020.
- ^ Weingarten 1992, p. 114.
- )
- ^ Alter, Jonathan; Sick, Gary; Bird, Kai; Eizenstat, Stu (May 3, 2023). "It's All but Settled: The Reagan Campaign Delayed the Release of the Iranian Hostages". The New Republic. Retrieved July 22, 2023.
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Cited sources
- Bakhash, Shaul (1984). The Reign of the Ayatollahs: Iran and the Islamic Revolution. Basic Books. ISBN 0-465-06887-1.
- Bowden, Mark (2006). Guests of the Ayatollah: The Iran Hostage Crisis: The First Battle in America's War with Militant Islam. New York: Grove Press. ISBN 0-87113-925-1.
- Farber, David (1979). Taken Hostage. Princeton University Press. ISBN 1-4008-2620-9.
- Holloway, J. L. III; Special Operations Review Group (1980). "[Iran Hostage] Mission Rescue Report". U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff. Archived from the original on May 2, 2013. Retrieved December 12, 2013.
- Moin, Baqer (2000). Khomeini: Life of the Ayatollah. Thomas Dunne Books. ISBN 978-1-85043-128-2.
- Weingarten, Reid H. (November 19, 1992). The "October Surprise" allegations and the circumstances surrounding the release of the American hostages held in Iran. Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office. OCLC 28306929. S. Rpt. No. 102-125.
Further reading
- 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
- ISBN 0-671-42023-2.
- 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
- Recently-published pictures of event tarikhirani.ir
- The Memory Hole hosts a gallery of photographs taken from inside the U.S. Embassy during the crisis.
- List of hostages and casualties
- The Iran Hostages: Efforts to Obtain Compensation Congressional Research Service
- The short film Hostage Report (1981) is available for free viewing and download at the Internet Archive.
Declassified documents
- United States
- Iran Hostage Crisis page on the Joint Staff FOIACenter site.
- 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.
Media related to Iran hostage crisis at Wikimedia Commons