Iran Hostage Crisis puts America on Edge
The dreadful day that was November 4, 1979 will go down in history for centuries to come for many reasons. In 1979, the U.S. embassy was attacked and 66 people were taken hostage by citizens of Iran.the hostages were kept for about a year and a half. Some of the hostages were released early because they were believed to not be a threat. Then the remaining were released by the Iranians after multiple, failed rescue attempts by the U.S. The causes, the events, and the aftermath will be remembered for a long time.
Before the hostages were taken, there was already a lot of tension between the U.S. and Iran(HIstory). Their prime minister at the time was Muhammad Mossadegh(History). Mohammad wanted to nationalize their oil industry, which the UK and the US were in charge of running(History). This would have severely damaged their economy at the time because of how large the demand of oil was. To try and defend themselves the US and the UK set up a plan to overthrow the prime minister, which resulted in success(History). They replaced him with a new leader who, for sake of time, was called Shah(History). He turned out to be a
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horrible, brutal, and abusive leader, which caused Iranians to join rebellious groups(History). Shah soon came down with cancer and was allowed into the US for treatment(Britannica). This surprisingly caused many more unnecessary problems with the US. Soon after Shah arrived in the US, a group of rebellious students attacked the US embassy and took 66 innocent people hostage(Britannica).
After a small portion of time, 13 hostages were released (most were women, African-Americans, or people who weren’t from the US) because they were believed to not be a threat to the captors(Britannica). Another hostage was released a little while later due to health problems(Britannica). The US initiated a rescue attempt in 1980 but had to retreat because of a desert storm that was causing helicopters to malfunction which lead to 8 of the men being killed in a crash(Britannica). The rescue attempt was known as a secret code name, Operation Eagle Claw(History). With the election coming up, this unresolved issue is not helping current president, Jimmy Carter’s,
campaign. Since the hostage crisis has still not been solved, Ronald Reagan is given a boost in the presidential election. In fact, just a short while after he was elected all of the hostages were released from the Iranian students(Britannica). Many people believe that Reagan had negotiated with the captors to make sure they were not released until after the election so it would look like he had resolved the issue in a few hours that Carter could not resolve in his four years of presidency(HIstory). Although the hostages were not severely injured they were exposed to horrible conditions and torturing(History). The hostages were held for 444 days before finally being released on January 21, 1981(History). It was a normal day for the US until disaster struck and pure evil shook the US. The terrorists from Iran captured a large amount of hostages from the Iranian U.S. embassy in 1979. It is believed that the crisis was due to the tension between the U.S. and Iran after the Islamic Revolution. There were many failed rescue attempts for the hostages which resulted in a number of deaths of the heroic soldiers that lead the failed missions. The hostages were finally released on January 20th, 1981, just minutes after Ronald Reagan was elected over former president Jimmy Carter. After 444 days, the hostages were released to their traumatized families to celebrate that they were finally safe and sound.
This completely changed the perception of the United States within Iran. Many Iranians believed that “American influence and power made a mockery of their national autonomy and desecrated their religious beliefs” (Farber, 37). The real struggle came once the Shah sought asylum in the U.S. Iran believed this to be a betrayal and demanded the Shah be released to the revolutionaries. Due to the fact that the United States did not refuse the Shah, the revolutionaries took the embassy in Tehran and all of the people that worked there hostage. One of the hostages wrote back to his parents during the crisis “‘We will not be set free until shah is released and the longer we stay here like this the better is a chance for something terrible to happen’” (Farber, 156). The siege was led by Iranian students who supported the revolution and the Ayatollah Khomeini, the leader that the revolution had selected to take the place of the
Kinzer tells us that the Iranians celebrated their nationalism in taking control of their oil, but their success was a shock to the British multinational companies in Iran. They did not like the idea of Iran nationalization, so they plan a coup to overthrow the Prime Minister Mossadegh. But this plan failed and the British were disarmed and sent back to their country closing down their embassy in Iran. The British tried to present their case to the United State in a way that the United State would intervene. So they presented a case that Mossaghe is not only nationalizing the Iranians oil, he is also leading Iran into communism. This case stirred the American action and they feared if they assassinate Mossaghe, his seat will be open and communist ...
In All The Shah’s Men there seems to be a very strong hatred for all foreign powers, including the United States, taken by the citizens of Iran. I believe that this ultimately occurred because of the impatience of certain government officials in Washington D.C., and also in Great Britain. If only there could have been better communication between countries, I feel that there would have been a solution reached. The stubbornness of the British for the most part, led to many lives being lost, and a feeling of perpetual disgust being shown towards the United States for their involvement. Although the British were our allies and we did have an extreme fear of communism taking over the free world, this coup was disorganized, forced along too quickly, and put forth without any guidance or strong evidence, which in the end proved to completely defy what the United States was trying to impose on the world, and what Mossadegh was trying to give his people; freedom and democracy.
The Iran-Contra Affair involved the United States, Iran, and Lebanon. The affair coincided with the Iranian hostage crisis, which promoted the United States’ actions in sending weapons to Iran. The Reagan administration decided to trade arms for hostages in hopes of successfully retrieving American hostages from Iran. Iran was at the time under the power of Ayatollah Khomeini, who had put his full support behind the hostage crisis and believed there was nothing that the United States could do to Iran. America’s only chance of rescuing the hostages was to put their support behind Iran in the Iran-Iraq War, which involved the shipment of weapons to Iran f...
...w the United States’ close ally Shah. Countless modernizers were persecuted, arrested and executed. In November 52 United States diplomats were held hostage by student revolutionaries who’d seized the American embassy in Tehran. America took immediate action and seized all Iranian assets. The United States attempted to negotiate. The negotiation, to the dismay of the American people dragged on for 444 days. There was a large push for President Carter to use military forces as means of negotiations; he however opted for peaceful means, which proved to be unsuccessful. Finally in April 1980 the President sanctioned a rescue mission. The attempt failed due to technical difficulties, eight men died; as a result the nation became extremely unnerved. Carter's dialogue with Iran continued throughout 1980. This was yet another failure on Carter’s part to rectify an issue.
The movie Argo tells the true-life story of six Americans rescued from Tehran, Iran. The rescue came after the 1979 takeover of the United States Embassy. Iranians were upset because the United States had given asylum to the Shah. Iranian students protested outside the U.S Embassy demanding the United States extradite the Shah back to Iran. Because the U.S. did not comply with their demands, the protestors stormed the U.S. Embassy and captured the Americans inside. Six Americans escaped to the streets and wound up at the Canadian Ambassador’s home for safety.
The late 20th century was a very turbulent time in American history. In 1976, Jimmy Carter was elected to the presidency, and he had many goals to help better America. However, on November 4th, 1979, a group of radical students seized the United States’ embassy in Tehran, Iran. This completely altered the course of American history and relations with the Middle East. This crisis had many impacts on the United States. It caused the Energy Crisis which in turn caused the Recession of 1979. The Iran Hostage Crisis also had political consequences for President Carter. It was a major factor that contributed to him losing the election of 1980 to Ronald Reagan. Additionally, this crisis led to many instances of racial discrimination toward Iranian-Americans and Iranian immigrants. Even after the Hostage Crisis was resolved, the bad blood between the two countries continued; the United States helped Iraq in the war against Iran, and the Iranians backed a second hostage situation in Lebanon. The Iran Hostage Crisis was a very important event that impacted America in many ways and destroyed our relationship with Iran. The consequences of this event are still felt today and continue to our foreign policies toward Iran.
"It was like throwing a burning branch into a bucket of Kerosene-Anti American sentiment in Iran exploded", as one America Leader said when the Shah came to the United States. The tension between the United States and Iran initiated in the premature stage of the Shah's rule. The Iranian Hostage Crisis was the fuse that ignited the apprehension between America and Iran. The Iranian Hostage Crisis was significant because it caused the American government irrevocably weakened the United States relationship with Iran and how United States deals with other countries affairs.
The hostages were freed on Jan. 20, 1981, Iran released 52 Americans who had been held hostage for 444 days, minutes after the presidency had passed from Jimmy Carter to Ronald Reagan. The hostages were placed on a plane in Tehran as Reagan delivered his inaugural address. “The voice came over the Algerian plane’s speaker:”You are now leaving Iranian air space!” What a cheer went up from the American hostages on the plane! This was the moment for which we had waited 444 days. Now we knew we were really
On May 5th, 1980 the world was watching as the SAS was about to perform a life-taking raid on the Iranian Embassy in London against a six-man team known as the 'Democratic Revolutionary Movement for the Liberation of Arabistan' (DRMLA for short) (Barnes). The goal of this team or terrorist association was to draw attention to its demands for the self-determination of the Arab population of Khuzestan. The SAS had gotten into the Embassy by rappelling from the top of the roof into the windows of the Embassy. Surprisingly, the raid had only lasted nearly seventeen minutes long. The raid was a huge success for the rescuing of nineteen of the twenty hostages with all but perfect military performance, although two soldiers were killed by the terrorist’s. In fact, Margaret Thatcher, the prime minister of London at the time, had stated that it was “a brilliant operation” (Barnes).
Iran is the only country in the world to have completely and truly succeeded in creating an islamic state using political Islam. The modern western tendency to separate church and state is frowned upon there, Islam is believed to be an integral part of politics, a way of life. This is evident through the 1979 Iranian revolution and institution of the Ayatollah Khomeini.
Rising tensions in the Middle East lead to perhaps the most infamous event during President Jimmy Carter’s administration: the Iran Hostage Crisis. During November of 1979, Iranian university students with growing anti-United States sentiment stormed the United States embassy in Tehran, capturing and holding 60 Americans hostage for 444 days. Though Carter issued a risky military operation with intent to send an elite rescue team into the compound in April of 1980 (often referred to as Operation Eagle Claw), the mission failed and resulted in the death of eight American servicemen when sandstorms compromised helicopters, resulting in one of the helicopters to crash into another aircraft during take-off. The incident proved disastrous for Carter
The Iran Hostage Crisis was a dangerous time period for Americans and held lots of events in it. It took place on November 4, 1997. The location was in Tehran, Iran. The main place things happened was in the embassy. One of the main issues was with the president. That didn’t stop the Americans from being angry and face Moorhead Kennedy. President Carter knew the country was in serious danger. This event in history happen 39 years ago. It was between Iran and the united states. The group mostly consisted of young students. On November 4, 1979 President Cater got a call that 50 to 60 americans had been captured and taken to Iran. There was a total of 500 Iranian students at one point on the street and shouting as if they were celabrating something special. It was not goood shouting, it contained nasty/foul words. Many Iranian students wanted America to fail and many wanted Carter gone. The main cause to this was that President Carter let Iran’s Shah come to the united States for medical help. Americans beleived that letting Shah in was the worst decision because of what he was called. This event led up to the Iran
Following the 2009 Iranian election, the government of Iran said that they won. However, the Iranian people seem to have a very different view of who won and have went to the streets to protest. Instead of providing the evidence of the win, the Iran government is flat out fighting its own people in defiance. The government needs to listen to its own people and accept that it is time for change. But of course they won’t. They even justify murder in order to keep their own power. Dictatorship sticks personal army on them, beating, shooting and arresting political prisoners. They would shut down all foreign media, trying to control all media and information getting out of the country. And the government also can try to control protesters getting information to each other. But Iranians can get around censors through use of internet, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. Dictatorships have gotten away with this before, but can't because people can document human rights abuses with the use of cellphones and computers and laptops, exposing the corruption and abuse of the Iranian government - everyone is a journalist. And the rest of the world who is also connected via TV, internet etc. can know all about it (Allen). We should care about Iran because religious expressions, women rights, beatings and torture is happening all the time in Iran.
Iran is the top country in the world to sponsor terrorism (Phillips). According to United Nations (UN), Iran is the 13th largest country out of 193 countries with a population estimated of 69,515,000 in 2005 (“Iran”). Terrorism is an issue that affects everyone around the globe, whether the country participates or is merely collateral damage. By the FBI, terrorism is defined as any “violent acts…that violate state or federal law…intended to intimidate…the civilian population [or] to influence the policy of a government…by mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping…that generally transcend national boundaries” (“Terrorism”). Some of the other nations that are most affected by terrorism included Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Syria, and Sudan,