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Failed Iran Hostage Rescue The former US embassy, Tehran, Iran, as it appears today]] The Iran hostage crisis was a 444-day (about 14 months) period during which student proxies of the New Iranian Regime held Hostage 52 Diplomat s and Citizen s of the United States , which lasted from November 4 , 1979 until January 20 , 1981 . It is believed by many to have caused President Jimmy Carter of the United States to lose his re-election attempt, and punctuated the first Islamic revolution of modern times. EVENTS On November 1 , 1979 Iran's new Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini urged his people to demonstrate against United States and Israel i interests. Ruhollah Khomeini was anti-American in his rhetoric, denouncing the American government as the "Great Satan" and "Enemies of Islam". Thousands of people gathered around the U.S. Embassy in Tehran , protesting. The embassy grounds had been briefly occupied before, during the revolution, and protest crowds outside the fence were common. Iranian police were less and less helpful. On November 4 , amid another chaotic occupation of the grounds, a mob of around 500 Iranian students calling themselves the Muslim Students Following the Line of the Imam (although reported numbers vary from 300 to 2000) seized the main embassy building. The guard of Marines was thoroughly outnumbered, and staff rushed to destroy communications equipment and sensitive documents. Out of 90 occupants, 66 were taken captive, including three who were taken from the Iranian Foreign Ministry. Fourteen women, African Americans and non-US captives were soon released, leaving 52 who remained captive until their release in January 1981. Ayatollah Khomeini claimed he was not aware of the students' plan, but he applauded the action afterwards (Though in actuality he had been informed by the "Muslim Students" on November 3). in 1979. The sign reads "deport all Iranians" and "get the hell out of my country".]] During the time that the hostages in the American Embassy in Tehran were being held, several foreign government diplomats and ambassadors came to visit the American hostages. Ken Taylor of Canada was one of these ambassadors who visited the hostages. The foreign diplomats and ambassadors helped the American government stay in contact with the American hostages and vice versa. Through these meetings with foreign governments, the "Laingen dispatches" occurred. The "Laingen dispatches" were dispatches made by the hostage Bruce Laingen to the American government. The Canadian parliament had a secret session for the first time since World War 2 in 1979 in order to pass special legislation allowing Canadian passports to be issued to some American citizens so they could help 6 American diplomats escape on board a flight to Zurich Switzerland. The students justified taking the hostages as retaliation for the admission of the Shah into the U.S., and demanded the Shah be returned to Iran for a trial. The new Iranian regime believed the Shah was in the U.S. so that the U.S. could carry out another coup d'etat in Iran; the U.S. claimed he had come there only to seek medical attention (the Shah was suffering from cancer, which led to his death in 1980 ). Iranian students demanded that the U.S. government apologize for its interference in the internal affairs of Iran and for the overthrow of Prime minister Mohammad Mosaddeq . They also demanded that Iran's assets in the U.S. be released. The money had been frozen by the U.S. government in response to the hostage taking. The U.S. government refused to accept the demands. Rejecting the Iranian demands, Carter approved an ill-fated secret rescue mission: Operation Eagle Claw . On the night of April 24, 1980, as the first part of the operation, a number of C-130 transport airplanes rendezvoused with eight RH-53 helicopters at an airstrip in the Great Salt Desert of Eastern Iran, near Tabas . Two helicopters broke down in a sandstorm and a third one was damaged on landing. The mission was aborted, but as the aircraft took off again one helicopter clipped a C-130 and crashed, killing eight U.S. servicemen and injuring more than four. A second rescue attempt was planned using highly modified YMC-130H Hercules aircraft. Outfitted with rocket motors fore and aft to allow an extremely short landing and take-off in a soccer stadium, three aircraft were modified under a rushed super-secret program known as Credible Sport . One aircraft crashed during a demonstration at Duke Field, Florida (Eglin Air Force Base Auxiliary Field 3) on October 29, 1980 when the landing braking rockets were fired too soon causing a hard touchdown that tore off the starboard wing and started a fire. All on board survived. The impending change in the White House led to an abandonment of this project. The two surviving airframes were returned to regular duty with the rocket packages removed. One is now on display at the Robins Air Force Base museum, Georgia . Iran's government did not take the responsibility of hostage holding and Prime Minister Mehdi Bazargan and his cabinet resigned just after the event. Revolutionary teams displayed secret documents taken from the embassy, sometimes painstakingly reconstructed after Shredding showing that U.S. intelligence was trying to destabilize the new regime . Though officially treated well, the hostages were often shown blindfolded to local crowds and television cameras. There were some hostages who were beaten for resisting their captors and psychological torture was used on others throughout the 444 days. Some spent extended periods in solitary confinement. The crisis led to daily (yet seemingly unchanging) news updates; the ABC late-night program ''America Held Hostage'', anchored by Ted Koppel , would later become the stalwart news magazine Nightline . The U.S. President at the time, , 1979 , a number of Iranians in the U.S. were expelled (some of whom were unrelated to the crisis or the new Iranian government), and around USD 8 billion of Iranian assets in the U.S. were Frozen on November 14 1979 . Final months The death of the Shah on , 1981 , twenty minutes after President Reagan's inaugural address, the hostages were formally released into U.S. custody, having spent 444 days in captivity. The hostages were flown to Frankfurt Am Main Air Force Base in West Germany , where former President Jimmy Carter, acting as an emissary for the Reagan administration, received them. After medical check-ups and debriefings they took a second flight to Stewart Air Force Base in Newburgh, New York and a bus ride to the United States Military Academy , receiving a hero's welcome all along the route. AFTERMATH Gifts were showered upon the hostages upon their return, including lifetime passes to any major or minor league baseball game. {Link without Title} In 2000 , the hostages and their families tried to sue Iran, unsuccessfully, under the Antiterrorism Act. They originally won the case when Iran failed to provide defense, but the U.S. State Department tried to put an end to the suit, fearing that it would make international relations difficult. As a result, a federal judge ruled that nothing could be done to repay the damages the hostages faced due to the agreement they made when the hostages were freed. OCTOBER SURPRISE CONSPIRACY Various allegations have been made over the years concerning a deal between the Reagan Kitchen Cabinet and Iran, in order to delay the release of the hostages until after the US election of 1980. Although Senate and House investigations in the 1990s declared the allegations to be unfounded, the conpiracy's existence or lack thereof remains a subject of debate. MAHMOUD AHMADINEJAD'S ALLEGED INVOLVEMENT Former hostages Dr. William Daugherty (who worked for the CIA in Iran), Kevin Hermening, David Roeder, US Army Col. Charles Scott (Ret.), and US Navy Capt. Donald Sharer (Ret.) have alleged that Iran's later president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (elected 2005 ) was among the hostage takers. All of them have claimed that they are certain that Ahmadinejad is the man whom they remember from their captivity. Other former hostages and the CIA however, have expressed uncertainty regarding whether Ahmadinejad was actually involved. HOSTAGES November 4 , 1979 - January 20 , 1981 - 66 Original Captives - 63 from and held at Embassy, three from and held at Foreign Ministry Office. Thirteen were released from November 19 - 20 , 1979 and one was released on July 11 , 1980 . Fifty-two remaining hostages endured 444 days of captivity until their release on Inauguration Day, January 20 , 1981 . 6 Evading Diplomats On the day of the seizure, American diplomats evaded capture and remained in hiding at the Swedish and Canadian Embassies
13 Hostages Released From November 19 - 20 , 1979 , thirteen women and African-American personnel that had been captured and held hostage were released:
Richard I. Queen On July 11 , 1980 , 28-year old Vice Consul Richard I. Queen, who had been captured and held hostage was released because of a Multiple Sclerosis diagnosis. 52 Remaining Hostages Released The following fifty-two remaining hostages were held captive until January 20 , 1981 .
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