The Iran Hostage Crisis and the United States

There was once time of prosperity and hope in this great nation. A time where it seemed that nothing could go wrong and a time that America seemed to be on top of the world as a powerhouse; however, by the late 1970’s, that time was no more. America went from an economic powerhouse to a country struggling to survive. America went from the land of the free and the home of the brave to citizens having no identity of patriotism following the Vietnam War. America went from doing the attacking and righting the wrong in the world, to being harassed and taken advantage of. This harassment is told through David Farber’s novel, Taken Hostage, which details the hostage takeover that involved sixty-six American citizens who had to endure 444 agonizing days of being taken hostage because America was no longer in control. During the time of the Iranian hostage crisis, Americans were held back by the tragedy for numerous reasons, many of which stem from the immediate reaction of combined shock and frustration towards the United States Government and President Carter, a lack of knowledge of the ongoing strained relationship between the two countries, and finally, the surprising tension and ineffectiveness of the Carter Administration’s foreign policy.

Wikipedia, Hector Villalon and Christian Bourget began the initial negotiations for the release of the hostages. They “delivered a formal request to Panama for extradition of the Shah” which was "a pretext to cover secret negotiations to free the American hostages." This happened as the Soviets invaded Iran's neighbor Afghanistan an event America hoped would "illustrate the threat" of its superpower neighbor and need for better relations with the

On David Farber 's book Taken Hostage, Farber informs us about the Iran Hostage Crisis and America 's First Encounter with Radical Islam. This book tells us how the United States and Iran got into conflict, leading to the Iranians holding American Embassy members hostage as revenge for them feeling betrayed by the United States. It also informs us about other events that occurred in a decade that caused the United States many problems. Farber talked about all the events that lead to the Iranian Hostage Crisis. November 4, 1979, seizure of the United States embassy in Tehran and the hostage of four hundred and forty four days following, were the first steps leading up to the perpetual War on Terror. Farber believes the failure from American policymakers and more specifically from President Carter, to identify the severity of the crisis made for the prolonged crisis. The sheer ineptitude of Carter administration was the cost of the US to lose it’s way economically, culturally, politically and even military. Carter struggled to respond to the impulses of Islamic fundamentalism within the prevailing Cold War paradigm. They saw the real battle as against secular modernism and they recognized that the US was the major force spreading this cultural and political belief throughout the world. The media misrepresentations of the struggle and mass media manipulation of Americans played on the peoples emotions. Although Carter was popular at the beginning of his presidency, this began

November 4, 1979, seizure of the United States embassy in Tehran and the hostage of four hundred and forty-four days following, were the first steps leading up to the perpetual War on Terror. In the book Taken Hostage by David Farber informs about the Iran Hostage Crisis and the First Encounter with Radical Islam. United States and Iran got into conflict, leading to the Iranians holding American Embassy members hostage as revenge for them feeling betrayed by the United States. It also informs us about other events that occurred in a decade that caused the United States many problems. Farber believes the failure of American policymakers and more specifically from President Carter, to identify the severity of the crisis made for the prolonged crisis. The sheer ineptitude of the Carter administration was the cost of the US to lose it’s way economically, culturally, politically and even military. Carter struggled to respond to the impulses of Islamic fundamentalism within the prevailing Cold War paradigm. They saw the real problem as against modernism and they knew that the US was the major force spreading this belief throughout the world. The media misrepresentations of the struggle and mass media manipulation of Americans played on the peoples emotions. Although Carter was popular at the beginning of his presidency, this began to change when he was unable to solve economic problems and was unsuccessful in negotiating the release of the American hostages in Iran.

The Iranian hostage crisis was one of the most dramatic events in a series of problems that took place during President Jimmy Carter’s term. The crisis, beginning in November of 1979, received the most coverage of any major event since World War II. It was one of many problems faced in light of the United State’s complex relationship with Iran. The effects on both the US and Iran were astronomical, especially politically as well as economically and socially. It took a heavy toll on American relations with the Middle East and changed the way we engage in foreign affairs. In light of this crisis, Iran started an international war that we are still fighting thirty-two years later.

The people of Iran became angry that the United States would allow the Shah to seek medical treatment in the US, and overtook the U.S. embassy in Tehran. Many of them feared that the United States planned to return to Iran and reinstate Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi as their leader, because of the close diplomatic ties that had been established with him. The United States had helped him to overthrow Iran’s Prime Minister during a power struggle in 1953 and modernize Iran (“The Hostage Crisis in Iran”). The Iranian protesters- many of whom were college students- took hostages, 66 of the hostages holding American citizenship, and refused to release them until the Unites States stopped helping the Shah and turned him over to them. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini decided to support the actions of the student protesters, and dissolved treaties that had been made with the Soviet Union and the United States, preventing international intervention towards the violent protests in Iran. Premier Mehdi Bazargan and most of the

Following the Coup, Iranians began to protest that the United States retained unnecessary authority on Iranian associations (1). Therefore, the Shah introduced the SAVAK, trained by the CIA, as an enforcement agency to root out government enemies’. The SAVAK of the shah murdered and tortured thousands of people causing significant tension and becoming one of the most feared enforcement agencies in the world (Bechtel 2: Iran Hostage Crisis). Furthermore, the Shah signed agreements with the United States and several other European countries for oil creating more apprehension. President

The Iran Hostage Crisis changed the political connections between the United States and Iran for several years to come. The Iran Hostage Crisis became a symbol of America 's global power and influence On November 4, 1979, Iranian students stormed the US embassy in Tehran, Iran, and took sixty-three Americans hostage. The students agreed that the hostages would not be released until the Shah returned to “Iran to stand trial for the crimes committed against the Iranian people.” (Bechtel). Despite the Shah’s treatment of the Iranian people, the President Carted allowed the Shah into the United States to receive medical treatment. Although President Carter made attempts to negotiate the hostages released, he failed several times. Because of his failures he was viewed inept and ineffective in regards to the crisis. The hostages were released on January 20, 1981, the day that President Ronald Reagan was sworn into office. This paper will discuss the main reason why the hostages were taken, and why they were not released sooner.

On December 31, 1977, The United States president was in Tehran, the capital of Iran, speaking to their leader. During the stay, he called Iran “an Island of Stability”. Less than two years later, on November 4, 1979, the US embassy in Tehran was stormed by Iranian Students and all United Citizens were taken hostage. Four-hundred forty-four days later, on January 20, 1981, the hostages were finally released. Every single one of those days, the world was watching.

The foundation of the Iranian hostage crisis had its origins in the longstanding United States support of the Shah. This consequently built social and political resentment in the Islamic world and forced America to confront militant Islam for the first time.

By 1951 Mohammad Mossadegh had established himself firmly in the political scene in the mountainous country of Iran. Mossadegh ran for the office of Prime Minister with just one campaign promise: to free Iran from the British imperial yoke (Gavin, 1999, p.64). He had also built his political strength, based largely on his call to nationalize the concession and installations in Iran of the British-owned Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (Risen, 2000, p.10). Mossadegh embodied the fierce nationalistic pride felt by so many Iranians, this brought Mohammad Mossadegh an easy victory (Gregory,1951,p.31). On May Day 1951, after three days of raging Pro-Mossadegh rioting, Mossadegh announced that the Majlis had passed the Nationalization Act, despite strong opposition by many members of the Majlis (Gavin,1999, 65). By this time Mossadegh's power had grown so great that the Shah (monarchy) was virtually forced to appoint him Premier. Even after being appointed to the Premiership, popularity continued to skyrocket for Mossadegh. Mossadegh's popularity, growing power, and intransigence on the oil issue were creating friction between the prime minister and the Shah.

On November 4, 1979 the Iranians had had enough with the United States. Thousands of protesters gathered around the United States embassy, yelling anti-American slogans. At about 10 that morning approximately three thousand people started to climb over the 10-foot wall that surrounded the embassy, forcing their way into the chancery building. The guards were ordered not to fire at the crowd in case it should start a war, but use tear gas. The tear gas was unsuccessful however and the protesters captured the marine guards, military officials and the embassy workers, totaling 66 men and women blindfolded and tied up. It was unclear if Khomeini helped plan the hostage crisis, but he did little to prevent it. Khomeini saw how popular the hostage

Argo is an Academy Award winning movie, directed by Ben Affleck. The movie shows the first couple months of the Iran Hostage Crisis. Argo is a hollywoodized way of showing the true events of the escape and rescue of the six United States diplomats during the Iranian Hostage Crisis. Subsequently there has been various documentaries made based on the events of the Iranian Hostage Crisis, one of the best ones to date is Argo: Inside Story.

What might be going on in their minds for the hostages, is If they are going to come out of this situation alive. If they will be able to see their loved ones again. Is there a way out. Why them and why now. As for the Hostage takers in their minds they are probably thinking how things escalated so quickly. It was probably not meant to go that far. They have to decide whether they will go out guns blazing or surrender, during the hostage situation. After the hostages are released, there should be an immediate intervention. To increase their personal recovery. Follow up resources for hostages can include counseling and therapy. Multicultural considerations to take into account can be language. Possibly not all of the hostages are able to speak

A hostage situation can arise from many different activities such as terrorist, a bank robbery, riots, or when a crime is in progress. Hostage takers may be mentally unstable and have all sorts of personal problems and do not seek for help. A hostage situation is a scary thing to be in because anybody can get hurt whether is a police officer or the people that are being held hostage. Police officers response to the situation into three broad categories; do nothing and wait out the hostage taker, attack or assault the hostage taker’s position, or negotiate with the hostage taker. Although, none of these options seem to satisfy anybody it is taken from the perspective of keeping the officers and the hostages safe. Also there is another different