The Iran hostage crisis began when Iranian students who supported the Islamic Revolution stormed the United States embassy in Tehran and took Americans captive. They demanded the extradition of the deposed Shah, who had been admitted to the United States for cancer treatment, and they were backed by Ayatollah Khomeini. After some were released, 52 Americans were held for 444 days. President Jimmy Carter tried negotiations, sanctions and the freezing of Iranian assets, and in April 1980 a military rescue attempt, Operation Eagle Claw, failed in the desert, killing eight American service members. The hostages were freed, under the Algiers Accords, on the day Ronald Reagan was inaugurated. The crisis damaged Carter's reelection hopes and set the tone of American–Iranian hostility for decades.
Before and after
- 28 June 1979Establishment of Noel Kempff Mercado National Park
- 8 July 1979Discovery of Adrastea
- 27 August 1979Warrenpoint ambush
- from 15 October 1979 to 16 January 1992Salvadoran Civil War
- 4 November 1979Iran hostage crisis
- 18 December 1979Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women
- from 25 December 1979 to 15 February 1989Soviet-Afghan War
- 1980Establishment of Lake Malawi National Park
- c. 1980sDigital Revolution
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The era
This moment belongs to the Contemporary world (1945 CE to today), the world since 1945. You can also browse everything in the 20th century.