On November 4, 1979, “students” took over the U.S. embassy in Iran and held the occupants of the embassy for 444 days. In case you were not aware, the taking of an embassy is, by international law, an act of war. Officials of the Iranian government allowed the occupation, taking, as far as anyone can tell, no efforts to relieve the situation. What nation would allow “students” to overtake an embassy (under international law, an act of war) for 444 days?
Operation Eagle Claw, an effort to rescue the hostages in April of 1980 failed due to numerous failures too intricate to describe here. Iran freed our embassy personnel on January 20, 1981, the day Ronald Reagan was sworn into office. While hindsight is easy, there is still considerable speculation that if Jimmy Carter had been able to free the hostages, he might have won the presidential election for another term.
Keep Reading