In 1979, the American embassy in Iran was invaded by Iranian revolutionaries and several Americans were taken hostage. However, six managed to escape to the official residence of the Canadian Ambassador and the CIA was eventually ordered to get them out of the country. With few options, exfiltration expert Tony Mendez devised a daring plan: to create a phony Canadian film project looking to shoot in Iran and smuggle the Americans out as its production crew. With the help of some trusted Hollywood contacts, Mendez created the ruse and proceed to Iran as its associate producer. However, time was running out with the Iranian security forces closing in on the truth while both his charges and the White House had grave doubts about the operation themselves. Written by Kenneth Chisholm (kchishol@rogers.com)…
Carter's presidency was marked by several major crises, including the takeover of the American embassy and holding of hostages by students in Iran, a failed rescue attempt of the hostages, serious fuel shortages, and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.…
The tense standoff that followed the Iranian Hostage Crisis, and his failure to free the hostages led his government to be perceived as inept and inefficient; this perception increased after the failure of a secret U.S. military mission in April 1980.…
In 1979, an Iranian government supported terrorist group overtook the US embassy. They captured 52 people. In an order to obtain the release of the American hostages being held in Lebanon, The Reagan Administration secretly began to sell weapons to Iran. This went against an American ban on arms sales to Iran, which had been in affect since the embassy had been seized. (Corrigan 40-41)…
The Iran Hostage Crisis was when 52 Americans were held hostage for a year and 79 days in November 4th 1979 to January 20th, 1981 by University students in support of Supreme Leader Ruhollah Khomeini. This is a continuation from Operation Ajax effects on U.S. ties with Iran. (Also, known as the U.S. Embassy Crisis) During the 25 years the Shah ruled, many Iranians feared the autocratic leader. The Shah created the SAVAK police based from the CIA and the Israeli Mossad. Whoever disobeyed the law, was imprisoned or tortured. A “White Revolution” began from 1963 through 1978 imposing a sequence of reforms that opposed the traditional system. In January 1963, the Shah announced the White Revolution. Enforcing women’s’ rights, land reform, allowing non-Muslims to hold office, westernizing Iran, and much more were some of the initiatives for this revolution. Pahlavi imparted fear to the people and tried to modify Iran in every which way. During his time in office, people didn’t appreciate the Shah for his abuse of power and thought he was adversative to Iran’s society made up of 90% Muslims. They looked up to anti U.S radical religious leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Khomeini began to protest and give speeches about Iran’s’ Shah and his plans in January of 1963. Throughout the months of January through June, Khomeini gave speeches about the Shah and soon his crowd of people grew from nothing to many many people. In June 1963, authorities took Khomeini and detained him in Qom, Iran and took him to Tehran. This caused an uproar as his followers rioted. He was released in August but almost a year later, in November he was held in jail for half a year and was forced to apologize after he was released. Standing up for his views, Khomeini stood his ground and didn’t apologize. Later, he spent 14 years in exile and stayed in Turkey for less than a year and Iraq for the rest. While in exile, Khomeini…
In 1985, The Iran and Iraq war is feuding overseas and America had an embargo against selling arms to Iran. Our President was Ronald Reagan and the National Security Adviser was Robert McFarlane. “Iran made a secret request to buy weapons from the United States, McFarlane sought Reagan 's approval” McFarlane told Reagan “that the sale of arms would not only improve U.S. relations with Iran, but might in turn lead to improved relations with Lebanon, increasing U.S. influence in the troubled Middle East.” Reagan was having trouble with Lebanon the Iranian terrorist had Seven American hostages being held in Lebanon. Reagan was frustrated that he couldn’t bring these American hostages back home he believed that it was his duty. The U.S. an Iran were going to have to make a deal missiles for the hostages the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of State were against making the deal but Reagan, McFarlane and the CIA director were all for the deal. Since Reagan backed the deal 1,500 missiles were shipped to Iran. The Iranian terrorist released three hostages but later captured three more.…
The Iran Hostage Crisis happened on November 4, 1979 when Iranian student revolutionaries took over the US Embassy in Tehran capturing 52 American hostages (Amies). The crisis demonstrated the ineffectiveness of the Carter administration in handling foreign affairs with Middle Eastern countries. Around 300 student revolutionaries gathered on the morning of November 4th to take over the US Embassy in order to protest against the Shah that went to the United States for medical treatment (CNN Library). The 52 hostages had to go through mental and physical abuse that included theft, beatings and the hostages were scared for their lives (Bowden). President Carter sent Operation Eagle Claw into action, it was a complete failure due to the technical difficulties with the helicopters, and the end the hostages were released due to the Iran Hostage Crisis Negotiations and were released after 444 days of captivity (PBS, Unknown). The results of Iran was a country that supported anti-Americanism and the United States placed many sanctions on Iran that cut off the overall ties between the two countries (Katzman). The Iran Hostage Crisis undermined Carter’s conduct of foreign policy; the crisis dominated headlines and news reports all over the world and showed Carter’s inability to resolve the issue quickly made his…
The situation took a political angle when the revolutionary government of Iran supported the students. Ayatollah Khomeini seized the opportunity to build his support base by supporting the students. To America the message portrayed was that the whole Iranian nation plus its government hated the American people. Before the crisis, the relation between the two countries was cordial. America had invested in Iran, and had thousands of Americans residing in Iran. The crisis ended this cordial relationship. Iran 's attempt to lessen the hostility is seen in its act to releasing the hostages on the date the President Reagan was being sworn in (Watson, 2006). The significance of this act was to inform America plus the government that they only had an issue with Carter leadership. The release of the hostages was a conciliatory message aimed at cementing peaceful relations between the two countries. The new American regime plus the American public saw it differently; they believed that the matter was already long overdue, and Iran was facing economic hardship because of the sanctions. Release of the hostages was the plausible option for Iran (Kenneth,…
He dealt with the energy shortage, he prompted Government efficiency through civil service reform, he sought to improve the environment, and created the Department of Education. The biggest challenge Pres. Carter faced during his time in office, and the one where his virtue of prudence shined, was with Iran. On November 4, 1979, Iranian militants stormed the United States Embassy in Tehran and took approximately fifty-two Americans captive. The terrorist act triggered the most profound crisis of the Carter presidency and began a personal ordeal for Jimmy Carter and the American people that lasted 444 days. President Carter committed himself to the safe return of the hostages while protecting America's interests and prestige. He pursued a policy of restraint that put a higher value on the lives of the hostages over protecting his own political future. Ultimately, his choice to bring them home, ended in his defeat. Even after losing the election, Carter continued the difficult negotiations over the hostages. Iran finally released the fifty-two Americans the same day Pres. Carter left…
Over in Iran, there were "seven American hostages being held in Lebanon"(Wikipedia.com). Meanwhile, there was also a war going on between Iraq and Iran in 1985. How it came to be that the US would start making sales to Iran would first commence when Iran privately adjured to buy weaponry from the US. And one particular person who assented to this idea was Robert McFarlane, who would then attempt to…
The United States wanted friendly relations with Iran because of its strategic location and they did not want Iran to become friendly with the Russians (Torr 69). Israel agreed to facilitate this relationship by purchasing weapons from the United States that were then sold to Iran. Israel wanted the war with Iraq and Iran to continue so it would weaken them because they were both their enemies (Torr 75). Iran also had an influence in Lebanon where the American hostages were held. The U.S. also wanted to bribe Iran who was at war with Iraq to pressure Lebanese radicles to release American hostages (Craughwell…
Despite the positive, Carter’s legacy was tainted by the Iran hostage crisis. Over fifty Americans were held in Iran as hostage for the old Shah, who was kicked by a revolution, was receiving treatment of cancer in the United States. Iranians were livid that the United Stated refused to turn the Shah over to Iran. Carter failed to resolve the crisis and it directly led to his loss in the next election. Despite his failures in the Iran Hostage Crisis, Carter passed important legislation domestically.…
Later that same year, President Carter oversaw the signing of the Camp David Accords, which ended the state of war that Egypt and Israel had been in since Israel had been founded 30 years earlier. In 1979, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was admitted into the U.S to be treated for cancer after he was overthrown from his reign in Iran. The Iranians became enraged at this, and when the U.S refused to return Pahlavi to Iran, the Iranians took hostages in the U.S Embassy, an event known as the Iran Hostage Crisis. Towards the end of Carter’s presidential term, The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in an attempt to set up a communist government in the country. Carter reacted by enacting a grain embargo upon the Soviet Union.…
Imagine being held hostage for four hundred and forty four days. The thought alone is scary but this was reality for Fifty-three Americans when they was held hostage at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, Iran. This was a tough situation because America and Iran had bigger problems to deal with. Insurgency broke out and former King Reza Shah Pahlavi was forced into exile by the people of Iran. The United States backed the former King and when Pahlavi came to America looking for refuge this caused a serious situation. The United States learned that Pahlavi had cancer and made a choice to let him in for treatment. This angered the people of Iran and forced Iranian students to protest outside of the American embassy. On November 4th, 1979 the students decided to storm the Embassy creating the four hundred and forty-four day suffering. Pahlavi was forced into exile and the people of Iran welcomed Ayatollah Khomeini, a revolutionist who had been in exile. Although Khomeini did not take part in the overthrow, he indirectly supported the Iran Hostage Crisis with no intent to prevent or stop the crisis. One of the major reasons of the Iran Hostage Crisis was the fact that we were interest in oil.…
After the Islamic revolution, 66 U.S citizens were held hostage at the U.S Embassy in Iran, also known as the Iran hostage crisis. Many of the hostages were held captive for 3 years, 14 of them for less than that. Jimmy Carter arranged many attempts to rescue the hostages but all of them failed. In hopes of releasing the taken sooner, Jimmy Carter managed to convince their allies to discontinue trade with Iran until the all of the hostages were released and froze many Iranian…