A deal to launch Israeli hostages in alternate for Palestinian prisoners might be finalized days earlier than the inauguration of President Donald J. Trump. The state of affairs is harking back to 1981, when American hostages held within the US embassy in Tehran for greater than a 12 months had been launched simply as Ronald Reagan grew to become commander-in-chief.
On Jan. 20 of that 12 months, Mr. Reagan, newly sworn in as president, advised members of Congress at a luncheon after his inauguration that the 444-day hostage disaster that had consumed the final 12 months of his predecessor Jimmy’s administration Carter, it is lastly over. “They’re free now,” Mr. Reagan stated of the captives.
The hostage disaster dates again to the Islamic Revolution led by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini that overthrew the monarchy in Iran in 1979. In October of that 12 months, Mr. Carter determined to permit Iran’s exiled shah travels to america for most cancers remedy, angering Iranian revolutionaries.
The next month, Iranian militants seized the US embassy in Tehran and took 66 hostages. Greater than a dozen prisoners had been launched early, leaving 52 diplomats, guards and embassy employees in captivity.
To stress Iran into their launch, Mr. Carter stopped shopping for Iranian oil and froze all Iranian property in america. He ordered a army rescue try in April 1980, however the mission failed and become a catastrophe when a helicopter crashed into American plane within the Iranian desert, killing eight Marines and airmen.
Anger in america over the extended hostage-taking contributed to Mr. Carter’s approval scores plummeting. In November 1980 Mr. Reagan gained the presidential election over Mr. Carter, who continued to work towards a cope with Iran on the final night time of his presidency.
The US negotiators who worked around the clock for 5 days in an effort to finish the disaster earlier than he left workplace, stated on the time that they didn’t know whether or not Iran had intentionally dragged out the talks to make sure that Mr. Reagan can be president when the hostages had been freed.
Peter Baker contributed reporting.
