A deal to free Israeli hostages in trade for Palestinian prisoners could possibly be finalized days earlier than President Donald J. Trump’s inauguration. The situation is harking back to 1981, when American hostages held on the U.S. Embassy in Tehran for greater than a yr had been freed simply as Ronald Reagan grew to become commander in chief.
On Jan. 20 of that yr, Mr. Reagan, simply sworn in as president, advised members of Congress at a lunch following his inauguration {that a} 444-day hostage disaster that had consumed the ultimate yr of the administration of his predecessor, Jimmy Carter, was lastly over. “They’re now free,” Mr. Reagan mentioned of the captives.
The hostage disaster had its origins within the Islamic Revolution, led by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, that toppled Iran’s monarchy in 1979. In October of that yr, Mr. Carter determined to permit Iran’s exiled shah to journey to the US for most cancers remedy, angering Iranian revolutionaries.
The following month, Iranian militants overran the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and seized 66 hostages. Greater than a dozen captives had been launched early on, leaving 52 diplomats, guards and embassy staff in captivity.
To place stress on Iran for his or her launch, Mr. Carter stopped shopping for Iranian oil and froze all Iranian belongings in the US. He ordered a navy rescue try in April 1980, however the mission failed and changed into a catastrophe when a helicopter crashed into an American plane within the Iranian desert, killing eight Marines and airmen.
Anger in the US over the hostages’ extended captivity contributed to Mr. Carter’s plunging approval rankings. In November 1980, Mr. Reagan prevailed within the presidential election over Mr. Carter, who continued working to shut a cope with Iran by means of the ultimate evening of his presidency.
The U.S. negotiators, who worked around the clock for 5 days in an effort to deliver the disaster to an finish earlier than he left workplace, mentioned on the time that they didn’t know whether or not Iran had intentionally dragged out the talks in order to make sure that Mr. Reagan can be president when the hostages had been freed.
Peter Baker contributed reporting.
