November 4, 2019

Forty years ago today, on Nov. 4, 1979, Iranian revolutionaries seized the United States Embassy in Tehran, Iran’s capital, and took 66 Americans hostage. Islamic revolutionaries had taken control of Iran’s government earlier in the year. The revolutionaries seized the U.S. Embassy after Iran’s former shah (king), Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, was admitted into the United States. The revolutionaries wanted the shah returned to Iran to stand trial for crimes allegedly committed during his rule. The shah was not returned, and he died during the crisis. 

Blindfolded American hostages are paraded inside the U.S.
Embassy compound on Nov. 4, 1979. Credit: © Bettmann/Getty Images

The United States and other countries denounced the seizure of the U.S. Embassy as a violation of international law and demanded that the hostages be freed. Thirteen hostages—women and African Americans—were freed within weeks, but the rest (except for one released due to illness) were kept for more than a year. The United States placed harsh economic sanctions on Iran, and after a failed rescue attempt, the death of the shah, and lengthy negotiations, the hostages were at last released on Jan. 20, 1981. 

The Iran hostage crisis ended diplomatic relations between Iran and the United States. Images of the bound and blindfolded hostages dominated media coverage during the 444-day event. For a more detailed account of the international incident, see the World Book article Iran hostage crisis.

August 8, 2012

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad appeared on state television yesterday for the first time in weeks to greet Iran’s security chief, Saeed Jalili.  Jalili assured Assad that Syria is part of a vital regional alliance–an “axis of resistance”–that Iran will not allow to be broken. Assad, in turn, affirmed  his determination “to cleanse the country from the terrorists and fight against terrorism unreservedly.”

The government of Iran is currently trying to secure the release of 48 Iranians abducted by Free Syrian Army rebels from a bus in Damascus on August 4. The Free Syrian Army claims the men are members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. The government of Iran maintains that they are pilgrims who had been heading t a Shi’ite Muslim religious site.

Iran is Syria's only ally in the Middle East. (World Book map)

In a major blow to Assad, Syria’s prime minister, Riad Hijab, defected on August 6 and fled to Jordan. Hijab is the highest-profile defector from the Assad regime since the uprising began in March 2011.

In Aleppo, residents continue to flee the embattled city by the tens of thousands as government fighter jets accelerate bombing raids in an attempt to drive rebels from neighborhood strongholds. United Nations monitors pulled out yesterday “due to deterioration in the security situation.” Talal Atrissi, a Lebanese political analyst, noted, “The regime is ready to destroy all of Aleppo. The regime will never allow the fall of Aleppo because it would start a countdown to their demise.”

Additional World Book articles:

• Arab Spring
• Middle East: From Fall to Spring (a Special Report)
• Syria 2011 (a Back in Time article)