The Iran Hostage incident is a very pivotal occurrence in the history of the US-Iran relationship. Many researchers and political scholars describe this as a diplomatic crisis between the two nations. The incident took place on November 4th, 1979 when a group of Iranian students and militia invaded the US embassy capturing approximately fifty-nine Americans and taking them hostage. The exact number has not been established since some sources state sixty people while others indicate that the captives were about seventy people.
What was this experience like for the hostages from Ode’s point of view?
Robert Ode claims that the treatment by the Iranian students was never good. This is because their captors were amateurs in such terrorist attacks. As Davidson and colleagues have noted, the American hostages were split into small manageable groups and restricted from communicating (2008). They were also cut off from receiving news from outside or even contacting their government or loved ones by any means. However, later on, they could receive and send letters which were delivered very late and in some cases not delivered at all. Upkeep necessities often ran out and meals were delayed a lot, improvised and impoverished (Harris, 2004). Furthermore, arduous security constraints over what could be required were capriciously applied.
The hygienic conditions were not very good at all. Ode described the toilets as being very filthy save for the fact that the hostages were allowed a shower after several days in captivity. They had to clean their clothing as they bathed. These bathrooms were flooded with very dirty water. The dishes had to be cleaned in the bathroom sinks (Davidson, 2008). The captives remained psychologically tortured or traumatized since their captors were way all-around with automatic rifles and machine guns fully loaded. Ode records an incident when a rifle was fired accidentally. From that moment, captives had to request permission to use the washrooms (Harris, 2004).
Why were they taken, hostage?
The Americans in the US embassy in Tehran were taken hostage as part of the protest by the Iranian students to compel the US government to releases Shah who was supposed to face the law back in Iran. The people of Iran felt that the US was invading their sovereignty and restricting their freedom. This is because the US was involved in the 1953 coup reinstating the ousted shah (Davidson, 2008). This shah became very close to the US but very unpopular in his country. The Iranians, therefore, had to stage a way of getting the US to release him to be tried for the crimes against the land. The Iranians accused the US of holding Shah so that he can escape the trials awaiting him in his country. On the other hand, the Carter government argued that Shah was still in the US since he was sick and under medication. When Shah was overthrown in 1979, he took exile to the US (Harris, 2004). Students and the military in Iran schemed a ploy to invade the US embassy and take hostages only for a short time until shah returned. However, the plan did not go according to plan as the US military on the other hand planned to invade and rescue the people. This did not end well. Hostages were then held for four hundred and forty-four days.
How did this event affect America politically and economically?
Politically, the incident left the Americans more united than ever. However, it was very unfavorable to the then-president. He was deemed very incompetent to be a leader of a superpower. His tactics including economic sanctions and military invasion had failed terribly (Harris, 2004). The crisis was seen to have lasted unnecessarily long. Ronald Regan won the following elections with a promise that he would terminate the crisis. A promise he managed to fulfill. Economically, it was belied that the US had great interests in the Oil from Iran having replaced Britain and Russia’s dominance in the region, however, with the crisis, the US issued economic sanctions on Iran and this deteriorated their economic relations to a great extent (Harris, 2004). The US had spent a great deal of money financing the regime it helped establish, with hopes that it would benefit from oil in Iran.
In conclusion, the Iran Hostage Crisis was an example of a failed attempt by the USA to use sanctions and military invasion to fight terrorism in Iran. Therefore, it should be a good lesson for the US to try other strategies such as consultation and delegation in the future to curb terrorism in Iran, and in particular in the current regime.
Reference
Davidson, J. W., Gienapp, W. L., Leigh, C., Lytle, M., Stoff, M. B., & DeLay, B. (2008). Boston: McGraw-Hill publishers.
Harris, D. (2004). The Crisis- The President, the Profits and the Iranian Shah: 1979 case. New York: Little Brown and Company.