Iranian militants escort a blindfolded U.S. hostage to the media. Iran-U.S. Hostage Crisis(1979-1981
Background:
Ayatollah Khomeni was a known islamist revolutionary exiled from Iran by the Shah.
Jimmy Carter pressured the Government of Iran to allow the Khomeni to return to Iran.
The Shah was an ineffective brutal monarch who turned to the US Government for advice in governance.
Jimmy Carter refused to offer the Shah advice, even to advise against the execution of dissidents.
A Sizable Pro-Democracy Movement was underway in Iran.
In February 1979, the Shah was overthrown and the Ayatollah Khomeni seized control from those democratic forces.
On November 4th, 1979 in conjunction with the illegal government of Iran, with participation of the Iranian Police charged with protecting the Embassy and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard, 300 "students" seized the US Embassy and took 66 diplomats hostage and held 52 of them as "Guests of the Ayatollah" for the next 444 days.
Jimmy Carter had previously reduced the diplomatic mission in Tehran from more than 1000 to approximately 60.
During the next 444 days of American embarrassment, Jimmy Carter would prove that he was as inept at diplomacy as he was at military matters. He assumed the role of Military Commander of a flawed rescue attempt which was the first known action of the Elite Delta Force. Carter's insistence on all branches of the service being involved led to pilots flying equipment they had never touched. The lack of joint operation experience eventually led to the deaths of Eight American Troops and an immediate retreat by Carter's Command.
On the diplomatic front, Carter agreed to numerous embarrassing concessions to the Iranians, only to have the Iranians pull the deal out from under him at the last moment.
Today, the US Embassy in Tehran is the Headquarters of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards and perhaps it is the future location of the talks between Obama and Ahdiminijihadist. Perhaps, if it is, the multitude of anti-American graffitti will convince him of the error of his stubborn arrogant ignorance in calling for unconditioned talks with an enemy that bested his predecessor best known for his diplomacy.
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