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180———Irgun Zvai Leumi

director of the Iran-America Society, looked into the were brokered through Algeria. Iran demanded
cameras to send a message home and gathered enough $24 billion in exchange for the hostages’ release,
wry humor to report that she had finally solved her later dropping that figure to $20 billion, and then
weight problem. $8 billion.
According to the captives’ later testimony, many After months of talks, the hostages were released on
were tied to chairs, blindfolded, for weeks at a time. January 20, 1981—the day of Reagan’s inauguration
They worked to keep records of their days and even as president. The captives, who had been held for one
fashioned a coffee stove from a discarded tin can. year and 79 days, were released after the United States
At times they were separated into small groups and unfroze $8 billion in Iranian assets. The hostages were
not allowed to communicate; at least one hostage brought to the U.S. Air Force hospital in Wiesbaden,
attempted suicide. Germany, for medical assessment and treatment before
In the winter of 1979, Penelope Laingen, wife of being flown home.
hostage Bruce Laingen, tied a yellow ribbon around a In 1991, eight of the hostages signed a letter
tree in the front yard of her Maryland home. Millions demanding that the U.S. Congress investigate claims
across the nation followed suit, hanging yellow that the Reagan-Bush campaign delayed the hostages’
ribbons as symbols of solidarity with the hostages release in 1980. A congressional task force later cleared
and hoping for the prisoners’ safe release. However, the campaign.
President Carter’s diplomatic attempts and economic
See also HOSTAGE TAKING; OPERATION EAGLE CLAW
sanctions (halting oil imports from Iran and freezing
Iranian assets in the United States) failed to bring the Further Reading
captives home.
Holt, Pat M. “Bureaucratic Gamesmanship: Lessons From
Iranian Hostage Crisis.” Christian Science Monitor,
DESPERATE TIMES August 2, 1985.
Kennedy, Moorhead. The Ayatollah in the Cathedral.
As the crisis dragged on, the administration called on New York: Hill and Wang, 1986.
the military. The United States launched a failed air- New York Times. No Hiding Place. New York: Times
borne commando raid called Operation Eagle Claw in Books, 1981.
April 1980 that ended in disaster after a rescue plane Sick, Gary. All Fall Down: America’s Tragic Encounter
and a helicopter collided during a sandstorm in the With Iran. New York: Random House, 1985.
Iranian desert. Eight people were killed in the acci- Wells, Tim. 444 Days: The Hostages Remember. New York:
dent. Without enough spare helicopters to continue, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1986.
mission leader Army Col. Charles Beckwith aborted
the mission. The hostages later told the press that their
treatment worsened thereafter. IRGUN ZVAI LEUMI
President Carter took full responsibility for the dis-
aka Etzel, IZL
astrous attempt; Secretary of State Cyrus Vance, who
had opposed the mission, resigned in its wake.
Beckwith wrote in his memoirs that he had recurring The main Jewish underground militant group during
nightmares after the failed mission. Israel’s formation, the Irgun Zvai Leumi is famous for
In Iran, hard-line anti-Western clerics gained influ- blowing up the British administration headquarters in
ence over moderates during the hostage crisis and the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, killing 91 people.
justified the situation by documenting what they saw Formed in 1931, the Irgun revolted against British
as U.S. actions hostile to Iran. The students who had rule over Palestine, demanding that the British leave
captured the embassy published classified documents the country and calling for the establishment of a
that revealed U.S. intelligence activities in Iran. Jewish state.
In 1980, the Shah died in exile in Egypt. After Iraq The Irgun and other militant Zionist factions began
invaded Iran in September 1980, starting the eight- a fierce armed struggle against Britain in British-
year Iran-Iraq War, the Iranian government became ruled Palestine as it became clear that the Balfour
more receptive to resolving the hostage situation. The Declaration of 1916, which promised the Jewish
United States had broken diplomatic ties with Iran people a national home in Palestine, was being ignored.
because of the ongoing crisis; negotiations for release In 1939, the British signed what is known as the “White