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What Is The Cause Of The Iran Hostage Crisis

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What Is The Cause Of The Iran Hostage Crisis
President Carter failed Americans by protecting the Shah. President Carter was warned ahead of time that if he allowed the Shah treatment in the U.S. that the Embassy would be attacked. Instead of releasing the Shah and having the hostages released, he kept protecting the Shah allowing for the crisis to continue. President Carter spent too long trying to solve the issue diplomatically instead of taking actions and getting the hostages back.

Many of the Iranian people bitterly resented what they saw as American intervention in their affairs. The Shah was a brutal, arbitrary dictator whose secret police (the SAVAK, or the Sāzemān-e Ettelā'āt va Amniyat-e Keshvar) tortured and murdered thousands of people. The Iranian government spent billions …show more content…
After he did so, he demanded to his advisory Cabinet “What are you guys going to advise me to do if they overrun out embassy and take our people hostage?” (CRISIS The Last Year) The decision was purely humanitarian and not political. One American later noted, it was like throwing “a burning branch into a bucket of kerosene.” (Iran Hostage Crisis)

As soon as the plane carrying the Shah landed in New York on November fourth, the Embassy in Tehran was attacked. The hostages that were taken mainly consisted of world diplomats and embassy employees. More than sixty Americans were originally captured. After a short amount of time, thirteen hostages were released. These hostages mainly consisted of women, African-Americans and citizens of other countries and were released on the belief that they already face ‘the oppression of American society’. Later a fourteenth developed health issues and was like wise released and sent home. Military action was decided to be too dangerous. On November eleventh, President Carter embargoed oil from Iran. He tried to build pressure on Iran economically, freezing the assets between the two countries. Secretary of State, Cyrus Vance, led the official diplomatic …show more content…
The Iranians waited until Ronald Reagan was sworn in to let the plane containing the hostages to leave for they wanted to deny Carter his last moments of victory as president. Carter flew to the base in Germany after the hostages were released. William Daugherty, who was held in solitary confinement almost the entire time, said, “It was not a warm welcome.” The hostages were split in their thinking. Many of them felt as if they were left unprotected in the embassy. Daugherty said during the meeting, Carter went around to hug the hostages. Many of them remained still with their arms at their sides and did not return his hug.
In conclusion, President Carter failed Americans by protecting the Shah. President Carter was warned ahead of time that if he allowed the Shah treatment in the U.S. that the Embassy would be attacked. Instead of releasing the Shah and having the hostages released, he kept protecting the Shah allowing for the crisis to continue. President Carter spent too long trying to solve the issue diplomatically instead of taking actions and getting the hostages
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