444 Days: The Iran Hostage Crisis and How It Was Weaponized

Who's who

• Ruhollah Khomeini+3 more episodesReturned from exile; endorsed the embassy seizure and consolidated clerical rule
• Mohammad Reza Pahlavi+8 more episodesCancer-stricken Shah who fled in January 1979
• Jimmy Carter+12 more episodesU.S. president who admitted the Shah for cancer treatment
• Mehdi BazarganModerate provisional prime minister who resigned days after the seizure
• Ronald Reagan+11 more episodesTook office minutes before the hostages were freed

Where it happens

• Tehran, Iran+7 more episodesCity where students seized the U.S. embassy
• Iranian desertWhere the 1980 U.S. rescue attempt failed

Timeline

1. January 1979The Shah flees after months of strikes and lethal crackdowns.
2. February 1979Khomeini returns to lead a coalition of Marxists, liberals and Islamists.
3. October 1979Carter admits the exiled Shah to the United States, reviving memories of 1953.
4. November 4, 1979Students scale the embassy walls and seize dozens of Americans.
5. 1980A U.S. rescue attempt fails in the desert.
6. January 20, 1981The hostages are freed minutes after Reagan's inauguration.