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The Iran hostage crisis had its origins in a series of events that took place nearly a half-century before it began. The source of tension between Iran and the U.S. stemmed from an increasingly intense conflict over oil.
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However, in 1951 Iran’s newly elected prime minister, a European-educated nationalist named Muhammad Mossadegh, announced a plan to nationalize the country’s oil industry.
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President Carter let Irans deposed Shah come to America for cancer treatment.
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On November 4, 1979, a group of Iranian students stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, taking more than 60 American hostages.
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On Election Day, one year and two days after the hostage crisis began, Reagan defeated Carter in a landslide.
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By midsummer 1980, 52 hostages remained in the embassy compound. The hostages were never seriously injured, they were subjected to a rich variety of demeaning and terrifying treatment.
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The students set their hostages free on January 21, 1981, 444 days after the crisis began and just hours after President Ronald Reagan delivered his inaugural address.