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On November 4, 1979, a group of Iranian students entered the US embassy and took a number of American personnel hostage, citing the overthrowing of Mossadegh in 1953 and accusing the embassy staff of preparing another coup against the revolutionary government. Some of the hostages, including women, African Americans and an employee diagnosed with mutliple sclerosis, were quickly released. Others were held for 444 days before being allowed to leave Iran and return to the United States.
On November 4, 1979, a group of Iranian students entered the US embassy and took a number of American personnel hostage, citing the overthrowing of Mossadegh in 1953 and accusing the embassy staff of preparing another coup against the revolutionary government. Some of the hostages, including women, African Americans and an employee diagnosed with mutliple sclerosis, were quickly released. Others were held for 444 days before being allowed to leave Iran and return to the United States.
In the 1980s America was rocked by the Iran-Contra Affair aka Irangate, the largest [[American political scandals|political scandal]] in the [[United States]] during the [[1980s]], considered by some to be one of the largest political scandals in history.<ref>{{cite web
| last = Hart
| first = Robert
| authorlink = Robert Hart
| title = NYT's apologies miss the point
| publisher = [[Consortium News]]
| date = [[2004-06-02]]
| url = http://www.consortiumnews.com/2004/060204.html }}</ref> Large volumes of documents relating to the scandal were destroyed or withheld from investigators by [[Reagan Administration|Ronald Reagan]] officials.<ref name="Excerpts from Iran-Contra Report">{{cite web
| last =
| first =
| authorlink =
| title = Excerpts From the Iran-Contra Report: A Secret Foreign Policy
| work =
| publisher = New York Times
| date = 1994
| url = http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/06/29/reviews/iran-transcript.html}}
</ref> The affair is still shrouded with secrecy and it is very hard to discover the facts. It involved several members of the Reagan Administration who in [[1986]] helped sell [[arms trade|arms]] to [[Iran]], an avowed enemy, and used the proceeds to fund the [[Contras]], an anti-[[communism|communist]] [[guerrilla warfare|guerrilla]] organization in [[Nicaragua]]. <ref>*{{cite web
| last = Rockwell
| first = Kara
| authorlink = Kara Rockwell
| coauthors =
| title = A tale of three countries: The Iran-Contra affair
| publisher = [[AnswerPoint.org]] ([[Central Rappahannock Regional Library]])
| date = [[2005-03-10]]
| url = http://www.answerpoint.org/columns2.asp?column_id=1165&column_type=feature}}
</ref>
[[Category:Countries]]
[[Category:Countries]]