Iran Can Hold America Hostage in Either War or Peace
Key takeaways
- The practice initially played out with human beings: In 1979, fifty-two American diplomats were held at the U.S.
- The LedeReporting and commentary on what you need to know today.
- Iran knows the tactic can squeeze out political concessions, too.
Photograph by Abbas / Magnum Save this story Save this story Save this story Save this story For nearly a half century, through eight American Presidencies, Iran has employed the most cost-effective tactic of warfare—both ancient and modern—by seizing someone or something of value and holding it hostage. The practice initially played out with human beings: In 1979, fifty-two American diplomats were held at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran for four hundred and forty days, until the Carter Administration unfroze eight billion dollars of Iranian assets and lifted an economic embargo. Between 1984 and 1991, two dozen Americans were taken hostage by Lebanese militias aligned with Iran. Terry Anderson, the A.P. bureau chief in Beirut, was chained to a radiator for the better part of seven years. Iran brokered their releases, in one case for American weaponry, in a covert swap during the Reagan Administration, only for its proxy to then pick up more Americans.
The LedeReporting and commentary on what you need to know today.
Iran knows the tactic can squeeze out political concessions, too. In 1985, Iranian allies in Hezbollah hijacked TWA 847, a flight travelling from Athens to Rome, with a hundred and forty-seven passengers, plus crew members, on board. For seventeen days, the Boeing 727 flew back and forth across the Mediterranean between Beirut and Algiers. The Iranian proxy demanded—and won—the release of more than seven hundred and sixty Lebanese Shiites imprisoned in Israel.