Epilogue
President Carter had hopes of getting the hostages home before the end of his presidency. Even after Ronald Reagan’s election, Carter was putting all his effort into bringing the remaining hostages home. Ultimately, the hostages were released shortly after Reagan’s inauguration. On behalf of President Ronald Reagan, Carter went to Germany to meet with the freed hostages (“The Iranian Hostage Crisis”).
Later, in 1988, relations between Iran and the U.S. became worse when the USS Vincennes missile cruiser shot down an Iranian civilian jetliner over the Persian Gulf, killing many Iranians. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini died in 1989 at age 86. His successor was the elected president, Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. The succeeding president of Iran, Mohammad Khatami was later elected in 1997 ("Iran-U.S. Relations: A Chronology").
President Clinton's administration sought isolation from Iran due to terrorist and nuclear threat. But, with newly elected president Khatami, Clinton sought to ease the tension. Clinton reached out to Iran, and even allowed America to sell food and medical supplies to this terrorist country. American also started to import Iranian luxury goods once again in 2000 ("Iran-U.S. Relations: A Chronology").
Recently, relations between the U.S. and Iran have depreciated mainly because of threats of nuclear development in Iran. The U.S. is continuously negotiating with Iran in order to prevent the deployment of atomic weapons. America's main strategy has been to not use military action, but rather use sanctions and negotiations in order to ease the tension and buy time in order to further defend the U.S. from any possible attacks (Choksy, and Choksy).
President Carter had hopes of getting the hostages home before the end of his presidency. Even after Ronald Reagan’s election, Carter was putting all his effort into bringing the remaining hostages home. Ultimately, the hostages were released shortly after Reagan’s inauguration. On behalf of President Ronald Reagan, Carter went to Germany to meet with the freed hostages (“The Iranian Hostage Crisis”).
Later, in 1988, relations between Iran and the U.S. became worse when the USS Vincennes missile cruiser shot down an Iranian civilian jetliner over the Persian Gulf, killing many Iranians. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini died in 1989 at age 86. His successor was the elected president, Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. The succeeding president of Iran, Mohammad Khatami was later elected in 1997 ("Iran-U.S. Relations: A Chronology").
President Clinton's administration sought isolation from Iran due to terrorist and nuclear threat. But, with newly elected president Khatami, Clinton sought to ease the tension. Clinton reached out to Iran, and even allowed America to sell food and medical supplies to this terrorist country. American also started to import Iranian luxury goods once again in 2000 ("Iran-U.S. Relations: A Chronology").
Recently, relations between the U.S. and Iran have depreciated mainly because of threats of nuclear development in Iran. The U.S. is continuously negotiating with Iran in order to prevent the deployment of atomic weapons. America's main strategy has been to not use military action, but rather use sanctions and negotiations in order to ease the tension and buy time in order to further defend the U.S. from any possible attacks (Choksy, and Choksy).
Image above: American hostages return to the United States from Iran on January 27, 1981. Photo taken at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland, one week after being released. ("Jan. 20, 1981 | Iran Releases American Hostages as Reagan Takes Office").