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Background
On
November 4, 1979 young Iranian militants seized the United
States embassy in Tehran, taking 66 Americans hostage. The
hostages were not released until 1981, just after the inauguration
of President Ronald Reagan. (Read a timeline
of events.)
HNP's Role in Resolving the Conflict
Members of HNP began conversations with key actors in
the U.S. and Iran soon after the hostages were taken, and
published articles in the New York Times,
the Boston Globe, and Newsweek. In
August, 1980, the U.S. government officially asked Roger Fisher
to intervene; Iranian officials had asked for Fisher's official
assistance as early as the previous spring.
While HNP's impact on Iranian decision-making is not definitively
known, the Project's work clearly helped to structure the
final settlement and likely contributed to a breakthrough
allowing Algerian mediators to carry discussions forward to
resolution.
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