Link to the Show / Show NotesA commentator on Iranian politics says the 30th anniversary of the United States embassy hostage drama is especially important for the Ahmadinejad government this year...coming just months after the country's elections were surrounded by violent protests.
On November 4th, 1979 Iranian militants took a group of U-S citizens hostage, after storming the embassy in support of the Iranian revolution.
Attempts to free them failed and 52 people were held hostage until 20 January 1981, when the U-S agreed to unfreeze Iranian assets worth eight-billion dollars.
The convenor of Islamic Studies at Melbourne University's Asia Institute Dr Sharam Akbarzadeh told Caroline Davey, the event which lasted 444 days.. has shaped American-Iranian relations ever since.
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