The U.S. Embassy hostage crisis (November 1979 to January 1981)

On November 4, 1979, Iranian students occupied the American Embassy in Tehran and seized 66 American diplomats and staff. The hostage crisis lasted 444 days, ending only as Ronald Reagan was inaugurated on January 20, 1981. The crisis destroyed the Carter administration politically and embedded long-term U.S.-Iranian hostility into both countries' politics.