Hostages

In the 1970s, the rise of the Ayatollah Khomeini and the explosion of the Iranian Revolution frays the deep ties between Iran and the U.S.

1979. With Iran now under Khomeini's rule, a 48-hour sit-in at the American embassy in Tehran snowballs into an international crisis.

As pressure mounts to resolve the crisis, the Carter administration launches an ill-fated military rescue mission.

A year into the siege, the entrenched stalemate in Iran looms over the 1980 presidential election.