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Events on Sunday 4 November 1979 1
1979Iran hostage crisis beginsMilitants storm the US embassy in TehranOn 4 November 1979, Iranian students loyal to the Ayatollah Khomeini seized the US embassy in Tehran and took 52 American diplomats and citizens hostage. The crisis lasted 444 days and dominated US-Iran relations for a generation. It followed the Islamic Revolution earlier that year and the admission of the exiled Shah into the United States.