Date in year · 1979 · The 1970s

November 4, 1979

On November 4, 1979, iran hostage crisis: A group of Iranian college students overruns the U.S. embassy in Tehran and takes 90 hostages. The year's #1 song was "My Sharona" by The Knack. Ruth Beitia, Iván Alonso, Malcolm Christie would arrive in the same year.

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Year

1979

1970s

Around 1979

The year in brief

1979 (MCMLXXIX) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1979th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 979th year of the 2nd millennium, the 79th year of the 20th century, and the 10th and last year of the 1970s decade.

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What happened

On November 4, 1979

  1. 1979 Iran hostage crisis: A group of Iranian college students overruns the U.S. embassy in Tehran and takes 90 hostages.

    Occupation of Tehran's U.S. embassy (1979–1981)

    The Iran hostage crisis began on November 4, 1979, when 66 Americans, including diplomats and other civilian personnel, were taken hostage at the Embassy of the United States in Tehran, with 52 of them being held until January 20, 1981. The incident occurred after the Muslim Student Followers of the Imam's Line stormed and occupied the building in the months following the Iranian Revolution. With support from Ruhollah Khomeini, who had led the Iranian Revolution and would eventually establish the present-day Islamic Republic of Iran, the hostage-takers demanded that the United States extradite Iranian king Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who had been granted asylum by the Carter administration for cancer treatment.

Elsewhere that year

Other moments from 1979

The class of 1979

Others born in 1979

Ruth Beitia 1979– Spanish high jumper
Iván Alonso 1979– Uruguayan footballer
Malcolm Christie 1979– English footballer
Sebastien Grainger 1979– Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist
Michel Riesen 1979– Swiss ice hockey player
Claire Danes 1979– American actress

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