30+ Years of Freedom of Information Action

Iran-U.S. Relations

 

 

Generous support from the Arca Foundation and the Carnegie Corporation

Recent Postings

8
COUP 53: New Documentary on Overthrow of Iran's Mosaddeq
Aug 17, 2020
Zarif-Kerry handshake
Documenting Iran-U.S. Relations, 1978-2015
Dec 19, 2019
Hostage crisis
1979 Iran Hostage Crisis Recalled
Nov 4, 2019
Iran’s 1979 Revolution Revisited: Failures (and a Few Successes) of U.S. Intelligence and Diplomatic Reporting
Feb 11, 2019
Excessive U.S. sanctions could push Iran “over the brink”: UAE official to U.S. in 1995
Aug 8, 2018
Oliver North’s Checkered Iran-Contra Record
May 16, 2018
New Findings on Clerical Involvement in the 1953 Coup in Iran
Mar 7, 2018
CIA declassifies more of "Zendebad, Shah!" – internal study of 1953 Iran coup
Feb 12, 2018
1953 Iran Coup: New U.S. Documents Confirm British Approached U.S. in Late 1952 About Ousting Mosaddeq
Aug 8, 2017
Iran 1953: State Department Finally Releases Updated Official History of Mosaddeq Coup
Jun 15, 2017
More Postings >>

Of Interest

Foreign Relations of the United States, 1977–1980, Volume XI, Part 1, Iran: Hostage Crisis, November 1979–September 1980

The State Department's Office of the Historian released its latest volume on U.S.-Iran relations on November 17, 2020, Foreign Relations, 1977–1980, Volume XI, Part 1, Iran: Hostage Crisis, November 1979–September 1980. It begins with a Zbigniew Brzezinski memo to President Carter on November 4, 1979, notifying him that the Embassy in Tehran has been overrun, and ends with a hopeful quote following recent political developments from Chargé d'Affaires Bruce Laingen, via the Swiss, on September 9, 1980: "We are allowing ourselves a glimmer of guarded optimism."  The collection contains 359 documents and Editorial Notes and covers 941 pages.  The compiler and editor is Linda Qaimmaqami.  Part 2 on the crisis and a separate volume on the Iranian revolution itself are currently still undergoing declassification review.