Iran Hostage Crisis

Witness History

BBC

History, Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.4 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 30 January 2019

⏱️ 11 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In 1979 young revolutionaries stormed the US Embassy in Tehran. 52 Americans were taken captive and held hostage for 444 days. Barry Rosen was one of the hostages. In 2009 he told his story to Alex Last.

This programme is a rebroadcast.

Photo: Boy in camouflage points a toy pistol at an effigy of US President Carter during a demonstration outside the US Embassy, 18 November 1979. (Credit:STAFF/AFP/Getty Images)

Transcript

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0:00.0	Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know.
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1:02.0	and a lot more watching listen on BBC
1:04.7	sounds this is the witness history podcast from the BBC World Service and to
1:10.0	mark the anniversary of the Iranian Revolution we are bringing new stories from the witness archive.
1:15.0	Today we go back to one of the most dramatic moments from that year, when student
1:19.7	revolutionaries overrun the U.S. embassy in Tehran and took all the Americans inside it hostage.
1:26.0	In 2009 Alex Last spoke to Barry Rosen about the 444 days he spent in captivity.
1:33.4	It's November 1979, just months after the Iranian Revolution had swept the Shah from power.
1:40.4	November 4th started out as a dreary rainy day, but it was a day like any day in Tehran.
	...

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