Gaza Hostage Deal Could Come as Trump Takes Office, in Echoes of 1981

A deal to free Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners could be finalized days before President Donald J. Trump’s inauguration. The scenario is reminiscent of 1981, when American hostages held at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran for more than a year were freed just as Ronald Reagan became commander in chief.

On Jan. 20 of that year, Mr. Reagan, just sworn in as president, told members of Congress at a lunch following his inauguration that a 444-day hostage crisis that had consumed the final year of the administration of his predecessor, Jimmy Carter, was finally over. “They’re now free,” Mr. Reagan said of the captives.

The hostage crisis had its origins in the Islamic Revolution, led by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, that toppled Iran’s monarchy in 1979. In October of that year, Mr. Carter decided to allow Iran’s exiled shah to travel to the United States for cancer treatment, angering Iranian revolutionaries.

The next month, Iranian militants overran the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and seized 66 hostages. More than a dozen captives were released early on, leaving 52 diplomats, guards and embassy employees in captivity.

To put pressure on Iran for their release, Mr. Carter stopped buying Iranian oil and froze all Iranian assets in the United States. He ordered a military rescue attempt in April 1980, but the mission failed and turned into a disaster when a helicopter crashed into an American plane in the Iranian desert, killing eight Marines and airmen.

Anger in the United States over the hostages’ prolonged captivity contributed to Mr. Carter’s plunging approval ratings. In November 1980, Mr. Reagan prevailed in the presidential election over Mr. Carter, who continued working to close a deal with Iran through the final night of his presidency.

The U.S. negotiators, who worked around the clock for five days in an effort to bring the crisis to an end before he left office, said at the time that they did not know whether Iran had deliberately dragged out the talks so as to ensure that Mr. Reagan would be president when the hostages were freed.

Peter Baker contributed reporting.