relations with the west. he s the last iranian leader to meet face-to-face with the u.s. president t. revolution sends the shah into exile and brings the return of the ayatollah co khomeni, calling the united states the great satid. in november, 1979, militants stormed the u.s. embassy in tahran. the acts of bar barrism, which were perpetrated on our people by iran can never be condoned. the u.s. responds by freezing iranian assets in the u.s. it takes 444 days before the hostages are finally free. some 30 minutes ago, the planes bearing our prisoners left iranian airspace and are now free. direct ties between the two
and he admitted to you that he was armed? i asked, did he have a gun, he said, yes. i asked if it was loaded, he said yes. was he planning to shoot reagan? he said, yes, i was thinking about it. at that very hour, the american hostages in iran were waiting to board an airplane to freedom after 14 months in captivity. they were on both sides of us, they were jostling us, punching at you, just screaming and yelling at you. death to america. alan goalsinski was security director at the u.s. embassy in tehran when it was overrun by student demonstrators in november 1979. at one point, i thought they were going to burn me alive. the iranian revolutionaries would parade hostages, blindfolded in the streets, and it would get worse. we went through mock executions. some of them were large scale,
november 1979. at one point, i thought they were going to burn me alive. the iranian revolutionaries would parade hostages, blindfolded in the streets, and it would get worse. we went through mock executions. some of them were large scale, where they gathered about 20 of us, had us stand up against the wall and went through the ready, aim, fire in farsi and then you got a click. my fear wasn t being killed. certainly, that was a fear, but my greater fear was being left in a dungeon for 20 or 30 years. the iranians hated president carter, he said. the hostages would not be free until carter was out of office that inaugural day. we were given to believe that this was the final payback to jimmy carter. in those last hours, even as the hostages were being taken to
a mental hospital, hinckley would confirm to our cnn producer james polk, then an nbc reporter, that he was indeed there that day. hinckley said he was across the street from the church on the sidewalk that morning. and he admitted to you that he was armed? i asked, did he have a gun, he said, yes. i asked if it was loaded, he said yes. was he planning to shoot reagan? he said, yes, i was thinking about it. at that very hour, the american hostages in iran were waiting to board an airplane to freedom after 14 months in captivity. they were on both sides of us, they were jostling us, punching at you, just screaming and yelling at you. death to america. alan goalsinski was security director at the u.s. embassy in tehran when it was overrun by student demonstrators in november 1979.
overrun by student demonstrators in november 1979. at one point i thought they were going to burn me alive. reporter: the iranian revolutionaries would parade hostages, blindfolded in the streets, and it would get worse. we went through mock executions. some of them were large scale, where they gathered about 20 of us, had us stand up against the wall and went through the ready, aim, fire in farsi and then click. my fear wasn t being killed. certainly that was a fear. my greater fear was being left in a dungeon for 20 or 30 years. the iranians hated president carter, he said. the hostages would not be free until carter was out of office that inaugural day. we were given to believe that this was the final pay back to jimmy carter. in those last hours, even as