Word: knowns
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...lymphatic system and other illnesses, as the price of the Americans' release. While flatly refusing to submit to such outrageous blackmail, the U.S. was all but powerless to free the victims. As the days passed, nerves became more frayed and the crisis deepened. So far as was known, the hostages had been humiliated but not harmed. Yet with demonstrators chanting "Death to America" outside the compound, there was no way to guarantee that the event would not have a violent ending...
...week's end the impasse remained unresolved. The American hostages, under guard in the embassy, were visited by Swedish, Syrian and other diplomats. Some were allowed to send letters, and 33 reputedly signed a petition supporting their captors' demand that the U.S. extradite the Shah. Khomeini let it be known that he would not be receiving visitors over the weekend, thereby precluding for the moment much chance of direct negotiations for the prisoners' release...
...seizure of the hostages as "a disgrace to Islam"?to offer to send his private jet to fly the ailing monarch to Cairo. Retired Heavyweight Champion Muhammad Ali announced he would be willing to exchange himself for the prisoners. Said Ali: "I'm a Muslim, and I am known and loved in Iran." Intrigued, State Department officials suggested that Ali try out his offer on the Iranian embassy in Washington. Pope John Paul II dispatched a personal envoy, Pro-Nuncio Annibale Bugnini, to Qum to meet with Khomeini, but the Ayatullah said he could do nothing unless...
Inside the two-story brick chancellery building, known to Americans as "Fort Apache" for its special security reinforcements, Marine guards donned flak jackets and gas masks and ordered everyone to the top floor. There, in the ambassador's office, Political Officer Victor Tomseth was on the phone to the embassy's ranking officer, Charge d'Affaires L. Bruce Laingen, who was at the Foreign Ministry. Other embassy officers quickly telephoned other Iranian officials, trying to get help. Just before 1 p.m., Laingen gave Tomseth the order: "Final destruction." Immediately, embassy officers grabbed files from safes and began shredding and burning...
Fearful for the safety of the hostages, the State Department refused to release their names, but the identities of most of them gradually became known. Among them were political officers, Marines, code clerks, secretaries, the kinds of people who staff American embassies throughout the world. Tomseth, the second in command, was the ranking captive. Those held included Mike Holland, the burly security chief; Ann Swift, an efficient, Farsi-speaking officer who during the takeover tried over and over to reach the acting Defense Minister; Mike Matrinko, who was a consul in Tabriz last spring when the mission was overrun...