--- description: The 53 Americans were held captive by Iranian students for 444 days title: American Hostages from 1979 Iran Crisis Will Be Compensated image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7dec18598fd5166b/698876dbe20a876294a8ecfc/gettyimages-97350501.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [diplomacy](/tag/diplomacy/) ## diplomacy Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # 36 Years After the Iran Hostage Crisis, Americans Will Receive Compensation ## Video: TIME Remembers: Reagan vs. Carter [Watch (HLS stream): TIME Remembers: Reagan vs. Carter](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/X4lwZNbh.m3u8) (3:42)  _Published 2015-11-03. TIME Reporter Laurence Barrett looks back at his time covering Ronald Reagan's winning election in 1980._ by [Rishi Iyengar](/author/rishi-iyengar/) ## Rishi Iyengar Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 25, 2015 3:53 AM CUT  Returned hostages from Iran at press conference on Jan. 28, 1981 Returned hostages from Iran at press conference on Jan. 28, 1981NY Daily News Archive—Getty Images by [Rishi Iyengar](/author/rishi-iyengar/) ## Rishi Iyengar Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 25, 2015 3:53 AM CUT The American citizens held captive for more than a year during the infamous Iran hostage crisis of 1979 are set to [receive compensation](http://news.yahoo.com/us-iran-hostages-compensated-decades-ordeal-190328345.html;%5Fylt=A0LEVrjcRXxW5UIAH.RjmolQ "undefined") decades later, after U.S. lawmakers passed legislation this week enabling their payments to be completed. The 53 former hostages will be given up to $4.4 million each or $10,000 for each of the 444 days they were held, reports Agence France-Presse. The crisis, which exacerbated already existing tensions between the U.S. and Iran, [began](http://content.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1878162%5F1841912,00.html "undefined") when Iranian student militants besieged the U.S. embassy in Tehran on Nov. 4, 1979, and took its staff hostage. The terms under which their [release](http://time.com/3667056/freed-iranian-hostages/ "undefined") was secured in 1981, however, prevented them from seeking compensation from the Iranian government. The compensation has been enabled now, 36 years later, through fines collected from companies that have defied U.S. sanctions against Iran and other nations like North Korea, including $8.9 billion paid by French bank BNP Paribas this year. Thomas Lankford, an attorney who represents most of the hostages and their families, told AFP that a similar provision in last year’s spending bill fell through. “It’s been a long, arduous, epic struggle,” he said. \[[_AFP_](http://news.yahoo.com/us-iran-hostages-compensated-decades-ordeal-190328345.html;%5Fylt=A0LEVrjcRXxW5UIAH.RjmolQ "undefined")\] **_Read a 1981 account of what the hostages went through, here in the TIME Vault_** **:** [_The Long Ordeal of the Hostages_](http://time.com/vault/issue/1981-01-26/page/26/ "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4161361/iran-hostage-crisis-compensation-36-years/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4161361/iran-hostage-crisis-compensation-36-years/"},"headline":"36 Years After the Iran Hostage Crisis, Americans Will Receive Compensation","datePublished":"2015-12-25T03:53:29.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T13:38:04.237Z","description":"The 53 Americans were held captive by Iranian student militants for 444 days","url":"https://time.com/4161361/iran-hostage-crisis-compensation-36-years/","keywords":["diplomacy","Iran","U.S.","Sanctions","compensation","Embassy","hostages"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7dec18598fd5166b/698876dbe20a876294a8ecfc/gettyimages-97350501.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Rishi Iyengar","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/rishi-iyengar/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7dec18598fd5166b/698876dbe20a876294a8ecfc/gettyimages-97350501.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"GettyImages-97350501","caption":"Returned hostages from Iran at press conference on Jan. 28, 1981","creditText":"NY Daily News Archive—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/diplomacy/","name":"diplomacy"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4161361/iran-hostage-crisis-compensation-36-years/","name":"36 Years After the Iran Hostage Crisis, Americans Will Receive Compensation"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"TIME Remembers: Reagan vs. Carter","description":"TIME Reporter Laurence Barrett looks back at his time covering Ronald Reagan's winning election in 1980.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/X4lwZNbh/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-11-03T23:14:00.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/X4lwZNbh.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4161361/iran-hostage-crisis-compensation-36-years/","duration":"PT3M42S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4161361/iran-hostage-crisis-compensation-36-years/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```