On this day, November 14, in 1979

US President Jimmy Carter decided to freeze all Iranian assets in the United States; an economic intimidation tactic in reaction to the Iran Hostage Crisis. This situation, in which 66 American hostages were held in the US embassy in Tehran, was a display of resistance and resentment towards US government intervention. Earlier, in 1953, the CIA backed a coup in which the elected reformist Prime Minister was overthrown and replaced with a conservative leader. This sparked the Iranian Revolution in which the new leader was forced to flee the country, but heavy suspicion that the US was plotting another political Coup is what pushed activists to take the embassy hostage. In a display of solidarity with marginalized groups in America, the Iranian activists released 13 woman and African American hostages during the situation.