Algerian mediation in the Iran hostage crisis

Algeria played a key role in the Iran hostage crisis by serving as a neutral mediator between Iran and the United States. The country's initial efforts simply saw Algerian intermediaries pass on communications between the Iranian and American governments, but as bilateral talks reached a deadlock, it took on a more active role to solve the crisis. Both countries eventually accepted Algeria's proposals, culminating in the signing of the Algiers Accords on 19 January 1981, after which Iran released all of the remaining American hostages that it had held at the Embassy of the United States in Tehran since 4 November 1979. Further, because the incident resulted in the severance of Iran–United States diplomatic relations, Algeria briefly served as Iran's protecting power in the United States before the role was passed on to Pakistan, while Switzerland has served as the United States' protecting power in Iran.

Background

Algeria–United States relations

American support for Algerian independence

The first American ambassador in Algiers was William J. Porter, who was the head of the North African Desk at the State Department when John F. Kennedy showed support to the Algerian independence.

Remarks of Senator John F. Kennedy in the Senate, Washington, DC, July 2, 1957 against French colonialism in North Africa and in support of the independence of Algeria

Remarks: ^[1]

There are many cases of the clash between independence and imperialism in the Western World that demand our attention. But again, one, above all the rest, is critically outstanding today – Algeria.

Mr. President, the war in Algeria confronts the United States with its most critical diplomatic impasse since the crisis in Indochina – and yet we have not only failed to meet the problem forthrightly and effectively, we have refused to even recognize that it is our problem at all.

Sooner or later the French will have to recognize the existence of an Algerian state.

Statement by the President John F. Kennedy on the occasion of Algerian independence, July 3, 1962

As one who has been interested in the future of the Algerian people for many years, it is with special pride that I extend the good wishes of the American people to the people of Algeria. In the coming days, we wish to strengthen and multiply the American bonds of friendship with the Government and people of Algeria. We look forward to working together with you in the cause of freedom, peace and human welfare. ^[2]

U.S. requests for Algerian mediation in the Vietnam War

The United States asked for the help of Algerian government on multiple occasions. Ambassador at Large Averell Harriman visited Algiers in December 1966 to ask the Algerian government to intercede with North Vietnamese authorities in favor of American prisoners and to explore the possibility for Algeria to help finding a solution to the Vietnam War. ^{[3] [4] [5]}

In 1970, Buzz Aldrin went on an official visit to Algiers to meet with Algerian president Boumediene in order to ask for Algeria’s help to obtain release of American B52 pilots captured in North Vietnam.

Activities of the Black Panther Party in Algiers

In 1969, prominent members of the Black Panthers had settled in Algiers and established the International Section of the Black Panthers Party. In 1972, Willie Roger Holder a Vietnam war veteran and Catherine Marie Kerkow hijacked Western airlines flight 701 from Los Angeles to Seattle and flew to Algeria with a $500.000 ransom to be donated to the Black Panthers. They were granted political asylum but the Algerian authorities seized the ransom money and returned it to the United States. ^[6]

Algerian mediation between Iran and Iraq

On March 6, 1975, the Algiers Agreement was signed between Iraq and Iran following the mediation of president of Algeria Houari Boumediene, to end the disputes between the two countries concerning their borders known as Shatt el Arab in Arabic and Arvand Rud in Persian.

Iranian Revolution and fall of the Shah

After being expelled from Iraq Ayatollah Khomeiny considered various options including moving to Pakistan or Algeria. A group of active supporters based in France convinced him that moving to a Western country like France would give him access to more media attention, would make it easier for his followers to join him from all parts of the world and would offer better means of communication with Iran.

For historical reasons, the revolution for independence against French colonialism, the Algerian regime under single-party system was supportive of revolutionary and anti-colonial movements in the world . Algiers was named "the Mecca of revolutionaries"[6]. Algeria did not interfere in Iranian affairs but representatives in Europe of Ayatollah Khomeiny such as Sadegh Ghotbzadeh had developed connections with Algerian government and single ruling party -FLN- officials in Algeria and in France where the party was represented by a Paris-based organization "Amicale des Algériens en Europe" (Association of Algerians in Europe).

When Ayatollah Khomeiny decided to move to France, the Algerian organization was ordered by the government to bring assistance to the Iranians in France in order to organize the stay of Khomeiny and his followers, especially for his accommodation. A small house was rented in Neauphle Le Chateau, 40 km from Paris.

First contact: Iran hostage crisis begins

Prelude

On November 1, 1979 Deputy Secretary of the State Department Zbigniew Brzezinski attended the celebration of the 25th anniversary of the beginning of the revolution for the independence of Algeria. The next day he met briefly with the new prime minister of Iran Mehdi Bazargan.

Storming of Tehran's U.S. embassy

Three days later, on November 5, the U.S. ambassador in Algiers received an instruction from the State Department requesting him to contact the Ministry of Foreign Affairs secretly as revealed by "Public library of US diplomacy". The State Department wanted to see if Algerian authorities could be of any help after the U.S. Embassy in Tehran had been invaded and U.S. citizens detained. The Algerian president immediately sent his ambassador back to his post in Tehran, with no result.

In December 1979, the Revolutionary Council invited 3 American clergymen and Algerian archbishop Cardinal Duval, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Algiers, to celebrate Christmas with the hostages. ^[7]

Second contact: Algerian intermediaries assigned

Establishment of a communication channel with Iran

President Jimmy Carter wanted to obtain the release of the hostages before leaving office. He asked a second time for the help of Algeria, the American diplomats knowing that the Algerian government had kept good relations with Tehran. But they were very doubtful about the ability of the Algerian staff to find a solution to this crisis after all the other previous intermediaries such as former prime minister of Sweden Olof Palme and United Nations General Secretary Kurt Waldheim had failed. Waldheim brought a team of legal experts around him (including Louis-Edmond Pettiti, president of the Paris bar association, Andres Aguilar, former Venezuelan minister of justice, Adib Daoudi, adviser to Syrian president, Hector Jayewardene, a lawyer from Sri Lanka and Mohamed Bejaoui, Algerian representative at the UN) to meet with Iranian representatives in Geneva. This UN delegation turned out to be totally unable to make any progress on the case. ^[8]

Therefore the idea was to use the Algerian mediation for communicating indirectly with the Iranians only. This approach was consistent with Algeria’s role as diplomatic agent (protecting power) for Iran in the United States (while the Swiss embassy was the protecting power for United States interests in Iran).

In October 1980, the Iranian minister of foreign affairs Mohamad-Ali Rajai went to New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly to present his country’s case against Iraq. Warren Christopher then Deputy Secretary of State seized the opportunity of a meeting between Rajai and the Algerian ambassador to the United Nations to have a contact with the Iranian minister. ^[9] But he refused to meet any American official. Nevertheless, at this point Algeria started to get involved in the hostages matter and when Mr Rajai made a stop in Algiers on his way back to Tehran the Algerian diplomats offered their help to find a solution to the hostages crisis by facilitating the communication between the two countries.

Iran's Majlis votes in favour of a negotiated solution

Two days before the presidential elections in the United States, the Iranian parliament (Majlis) voted on November 2, 1980 the release of the American citizens detained in Iran in the case the United States accept to meet 4 conditions: ^[10]

1. First and foremost to unfreeze Iranian assets in U.S. banks,
2. To return the wealth collected by the late Shah during his reign,
3. To withdraw all lawsuits against Iran in the United States
4. To pledge non-intervention in Iranian affairs.

The message was immediately delivered by the Algerian foreign minister Benyahia to the State Department with a letter confirming that the Algerian government was officially considered an intermediary by Iran.

Deputy legal adviser in the State Department : "On November 3, we received a diplomatic note from Algeria confirming that Iran was ready to negotiate on the basis of the four points through the good offices of the Algerian government. The hostage negotiations proceeded to conclusion via mediation by Algeria. There were no direct contacts between Washington and Tehran". The Iran Hostage Crisis: Diplomatic Drama and Legal Innovation, Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training (ADST)

The Iranian ministry of foreign affairs stressed that the United States government was requested to "announce its response as soon as possible" and "to inform the world" of the American answer to the hostage release condition. ^{[11] [12]}

The Algerian "mailmen" facilitate bilateral talks

The Algerian foreign minister sent the ambassadors to Tehran to receive from the Iranians their detailed proposal for the release of the hostages.

They started a diplomatic shuttle between Tehran and Washington DC. Their role was strictly limited to transporting messages between the negotiators of the two country but were not themselves contributing to these negotiations.

The Algerian diplomats were then referred in the press as "the mailmen". ^[13]

In this function, as courier, they visited the hostages and collected letters for their families in the United States. Back to Washington, the Algerian diplomats organized a gathering with the families and delivered the letters.

Deadlock in direct negotiations

Non-intervention condition

The only Iranian condition that was political, concerning the pledge of non-intervention of the United States in Iranian affairs did not present any difficulty and did not necessitate any negotiation. The American diplomats in Algiers made a declaration that was later transmitted to the Iranians and included in the Algiers Accords : "It is and from now on will be the policy of the United States not to intervene, directly or indirectly, politically or militarily, in Iran's internal affairs". ^{[14] [15]}

Other legal and financial conditions

But the main condition imposed by Iran for the release of the American hostages required a very complex financial negotiation concerning frozen assets under the form of cash, gold bullion and securities mainly U.S. Treasury Bonds, kept in various American banks, branches of American banks abroad and international banks based in the United States and controlled by the U.S. Department of Treasury and the Federal Reserve Bank.

President Carter and the State Department were worried that the magnitude and complexity of the legal and financial matter would delay considerably the release of the hostages, considering that the Iranians would not be confident enough to release them after receiving only a fraction of their assets with no guarantee for future transfers.

On November 11, the American team comprising experts from the State Department and the Treasury Department led by Warren Christopher was in Algiers. They presented the first U.S. proposal to be transmitted to the Iranians who later rejected it. ^[16]

Even if the possibility of arbitration of claims from both sides had been raised, the State Department never presented any plan. Very few legal experts were familiar with International Arbitration in the 70s in the United States and Europe. International Arbitration was more commonly used by developing countries for the settlement of important commercial and financial disputes with international corporations.

Therefore the situation was blocked.

Algeria started out as ''a simple mailman,'' delivering messages between the United States and Iran, but in the end it played a decisive mediator's role in the negotiations for the release of the 52 American hostages and the return to Iran of assets frozen in the United States.

Algerian sources close to the negotiations said Algeria had faithfully observed its role as an intermediary until about a month ago, when ''a deadlock'' was reached between American and Iranian negotiators.

The New York Times, Jan. 26, 1981

Third contact: Algerian intervention

The Algerian minister and the ambassadors had passed messages and delivered letters, but they were not qualified to initiate the negotiations on extremely complex financial matters between two countries with totally antagonistic views.

The American authorities being themselves unable to progress in the negotiation were very skeptical about the ability of the Algerians to be of any help to solve such complex legal and financial problems and to gain trust from both sides to reach a final agreement.

Complex financial negotiations

The complexity of the financial negotiation was due to multiple factors :

- The Iranian claim amount : USD 24 billion, under the form of cash, but also gold and securities with fluctuating values.

- American companies' claims for payments of goods and services exported to Iran

- Iranian claims for goods and services that had been paid but not received from U.S. firms, e.g. before the revolution the Iranian government was in the middle of important acquisitions if airplanes and military equipment from the U.S. ^{[17] [18] [19]}

On the American side : "The claims involved more than just a wide variety of commercial and financial matters. There was also U.S. government claims asserted against Iran by the Export-import Bank of the United States for nonpayments of loans, claims by the Defense Department covering military equipment purchased or contracted for by the Iranians, claims by the State department for embassy property confiscated, and lastly - and clearly the most sensitive - claims on behalf of the hostages for their unlawful detention.

On the Iranian side : "Treasury knew in September 1980 that considerably more than $8 billion had been blocked and that it was basically in four pots : (1) at the N.Y. Fed., (2) at the overseas branches of U.S. banks, (3) at the domestic branches of U.S. banks, and (4) in the hands of relatively large number of companies (principally oil companies) and individuals, both here and abroad, most of whom also had claims against Iran.

American Hostages in Iran : the Conduct of a Crisis (1985)

American delegation in U.S. Treasury Department's representatives

For his second visit to Algiers on November 11, Deputy Secretary of State Warren Christopher was accompanied by representatives of the U.S. Treasury Department. He gave the American answer to the Iranian conditions to the Algerian minister of foreign affairs and traveled back to the United States. The Algerian ambassador in Tehran left for Iran to simply deliver the document to the Iranians.

New round of talks

The American proposal prepared by the state Department and the Treasury experts did not result in a favorable reaction in Iran to allow any progress in the negotiation.

It appeared to the Algerian authorities that the negotiation was going to fail like all previous attempts.

"The participation of financial leaders in the second American delegation did not surprise Algiers, in view of the Iranian demands pertaining to the Shah's assets and the Iranian funds in the United States, but there was doubts as to what role Algeria could play in handling these particular aspects of the negotiations." ^[20] CIA Near East / North Africa Report - 6 February 1981 - Approved for release 2007/02/08

The Algerian diplomats being limited to forwarding messages and being unfamiliar with such complex negotiations, with no proposal to overcome the impasses from neither the American nor the Iranian side, the Algerian authorities took the initiative to make Algerians play a more active role by calling upon Seghir Mostefai the governor of the Central Bank of Algeria, renowned central banker and legal expert, founder and head of the Algerian central bank since the country's independence in 1962, longest-standing member of the Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank where he initiated the creation of the Group of 77 (G77) in 1964 and Group of 24 (G24) in 1971 advocating for Third world countries interests in international institutions and with international banks, with a few other representatives of developing nations including Iranians.

As head of the Algerian central bank he was in relation on regular basis and for a long period of time with the Federal Reserve Bank. The Fed was in charge of freezing and controlling Iranian assets.

The Central Bank of Algeria had cooperation relations with the Markazi Bank of Iran since the 70s and was called for assistance after the revolution to provide training for executives of the Iranian central bank, including its newly appointed governor Alireza Nobari.

Global settlement designed by the Algerian governor

Two-part solution

The new Algerian negotiator presented his proposal for a global settlement of the financial and legal disputes with a plan to organize the release of the hostages with no delay due to the transfer of the Iranian funds from the United states to Iran through his institution the central bank in Algiers.

Then the Algerian intermediaries began to make their own proposals to break the impasse,'' an Algerian source said, while declining to go into detail on his country's specific contributions to the final accord. Some sources described Algeria's role as one of ''creative mediation,'' and others called it ''active intermediation.’' The New York Times, Jan. 26, 1981

On January 7, 1981, Mr Nabavi, member of the government as minister of Executive Affairs and head of the Iranian negotiation team held a press conference to announce that he was studying the "Algerian proposal" and would give an answer rapidly. ^{[21] [22]}

The negotiated deal that was targeted by the Algerian negotiator was :

First phase : to arrange the release of a portion of the Iranian frozen assets that would be significant enough for the Iranians to proceed with the release of the hostages which Algeria view as an urgent humanitarian gesture

Second phase : to set up an arbitration tribunal to deal with all the pending financial litigation which later became the IRAN-US Claims Tribunal based in The Hague.

From $24 billion claim to $12 billion agreement

Therefore the discussions in Tehran were focused on 1) determining which Iranian and US claims were indisputable and 2) the mechanism by which the funds would be transferred to Iran. Difficulties arose due to the fact that the Iranian assets were under different forms : cash, securities and gold. Securities had to be liquidated and part of the physical gold had to be sold, hence complex negotiation on the transaction prices to be applied. Significant last minute market fluctuations after the agreement was reached provoked new claims by the Iranian side and threatened to delay the release of the hostages.

These discussions between the Algerian negotiator and his Iranian counterparts on the validity of the claims resulted in bringing the Iranian claim from immediate payment of $24 billion to $12 billion, enabling the release of the american hostages possible with no delay.

Role of the Central Bank of Algeria

The Algerian proposal included a mechanism by which the unfrozen funds would be transferred to Iran through an escrow account opened by the Central Bank of Algeria at the Bank of England which would receive from the Federal Reserve Bank cash, gold and securities. After the American citizens would board the Algerian plane to leave Iran, the Algerian Central Bank would give an instruction to the Bank of England to disburse the amount that was due to Iran.

On the $12 billion of frozen assets, it was agreed that $8 billion would be transferred to an escrow account in the Bank of England controlled by the Central Bank of Algeria that would receive the funds after Algerian authorities would have certified that all hostages were released and left safely in an Algerian airplane.

The $8 billion included $5.5 billion of Iranian deposits and interests in European branches of American banks, $1.4 billion of Treasury bonds, $940 million worth of gold.

The target was to transfer $8.1 billion to Iran. But most of the Iranian assets held by the Federal Reserve Bank were gold bullion. Since the beginning of the negotiation, the value of gold had decreased by $150 million.

The value of securities to be release had also declined in this period of time.

Finally, because of these fluctuations the global value of the Iranian assets went from $8.1 billion to $7.955 billion.

In the night of January 17th this matter was discussed between President Carter in Washington and his advisers in Washington, New York and Algiers. Finally Warren Christopher insisted that the Algerians explain the situation to the Iranians. American Hostages in Iran : the Conduct of a Crisis (1985)

The governor negotiated with the Iranian team the final amount to be received from the United States ( $7.955 billion) the whole night of January 18[11]. The final agreement was reached.

Final contact: Algiers Accords

Due to the relation with the Central Bank, the Iranian authorities accepted that their assets would be transferred by the American authorities to an escrow account in the name of the Central Bank of Algeria.

The Iranian assets under the form of gold bullion, cash and securities would be transferred to an escrow account of the Central Bank of Algeria kept at the Bank of England.

When the Bank of England notifies the Central Bank of Algeria that the agreed amount was transferred, the Iranians would be notified and the American hostages could be released.

One part of the transferred amount would be kept at the Central Bank for pending settlements of U.S. claims.

Finally, the United States transferred to the Iranians a total amount of : $7.956 billion.

Signing and ratification

During these negotiations, the Algerian ministry of foreign affairs was passing the messages from the Algerian negotiator in Tehran to the Warren delegation who was based at the US embassy in Algiers. The ministry was also preparing the final Agreement by translating it progressively in three languages English, Persian and French which was the language used by the Algerian diplomats at the time.

The Algiers Accords were signed on January 19, 1981 by the Algerian foreign minister Benyahia and Deputy Secretary of state Warren Christopher.

The final agreement was not a bilateral treaty between the United States and Iran as the two country did not want to have a direct relation. It was a declaration made by Algeria to which the two countries would commit separately.

Iran transfers the American hostages

The Algerian authorities had sent to two identical BOEING 727 belonging to the national airline company AIR ALGERIE.

They sent a medical team that examined all the hostages and found them in good condition.

The American hostages were detained in various secret locations in Iran. They were gathered at the Tehran airport pending the confirmation from the Algerian central bank that it had received the Iranian funds. When they received the confirmation, the Iranian authorities officially transferred the detainees to the Algerian authorities. Under the responsibility of Algeria the boarding started immediately in one of the BOEINGs supervised by a small discreet group of Algerian special forces. The second aircraft was used as a decoy.

The AIR ALGERIE plane arrived in Algiers where the American passengers were officially handed to the American delegation. After a couple hours they boarded a U.S. Army aircraft heading to a U.S. Air Force base in Wiesbaden, Germany before flying to the United States.

U.S. releases frozen Iranian government funds

Iran received $2.9 billion of the $8 billion transferred to the Central Bank of Algeria from the escrow account in the Bank of England. ^[23]

"All American banks that had lent money to Iran have already been repaid in full or are assured of eventual repayment under one of the two arbitration provisions in the agreements with Iran, Mr. Miller and Edmund S. Muskie, former Secretary of State, said."

"Officials said that the international arbitration arrangements they negotiated with Iran through Algerian intermediaries will provide most or all claimants with an adequate substitute for their lawsuits, if not with full payment of claims that in some cases appear to be wildly inflated."

New York Times, January 21, 1981

Aftermath

Algeria and the Reagan administration

Following the release of the hostages, the new US administration showed no particular interest in developing relations with Algeria.

"Insensitive to the positive mediating role Algerians had played in resolving the Iranian hostagecrisis, the US showed no gratitude". Handbook of US-Middle East Relations: Formative Factors and Regional Perspectives

Robert E. Looney (Professor of National Security Affairs, Department of National Security Affairs at the Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California)

"On the official level the new Reagan Administration was a little less friendly on ideological grounds toward Algeria than the Carter administration had been. So Algeria did not get any direct economic benefits in the negotiations on the price of gas, etc. out of this. It may have encouraged them to some degree in their efforts to liberalize their own economy." R. Thomson Political Counselor - Algiers (1980-1982)

U.S. arms sales to Algeria

After the diplomatic rupture in 1967, Algeria was not authorized to acquire military equipment from the US. Since the independence in 1962, all military equipment was provided by the Soviet Union. Based on the key role played by Algeria in the release of the hostages, Reagan administration reversed this longstanding policy of barring military sales to Algeria by authorizing the sale of 6 Lockheed C-130 Hercules military transport planes.

Iran–United States claims tribunal

The arbitration tribunal included in the Algerian Proposal played an important role until recent years.

What was universally known as the Iran hostage crisis went on for more than a year, and finally ended with a bargain: In exchange for the release of 52 American diplomats and citizens, both sides agreed to resolve the question of money through international arbitration. The Iran-United States Claims Tribunal has trudged along for almost four decades now, and the money has flowed both ways. By 1983, Iran had returned $896 million to U.S. banks, which in turn had returned hundreds of millions in frozen funds to Iran. Today, private claims from the U.S. side have been resolved to the tune of $2.1 billion.

But still at issue as Obama began his second term was $400 million that Iran in the late 1970s had paid for U.S. fighter jets, while Tehran was still a U.S. ally. After it turned into an enemy in 1979, Washington was not about to deliver the jets. But, all these years later, Iran wanted its money back—and with interest.

Time, August 5th 2016 ^[24]

Chronology of key events

• November 10, 1980 : Deputy Secretary of State Warren Christopher left for Algeria carrying the American response to the Majlis conditions.
• November 11 : Warren Christopher and his delegation left Algiers for the United States. The U.S. delegation explained the American position to the Algerians who will forward the response tomorrow.
• November 12 : The Algerian ambassador to Iran and the Algerian ambassador to the United States presented to the Iranian government in Tehran the U.S. response to the Majlis conditions. Reuters said that the response was presented to Executive Affairs Minister Behzad Nabavi.
• November 13 : The Iranian government group handling the U.S. response held a meeting chaired by minister Nabavi. The "group" did not disclose its reactions to the American reply, delivered by the Algerians yesterday, nor did it disclose how it would respond. Western news sources in Tehran said the impression left by members of the "group" and other Iranian leaders was that the American response was not positive" and that Iran was not pleased with the American approach.
• November 22 : The Iranian government gave an "official response" to the Algerian diplomats in Tehran to be delivered to the United States. According to Iranian news sources and Reuters, a spokesman for Prime Minister Rajai said "we have asked the Americans to give a clear, precise response to the Iranian conditions." The spokesperson said the American reply to the conditions set by the Majlis on Nov. 2 was "neither explicit or clear" and offered "additional proposals" which the lranians did not seek.
• November 24 : The Algerian delegation left Tehran with the reply of the Iranian government. A spokesman for prime minister Rajai said the Iranians were asking the United States for a clear precise answer either a "yes" or a "no" to accepting the Majlis conditions.
• November 25 : The Algerian delegation left for Washington
• December 2 :Deputy secretary of State Warren Christopher arrived in Algiers with the American delegation, carrying the American response to Iran's Nov. 22 request for clarifications on the four conditions set by Iran for release of the hostages.
• December 3 : Talks between the American team and the Algerian intermediaries continued in Algiers.
• December 4 : The Algerian delegation arrived in Tehran carrying the American clarifications
• December 16 : Reuters news agency of Britain reported that Iran was asking for "financial guarantees" from the United states that Iran's assets frozen in the United States since Nov. 14, 1979, would be transferred to a neutral country, presumably Algeria
• December 18 : Tehran radio said the three Algerian diplomats would carry the new Iranian message to the United States "soon.- Algerian radio quoted Ayatollah Beheshti as saying that Iran added details of the financial guarantees to its answer to the United States.
• December 19th  : The Algerian delegation left Tehran for Algiers. Reuters reported that the Iranian reply suggested that both the United States and Iran establish escrow accounts in Algeria to be held against judgements of the two nations' claims against one another. Pars said Iran would not accept the word of the American President for financial guarantees but wanted the United States to deliver Iran's gold and assets to the Algerian Central Bani, where it would be held until aft~r the hostages were released.
• December 21st : Tehran radio said the United States accepted the Iranian claims to Iranian government assets but that the Iranian government was offering a "procedural method" for returning the assets to Iran by transferring the funds to the Algerian Central Bank prior to the release of the hostages. Algeria would transfer the funds to Iran after the release.
• December 26 : The Algerian delegation left Algiers for Washington.
• December 28 : Jimmy Carter meets with the Algerian delegation at Camp David
• December 30 : The Algerians left Washington for Tehran after four days of intensive consultations with State Department officials. The New York Times reported that the new formulation offered Iran $5 or $6 billion to be placed in the escrow account in Algeria to be transferred to Iran after the hostages were released.
• January 2, 1981 : Warren Christopher and the American financial expert insisted there was no time left before President Carter leaves office so the present negotiation would have to be abandoned if a final settlement was not agreed before January 16. They explained that they could arrange for the release of $2.5 billion in the federal Reserve Bank of New York prior to the release of the hostages. And that if Iran quickly arranged to bring current its loans from U.S. banks holding Iranian deposits overseas and additional $4.8 billion could be released. Globally, the amount of frozen assets that could be released at that stage was approx. $8 billion. The Algerian team went back to Tehran with this proposal.
• January 7 : Iran refused to release the hostages until it has received $9.5 billion. Warren Christopher and his delegation left Washington for Algiers as it is the last chance to finalize a deal. He stayed there until the arrival of the hostages and left with them for Wiesbaden.
• Fourteen days in Algiers : Negotiations were focused on the mechanism by which the Iranian assets would be transferred to an escrow account at the Algerian Central Bank following the arrangement proposed by the governor. The Iranians had chosen the Bank of England to receive the funds transferred from the United States. To complete the escrow arrangements a British delegation arrived in Algiers[15].
• January 17 : Last minute problem
• January 18 : in the final agreement, it is written that as soon as the Bank of England has certified to the Algerian Central Bank that it had received cash, gold and securities in the aggregate amount of $7.955 billion "Iran shall immediately bring about the safe departure of the 52 U.S. nationals detained in Iran".
• January 20 : 11AM, in Algiers the deputy governor of the Bank of England received a message from London confirming that they had received a total of $7.956 billion. Which triggered the release of the Americans detains in Iran.
• January 20–21 : Two Boeing 727 aircraft belonging to Algerian national air carrier AIR ALGERIE leave for Tehran transporting a medical team and security officers. Only one of the B727 was transporting the hostages, the other one was a decoy. The hostages arrived in Algiers, were met by Warren Christopher and the American delegation and left in an American aircraft for Wiesbaden.

See also

• Algiers Accords (disambiguation)

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