Marks Anniversary Of Hostage Crisis

The United States and have not had formal diplomatic relations since ian students stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1979 and held 52 hostages for 444 days in the wake of the Islamic Revolution.

The Associated Press reports students burned American flags and effigies of President Bush today to mark the 25th anniversary of the takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran:

To chants of "Death to America," about 3,000 students gathered outside the former U.S. Embassy to mark the Nov. 4, 1979, storming of the building by militant students who held 52 Americans hostage for 444 days. By the ian calendar, the anniversary of the siege fell on Wednesday.

The "hostage crisis" is believed by many to have been one of the reasons Jimmy Carter did not win re-election. The hostages were freed on the day of President Reagan's inauguration.