President-elect Donald Trump’s role in securing a hostage deal in Gaza before even taking office drew parallels with Iran’s release of American hostages in 1981.
On Wednesday, mediators announced a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel, with one of the stipulations involving the release of 33 hostages. If conditions are met, all remaining hostages will be released in the planned second and third stages of the ceasefire, which would culminate in an end to hostilities. Trump’s role in securing their release before even entering office drew parallels to Iran’s release of hostages minutes after the inauguration of President Ronald Reagan on Jan. 20, 1981.
The role of Trump and Reagan in both cases is the subject of heavy debate.
Reagan and the 1981 hostage release
On Nov. 4, 1979, Iranian Islamic radicals stormed the U.S. Embassy compound and took 53 Americans hostage. The crisis consumed the American political scene, with the public outraged at the brazen attack. President Jimmy Carter’s inability to free the hostages was seen as an indictment of his abilities as a president, with Republicans especially viewing the hostage-taking as a symptom of Carter’s perceived weakness.
After 444 days, the hostages were released just minutes after Reagan was sworn into office, giving the appearance of starting his administration with a smashing foreign policy victory.
The timing and reason for the release of the hostages have stirred up intense historical debate. Reagan’s defenders view the timing as no coincidence, arguing that the Iranians were pushed to make a deal after Reagan’s landslide defeat of Carter. In this telling of events, Tehran feared a forceful retaliation from Reagan if the hostages weren’t promptly returned; releasing them minutes after his inauguration was both a sign of goodwill for the new president and a move made out of fear.
In critics’ eyes, the release of the hostages minutes after Reagan took office was either due to unrelated delays in carrying out the terms of the deal or a deliberate slight against Carter more than a move to appease Reagan. Reagan’s team had no say in the actual hostage negotiations, and the terms that ended the crisis in the Algiers Accords were all reached by Carter’s team.
Another major event that led to the release unrelated to Reagan was Iraq’s surprise invasion months before. Tehran was worried that continuing to keep the hostages would isolate it diplomatically and lead to U.S. support for Iraq.
Reagan’s biggest critics even allege an “October Surprise” conspiracy, claiming that representatives from Reagan’s campaign secretly colluded with the Iranians to delay the release of the hostages until Reagan was in office so as not to help Carter’s reelection campaign.
Trump’s role in the 2025 hostage deal
Trump appears to have had an unambiguously more direct role in the hostage release than Reagan, with his Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, taking on a direct role in negotiations before Trump has taken office. Several Biden administration officials openly praised Witkoff and held him partially responsible for the deal.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken praised Witkoff as a “terrific partner” in the talks.
“I think Steve Witkoff has been a terrific partner in this, and also President-elect Trump in making clear that he wants to see this deal go forward, and go forward before Jan. 20. And of course, everyone wants to know — and it’s very useful as well to have Steve a part of this — they want to make sure that the deal that the president’s put on the table and that we’ve negotiated, the Trump administration will continue to back,” Blinken said on Monday.
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller acknowledged on Wednesday that the Trump team “has been absolutely critical in getting this deal over the line” because the Biden administration can’t follow through on the promises given its impending expiration.
“We thank the Trump team for working with this on this ceasefire agreement. We think it’s important that they were at the table,” he added.
Though President Joe Biden acknowledged that he and Trump’s team had “been speaking as one team,” he declined to give Trump credit, asking, “Is that a joke?” when a reporter asked if Trump deserved credit.
A diplomat briefed on the ceasefire and hostage negotiations between Israel and Hamas, speaking with the Washington Post, cited Trump as the decisive factor in securing it, saying it was “the first time there has been real pressure on the Israeli side to accept a deal.”
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Trump himself had no doubt about his role in the negotiations, taking credit in a post on Truth Social.
“This EPIC ceasefire agreement could have only happened as a result of our Historic Victory in November, as it signaled to the entire World that my Administration would seek Peace and negotiate deals to ensure the safety of all Americans, and our Allies,” he said.
