In the 1970s, the rise of the Ayatollah Khomeini and the explosion of the Iranian Revolution frays the deep ties between Iran and the U.S.

With Iran now under Khomeini's rule, a 48-hour sit-in at the American embassy in Tehran snowballs into an international crisis.

As pressure mounts to resolve the crisis, the Carter administration launches an ill-fated military rescue mission.

A year into the siege, the entrenched stalemate in Iran looms over the 1980 presidential election.