Denver Journal of International Law & Policy Volume 42 Number 1 Fall Article 3 April 2020 The 1979 United States-Iran Hostage Crisis Reviewed from an Islamic International Law Perspective Muhammad-Basheer .A. Ismail Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.du.edu/djilp Recommended Citation Muhammad-Basheer .A. Ismail, The 1979 United States-Iran Hostage Crisis Reviewed from an Islamic International Law Perspective, 42 Denv. J. Int'l L. & Pol'y 19 (2013). This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Digital Commons @ DU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Denver Journal of International Law & Policy by an authorized editor of Digital Commons @ DU. For more information, please contact
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[email protected]. THE 1979 UNITED STATES-IRAN HOSTAGE CRISIS REVIEWED FROM AN ISLAMIC INTERNATIONAL LAW PERSPECTIVE MUHAMMAD-BASHEER .A. ISMAIL* I. INTRODUCTION Almost all Muslim states' signed and ratified the two international diplomatic and consular legal frameworks: the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations ("VCDR") 2 and the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations ("VCCR").3 The Islamic Republic of Iran, a party to the VCDR and the VCCR, is expected to uphold these conventional principles of diplomatic immunities and international law in all its diplomatic interactions with other states. Three decades ago, the Islamic Republic of Iran seized the United States of America's embassy and its staff. The United States brought a case against Iran in the International Court of Justice ("I.C.J") for violating diplomatic immunity and international obligations. Although the Iranian government was not represented throughout the proceedings before the I.C.J., it sent, through the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, two letters dated December 9, 1979, and March 16, 1980, to the I.C.J.4 These letters summarized the reasons why the Iranian government felt that the case brought by the United States should not be recognized and considered by the *Muhammad-Basheer A.