<P> On November 2, the Iranian parliament finally set forth formal conditions for the hostages' release and eight days later Deputy Secretary of State Warren Christopher arrived in Algiers with the first U.S. reply setting off a slow motion diplomatic shuffle between Washington, Algiers and Tehran . The Iranians refused to communicate directly with the president, or any other American, so Algeria had agreed to act as an intermediary . This arrangement slowed down the negotiating process . As Carter recalled, "The Iranians, who spoke Persian, would talk only with the Algerians, who spoke French . Any question or proposal of mine had to be translated twice as it went from Washington to Algiers to Tehran, and then the answers and counter-proposals had to come back to me over the same slow route ." </P> <P> Ronald Reagan defeated Jimmy Carter in the November 1980 presidential election with pressure being added to the negotiations by the President - Elect's talk of not paying "ransom for people who have been kidnapped by barbarians", and a New Years Day threat from Radio Tehran that if the United States did not accept Iran's demands the hostages would be tried as spies and executed . In the final stages of the negotiations in Algiers, the chief Algerian mediator was the Foreign Affairs Minister Mohammed Benyahia who interacted primarily with Deputy Secretary of State Warren Christopher from the U.S. side . Former Algerian ambassador to the U.S. Abdulkarim Ghuraib also participated in the negotiations . Much of the money involved was being held in overseas branches of twelve American banks, so Carter, his cabinet, and staff were constantly on the phone to London, Istanbul, Bonn, and other world capitals to work out the financial details . </P> <P> The negotiations resulted in the "Algiers Accords" of January 19, 1981 . The Algiers Accords called for Iran's immediate freeing of the hostages, the unfreezing of $7.9 billion of Iranian assets and immunity from lawsuits Iran might have faced in America, and a pledge by the United States that "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". The Accords also created the Iran--United States Claims Tribunal, and Iran deposited $1 billion in an escrow account to satisfy claims adjudicated by the Tribunal in favor of American businesses that had lost assets after the hostage takeover . The Tribunal closed to new claims by private individuals on January 19, 1982 . In total, it received approximately 4,700 private U.S. claims . The Tribunal has ordered payments by Iran to U.S. nationals totaling over $2.5 billion . Almost all private claims have now been resolved, but several intergovernmental claims are still before the Tribunal . </P> <P> A series of small crises slowed down the process . Lloyd Cutler, one of the White House attorneys, told the president there was a delay in the transfer of assets; the Federal Reserve Bank of New York did not have its part of the money, so funds were shifted among the reserve banks . Another difficulty concerned the time difference between Washington and Tehran . Because of the war with Iraq, the Iranian officials had blackouts of airport lights . This meant that once it got dark in Iran (about 9: 30 a.m. Washington time), even if the deal had been sealed, the Algerian pilots would not take off until dawn . Thus, if the departure time passed, everyone understood that it would be another eight to ten hours before anything could happen . In the wee hours of January 19, 1981, word came to Carter that the planes were on the runway in Tehran, and the hostages had been taken to the vicinity of the airport . At 4: 44 a.m. Carter went to the press briefing room to announce that with the help of Algeria the United States and Iran had reached an agreement, but was halted because the Algerian negotiator sent word that the Iranian bank officials did not agree with the terms of accountability in the banking agreements, so the planes were returned to their standby position . The staff soon understood that Carter's trip to Germany to greet hostages would not occur until after the inauguration . </P>

What was the compromise in the iran hostage crisis
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