<P> The talks hammered out an agreement to bring to their higher - ups, with the United States agreeing to three demands but not to an apology . Talks were stalled first by Iraq's invasion of Iran, which Iranian officialdom blamed on the United States . Rafsanjani delivered a vote in parliament in favor of releasing the hostages . Then negotiations began over how much money U.S. businesses owed Iran--Iran believing the sum to be $20 to $60 billion and the United States estimating it at "closer to $20 to $60 million".--and how much Iran owed U.S. businesses . </P> <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>

Who negotiated the release of the hostages from iran