Chronology • 4611980 US diplomatic pressure and military rescue attempt fail to
release American hostages in Iran; shah dies in exile; military
coup in Turkey; Iraq invades Iran, causing further oil price hikes
1981 Algeria mediates US-Iranian agreement, releasing frozen Iranian
assets in return for the hostages; Begin reelected; Israel bombs
Iraqi nuclear reactor; Sadat assassinated during parade and is
succeeded by Husni Mubarak; US Senate authorizes AWACS
aircraft sale to Saudi Arabia; Israel annexes Golan Heights
1982 Iran drives back Iraqi forces; Israel returns the Sinai to Egypt;
Saudi King Khalid dies and is succeeded by Fahd; Israel invades
Lebanon, drives back Syrian and PLO forces, and besieges
Beirut; PLO troops withdraw under supervision of US, French,
and Italian forces; President-elect Bashir Jumayyil killed in
bomb blast; Israeli troops enter west Beirut as Lebanese
Christians massacre Palestinians in camps; Israel-Lebanon peace
talks begin
1983 US brokers peace treaty between Israel and Lebanon, calling for
all foreign troops to leave Lebanon, but Syria refuses to pull out;
Israeli forces withdraw to Awali River; truck bombers destroy
US Marine barracks and French headquarters in Beirut; Shamir
replaces Begin as Israel's premier
1984 American University of Beirut president Malcolm Kerr
assassinated; Western peacekeeping forces leave west Beirut as
Shi'i fighters take control; inconclusive Knesset election in Israel
produces broad coalition government, headed first by Shim'on
Peres and then by Yitzhak Shamir
1985 Israel quits Lebanon, except for self-defined security zone on
southern border; militant Shi'is hijack TWA plane and demand
Israel release its Lebanese prisoners; Israel bombs PLO
headquarters in Tunis, following Palestinian attack on Israelis
in Cyprus1986 Reagan orders bombing of Tripoli (Libya); US and British
hostages slain in Lebanon; US Navy analyst admits to selling
documents to Israel; Tehran reveals secret talks regarding US
arms sales to Iran, the proceeds of which are to aid Contra
rebels in Nicaragua
1987 Iranian troops besiege Basra; presidential commission confirms
US arms sales to Iran via Israel and diversion of proceeds to
Contras; US agrees to protect Kuwaiti shipping in Gulf as Iran-
Iraq War intensifies; UN passes Security Council Resolution