Missing Airman Raises Concerns That Iran Could Gain Leverage Over the U.S. [View all]

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/04/world/middleeast/missing-airman-iran.html

Missing Airman Raises Concerns That Iran Could Gain Leverage Over the U.S.
Since 1979, Iran has repeatedly used Americans and Europeans detained on its territory to win concessions over more powerful adversaries.
By Yeganeh Torbati
April 4, 2026 Updated 8:56 a.m. ET

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The 1979 crisis came to define the final year of Jimmy Carter’s presidency and served for many as a symbol of his failures.

Mr. Trump has repeatedly criticized Mr. Carter’s handling of the hostage crisis, calling it “pathetic.”

In 1980, he told a journalist, “That this country sits back and allows a country such as Iran to hold our hostages, to my way of thinking, is a horror, and I don’t think they’d do it with other countries.”

Hamidreza Azizi, an expert on Iranian security issues at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, a research organization, said Iran could take one of two tacks if it manages to capture the airman.

If the capture remains secret, the Iranians could approach the United States privately and cut a behind-the-scenes deal, demanding concessions in exchange for the crew member’s secret release. Or Iran could parade the airman in front of the cameras as propaganda.

That, he said, was the more likely strategy. “They really do want to present this image of victory and also to humiliate Trump,” Mr. Azizi said.

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