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Before his flight home, Carter stood at a small lectern at Rhein-Main Air Base in Frankfurt. His face frozen in rage and his voice cracking, he declared: "The acts of barbarism that were perpetrated on our people by Iran can never be condoned. These criminal acts ought to be condemned by all law-loving, decent people of the world. It has been an abominable circumstance that will never be forgotten." He denounced the captors as "terrorists" who had committed a "despicable act of savagery." Still livid as he penned a report to the new President, while flying back across the Atlantic, Carter wrote: "Never do any favors for the hoodlums who persecuted innocent American heroes." And he told reporters: "Those were acts of animals, almost."
The intensified animosity toward Iran in the U.S. fed several post-release controversies: Had the Carter Administration dealt too gently with the Iranians in securing the hostages' release? Would—and should —the new President carry out the terms of the agreement? With the Americans safely out of danger, should Iran now be punished and, if so, how?
The first press conference held by William Dyess, the new Administration's acting spokesman for the State Department, mistakenly fed speculation that Reagan might repudiate the agreement. Dyess announced only that the Administration would "study" the details before determining whether to abide by them. As the furor grew, he later explained that the Government "fully intends to carry out the obligations of the U.S." so long as they are "consistent with domestic and international law." Some of the terms will undoubtedly be challenged in U.S. courts, but most legal experts believe the courts will follow the lead of Federal Judge Gerhard Gesell who ruled last week that the President had the constitutional authority to make the agreement with Iran.
A repudiation of the terms by either Reagan or the courts would probably hurt the American banks, contracting firms and individuals with financial claims against Iran. The agreement sets up an international arbitration panel (three members to be selected each by Iran and the U.S. and another three to be chosen jointly) to rule on the claims and settle the valid ones from Iranian funds held in escrow by the Bank of England. Said a high official in the State Department: "It seems very unlikely that a conservative Republican Administration will launch its term by taking action that would cost major American banks $1.4 billion."
As negotiated through excruciating marathon sessions in Algiers, Tehran and Washington that repeatedly threatened to end in impasse, the agreement requires the U.S. to renounce any intention to interfere in the internal affairs of Iran, to lift its embargo against trade with Iran, and to ask its allies in Europe to do the same. These provisions have already been carried out, although little American trade is expected to be resumed for quite some time. The U.S. also agreed to help locate any assets of the late Shah and his family in America and to freeze them while Iran tries to establish legal claims to them in U.S. courts.