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The Effect Of Duress On The Iranian Hostage Settlement Agreement, James M. Redwine

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

As soon as the United States began celebrating the hostages' release, the validity of the agreement became a subject of intense controversy. Conservative commentators urged that the United States "renounce the deal." To them, the Declaration was not an agreement but extortion, and had "the same moral standing as an agreement made with a kidnapper, that is to say, none at all..."

Although it will take years of litigation and commentary to assess the full significance and consequences of the hostage taking and the settlement agreement, some preliminary observations may be made. The Declaration poses many difficult questions of international …