Executive Order 12170

Executive Order 12170 was issued by American president Jimmy Carter on November 14, 1979, ten days after the Iran hostage crisis had started. This Executive Order, empowered under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, called for the freezing of all Iranian government assets held within the United States.

The release of the US hostages, as well as the unfreezing of Iranian assets and establishing arbitration for resolving claims on both sides was negotiated in the Algiers Accords; the accords were signed on the last full day of the Carter administration and assented to by the incoming Reagan Administration.