Executive Order 12170 was issued by American president Jimmy Carter on November 14, 1979, ten days after the Iran hostage crisis had started. The executive order, empowered under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, ordered 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.
The order was first declared on 14 November 1979 (EO 12170). At least 11 executive orders were based on this emergency state.[1] The emergency, which was renewed in 2023 for the 44th time, is the "oldest existing state of emergency."[1] The renewal of the emergency state with respect to Iran was equal to continuation of non-nuclear US sanctions against Iran.
By 2014, this state of emergency was among 30 others which US was dealing with. According to Gregory Korte of USA Today, this state of emergency gives "extra ordinary powers" to the president to "seize property, call up the National Guard and hire and fire military officers at will," since it is declared by executive order. The language of such declarations are "nearly apocalyptic," according to the USA Today. Although bound by law to review the emergence declarations, Congress provides little "oversight" on them, said Korte.[2]