Suez Crisis Peacekeepers to police the Egyptian–Israeli border, British Prime Minister Anthony Eden resigned, Canadian Minister of External Affairs Lester Pearson won the Nobel Peace Prize, and the USSR may have been emboldened to invade Hungary. The Suez Canal was opened in 1869, after ten years of work financed by the French and Egyptian governments. The canal was operated by the Universal Company of the Suez Maritime Canal, an Egyptian-chartered company; the area surrounding the canal remained sovereign Egyptian territory and the only land-bridge between Africa and Asia. The canal instantly became strategically important, as it provided the shortest ocean link between
Prime Minister of Iran Prime minister of Iran in 1965 and remained in office until 1977. Shapour Bakhtiar was the last prime minister of Pahlavi era. After the Iranian Revolution of 1979, Ayatollah Khomeini installed Mehdi Bazargan as the Prime Minister of an interim government, which served until November 1979. The government resigned during the Iran hostage crisis, but mentioned that it has not been the sole reason, and the decision for mass resignation had been reached one day before the invasion of the United States embassy by the Iranian students. The post was left empty until Abolhassan Banisadr became president in January 1980