Question: 66 people from the country that Soviets did not want to engage in conflict were held hostage in late 1970s. What is the land mass in square miles of the country where the 66 people were held hostage in?

funafuti is an atoll and the capital of the island nation of tuvalu. it has a population of 6,025 people, making it the country's most populated atoll, with 56.6 percent of tuvalu's population. it is a narrow sweep of land between 20 and 400 metres (66 and 1,312 feet) wide, encircling a large lagoon (te namo) 18 km (11 miles) long and 14 km (9 miles) wide. the average depth in the funafuti lagoon is about 20 fathoms (36.5 metres or 120 feet). with a surface of 275 square kilometres (106.2 sq mi), it is by far the largest lagoon in tuvalu. the land area of the 33 islets aggregates to 2.4 square kilometres (0.9 sq mi), less than one percent of the total area of the atoll. cargo ships can enter funafuti's lagoon and dock at the port facilities on fongafale. <SEP> Iran (/aɪˈræn/ or i/ɪˈrɑːn/; Persian: Irān – ایران‎‎ [ʔiːˈɾɒːn] ( listen)), also known as Persia (/ˈpɜːrʒə/ or /ˈpɜːrʃə/), officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (جمهوری اسلامی ایران – Jomhuri ye Eslāmi ye Irān [d͡ʒomhuːˌɾije eslɒːˌmije ʔiːˈɾɒːn]), is a sovereign state in Western Asia. It is bordered to the northwest by Armenia, the de facto Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, and Azerbaijan; to the north by Kazakhstan and Russia across the Caspian Sea; to the northeast by Turkmenistan; to the east by Afghanistan and Pakistan; to the south by the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman; and to the west by Turkey and Iraq. Comprising a land area of 1,648,195 km2 (636,372 sq mi), it is the second-largest country in the Middle East and the 18th-largest in the world. With 78.4 million inhabitants, Iran is the world's 17th-most-populous country. It is the only country that has both a Caspian Sea and an Indian Ocean coastline. Iran has long been of geostrategic importance because of its central location in Eurasia and Western Asia, and its proximity to the Strait of Hormuz. <SEP> on july 16, 1989, the popular front of azerbaijan held its first congress and elected abulfaz elchibey, who would become president, as its chairman. on august 19, 600,000 protesters jammed baku’s lenin square (now azadliq square) to demand the release of political prisoners. in the second half of 1989, weapons were handed out in nagorno-karabakh. when karabakhis got hold of small arms to replace hunting rifles and crossbows, casualties began to mount; bridges were blown up, roads were blockaded, and hostages were taken. <SEP> In April 1950, Stalin gave Kim permission to invade the South under the condition that Mao would agree to send reinforcements if they became needed. Kim met with Mao in May 1950. Mao was concerned that the Americans would intervene but agreed to support the North Korean invasion. China desperately needed the economic and military aid promised by the Soviets. Stalin made it clear that Soviet forces would not openly engage in combat, to avoid a direct war with the Americans. At that time, the Chinese were in the process of demobilizing half of the PLA's 5.6 million soldiers. However, Mao sent more ethnic Korean PLA veterans to Korea and promised to move an army closer to the Korean border. Once Mao's commitment was secured, preparations for war accelerated. <SEP> Fifty - two American diplomats and citizens were held hostage for 444 days from November 4, 1979, to January 20, 1981, after a group of Iranian college students belonging to the Muslim Student Followers of the Imam's Line, who supported the Iranian Revolution, took over the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. It stands as the longest hostage crisis in recorded history. The Iran hostage crisis was a diplomatic standoff between Iran and the United States of America.