The US victims of the Iran hostage crisis are to receive compensation 36 years after their ordeal, reports say.

Each of the 53 hostages or their estates will receive up to $4.4m (£3m), according to a US spending bill passed last Friday.

The victims of other state-sponsored terror attacks such as the US embassy bombings in East Africa in 1998 will also be eligible.

The hostage-taking lasted 444 days and led the US to break off ties with Iran.

The decision to award compensation follows a controversial deal between world powers and Iran over its nuclear programme.

"Those negotiations resulted in an understanding that an inevitable next step in securing a relationship was to address the reason for the rupture, which was our kidnapping and torture," former hostage Rodney Sickmann told the New York Times.