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The Iran Hostage Crisis
On November 4th 1979, the US Embassy in Tehran, Iran was stormed by Iranian militants. Fifty-two workers were seized and held captive for a total of 444 days. In order to understand the reasoning behind this attack we must first analyze Iran's growing animosity towards the United States.
Animosity had been brewing between the United States and Iran ever since the 1950's. The year 1951 marked the beginning of the Iranian Oil Nationalization Crisis. By nationalizing Anglo-Iranian oil, Mohammad Mossadegh crippled Britain's economy and began to worry the US. Since Britain had been reliant on Iran's oil for quite some while, they were furious and turned to the United States for help. The American Central Intelligence Agency (C.I.A.) and the Secret Intelligence Service (S.I.S) in Britain combined efforts to overthrow Mossadegh, the leader of Iran. This coup or operation became known as Operation AJAX. The link will take you to the actual C.I.A. document composed in 1952.
Sources:
BBC
White House History
"Huffington Post's Howard Fineman talks politics and the internet"- University of Pennsylvania
America Held Hostage- Don Lawson
New York Times
The Cold War Period- Leora Maltz
Fox News Reporting: Americans Held Hostage in Iran
VCE- "General Zahedi"
