US History Research Project

Uncle Sam Symbolic Character

Uncle Sam Takes a Stand

                      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. 

Handpicked by both the US and Britain, General Fazlollah Zahedi replaced Mohammad Mossadegh in 1953.  Upon becoming the new shah of Iran, Zahedi began trying to westernize





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"