Iranian Hostage Crisis

November 4, 1979

The U.S. Embassy in Tehran, Iran is seized and 63 American hostages are taken and held for 444 days. The embassy was taken over by Iranian students who believed the U.S. was attempting to undermine the Iranian Revolution. They also opposed U.S. support of the Shah of Iran who, after being overthrown, went to the U.S. for cancer treatment. They wanted him returned to stand trial for crimes against the Iranian people. In 1953, the United States and Great Britain with help from the CIA had overthrown Iran’s democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh, placing the Shah in power.