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On the morning of November 4, 1979, revolutionary Muslim students overtook security at the United

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On the morning of November 4, 1979, revolutionary Muslim students overtook security at the United States embassy in Tehran, Iran and occupied the building, taking everyone inside hostage. For the next 444 days the United States stood paralyzed with fear and anger as the diplomats were held as prisoners. Immediately after the capture of the sixty-five Americans public pressure began to mount on the government to bring the captured citizens back home. President Jimmy Carter responded by slapping sanctions on Iran and negotiating for the return of the hostages. At the same time he faced a reelection battle in 1980 that certainly affected his response to the crisis, especially standing next to Ronald Reagan, who favored shows of force to …show more content…

In 1953 American intelligence agencies helped royalists led by the Shah seize power from the Prime Minister in a coup de tat. After the coup the Shah made the country into an absolute monarchy. The United States helped the Shah tighten his grip on power over the next twenty-five years, training his special police and providing financial and military aid. During this period the Shah used the secret police to purge opponents and ruled with an iron fist. While he did bring significant reform to Iran, including modernizing the country, many were resentful of his ties to the West and angrily saw the reforms as attempts at Westernization. Popular support remained tepid and eventually led to protests and a coup in 1979.
Following his exile, the Shah was a guest of a number of world leaders including the premiers of Egypt, Morocco, the Bahamas, and Mexico. In October of 1979 the Shah required urgent medical attention and was allowed into the United States for treatment despite warnings from the State Department that allowing the Shah into the country could inflame tensions in Iran. Their warnings proved prescient as Iranian revolutionaries used his admission as propaganda against the United States. Revolutionary leader and autocrat of the new theocratic Islamic state Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who had taken control of the revolutionary government, used

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