Jimmy Carter and the Iranian Hostage Crisis

The events that caused the Iranian hostage crisis occurred thirty years before the crisis. It started with American and British oil interests in Iran. Since the discovery of Iranian oil British and American oil companies have had control of them. Prime Minister Muhammad Mossadegh was the first person to want to take back the ownership of Iran's oil. In order to keep Iran's oil in the hands of America and Great Britain, the CIA and British Intelligence Service decided to overthrow Mossadegh. This mission was codenamed operation TP-Ajax. The plan was to overthrow Mossadegh and replace him with Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi. The Shah was pro-western and sold back 80% of Iran's oil. The people of Iran would later find out that the Shah's government was ruthless and his secret police, the SAVAK, would murder thousands of people. Also the Shah would cripple Iran's economy by spending money on American weapons. The people of Iran were becoming restless with the Shah's government. Also they were angry and fed-up with American interfearence with their countries affairs.
By 1979 the people of Iran were at their breaking point with the Shah and many of them turned to the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini for guidance. He was a radical cleric and promised a great future for the Iranian people without any western involvement. His followers finally overthrew the Shah and forced him to flee to Egypt. Later the Shah would develop advanced malignant lymphoma. The Shah needed treatment available in America. President Carter did not want to help the Shah because he did not want to build tension in the Middle East. But as a humanitarian he could not deny the Shah medical treatment. This made the people of Iran extremely angry and just as the Shah arrived in New York, The American embassy was stormed. The American embassy in Tehran fell under attack on November 4, 1979. The attackers were hundreds Iranian students who called themselves “Imam's Disciples”. They were angry with American involvement in their countries affairs and the fact that President Carter allowed the Shah to receive treatment in America. The attackers took 66 hostages; they released women,African-Americans, and people from countries other than America. 52 hostages still remained captive. They remained in