Causes
¨In 1953 there was a communist Prime Minister of Iran, Mohammed Mossadegh. The Americans and British had large oil claims in Iran and did not trust the Prime Minister. So the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) paired with the British Intelligence Agency(MI6) preformed Operation Ajax which removed the Iranian Prime Minister and his communist allies. The problem with this was that Mossadegh was very popular with the people so his removal from office increased Anti-American sentiments. Another main cause of the Hostage Crisis was the Iranian Revolution of 1979. This was the violent overthrow of the Shah of Iran, Reza Pahlavi who America was on good terms with. He was replaced by the radical, Anti-American government of the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini who called America “ The Great Satan”. ¨The propaganda spread by the Iranian government led the Iranian citizens to believe that “The Great Satan" would soon come and remove Khomeini from office and put Pahlavi back in charge.