Document P8-6: Demonstrators Supporting Captors of U.S. Embassy Hostages March on the Besieged Compound (1979)

America’s Crisis in Iran

Demonstrators Supporting Captors of U.S. Embassy Hostages March on the Besieged Compound (1979)

In 1953, the United States helped topple Iranian prime minister Mohammad Mossadegh, installing the pro-U.S. shah of Iran in his place. Despite his autocratic rule, the United States supported the shah for decades until he was deposed during the 1979 Iranian Revolution, which brought Ayatollah Khomeini back from exile. Relations with the United States rapidly deteriorated, culminating in the Iranian seizure of the U.S. embassy in Tehran on November 4, 1979, where fifty-two Americans were held hostage for more than a year. This image shows the embassy compound with Iranian demonstrators holding anti-American signs.

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Source: “Demonstrators Supporting Captors of U.S. Embassy Hostages March on the Besieged Compound,” November 11, 1979, © Bettmann/Corbis.

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