The Iranian revolutionaries took the American hostages in 1979 as an act of retaliation against the United States' government for its support of the previous regime under the Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. The revolutionaries saw the Shah as a puppet of the United States and blamed the U.S. for his oppressive rule in Iran. They also accused the U.S. of interfering in Iran's internal affairs and supporting the Shah's authoritarian regime. The hostage crisis lasted for 444 days and strained the relationship between the two countries for many years. The revolutionaries demanded that the U.S. return the Shah to Iran to stand trial for his crimes, but the U.S. refused to comply with their demands.
