During the Iran Hostage Crisis, which foreign leader was allowed into the United States for cancer treatment, prompting the crisis?

• A. Ayatollah Khomeini
• B. Reza Pahlavi
• C. Shah of Iran
• D. Mohammad Mosaddegh

Answer: (C)

Allowing the Shah of Iran to come to the United States for cancer treatment became the triggering flashpoint of the crisis. After the 1979 Iranian Revolution, the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was out of power in Iran, and Iranian leaders demanded he be returned to stand trial. The U.S. decision to admit him for medical care on American soil was seen by Iranian revolutionary authorities and many Iranians as ongoing support for the old regime. That perception of U.S. backing helped fuel protests and ultimately led to militants seizing the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and holding 52 Americans hostage for 444 days. The other figures listed were not involved in this particular trigger—Khomeini led the revolutionary government, Mosaddegh was a mid-20th-century prime minister, and Reza Pahlavi is the Shah’s son.