Question

What events precipitated the 1979 seizure of over 50 American hostages in Iran?

Answer 1

Basically, the Shah of Iran was admitted to the US to undergo medical surgery and recovery. At that point, the Shah was already out of power in Iran and living in exile after the events of the Iranian Islamic Revolution earlier in the same year. It also didn't help that the US and Great Britain had put him into power decades earlier creating a lot of simmering hate underneath the surface for what the West had done which finally exploded in 1979.

The Iranians wanted him back to stand trial for his brutal and corrupt administration (he was supported by the US who saw him as an ally against communism), but going over to the US for treatment eventually became the last straw as a number of Iranians, such as Khomeni, saw it as a potential run up to another coup similar to what happened in 1953. Demonstrations followed and one of them eventually led to the takeover of the embassy which the Iranians saw as a "den of spies".