U.S. Support for the Shah of Iran: Pros and Cons | Taken Hostage

Learn why the United States came to support the shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, and how that support led Iranians to view the shah as a puppet of the United States, setting the stage for the Iranian Hostage Crisis in 1979, in these clips excerpted from Taken Hostage | AMERICAN EXPERIENCE. The shah amassed U.S. weapons in exchange for his support of the United States and used his secret police to shut down domestic opposition to his authoritarian government.