TEHRAN – 72 years ago, on August 19, 1953, the United States and Britain proceeded with a coup against Iran’s first democratically elected government, Prime Minister Mohammad Mosadegu, reinstalling a monarchical dictatorship led by Mohammad Reza Pallavi.
The coup and subsequent US have taken significant implications for its support for the cruel junta under Mohammad Reza Shah, who had fled the country during the coup. The coup played a major role in shaping the perception of Iran in the United States, a new imperialist who took part in a course of competition between the British and Russians to control Iran’s vast resources.
The coup was motivated primarily by the desire to protect Iran’s UK oil profits, particularly after Prime Minister Mosadegu nationalised Anglo-Iranian oil companies.
Nationalization of Iran’s oil industry
The move to nationalize the oil industry was a response to the concessions by Iranians that both Kajal and Pahlavi Shah had given away to foreign forces. The movement began in Parliament and was led by Mossaddeg when he was a lawmaker.
After the British and Soviet troops invaded Iran in 1941 and first defeated King Reza Shah Pahravi, they replaced him with their young son, Mohammad Reza. In the early days of the second Pahlavi Shah, the anti-colonial oil nationalisation movement was too strong to be restrained. The weakness of Mohammad Reza Shah’s regime benefited the movement of the post-World War II era. Various political groups emerged, and the oil movement gradually became stronger and stronger.
Over time, the US joined the UK and the Soviet Union. They were trying to control Iran’s oil reserves.
In the meantime, a senior clergyman named Ayatollah Abolu Gashem Kashani led a powerful and popular move outside the parliament against the country’s foreign interference, reaching out to Prime Minister Mosadegu’s democratically elected government.
The day before the coup
The coup plot lasted five days from August 15th to 19th. At the event, the CIA and the British Intelligence News (MI6) coordinated a series of actions, including disinformation and military campaigns, undermined the Mosadegu government and set up Shahmohamadrezapalavi as its sole ruler.
In fact, the CIA and the UK Intelligence news business had already been rolled out in the previous months to undermine the popularity of Mosadegu and build support for the Shah. This included the organisation of propaganda campaigns and protests, which ultimately led to army oversight with the pro-shah army.
The coup plot was officially approved by President Dwight D. Eisenhower as the CIA played a leading role in a hidden operation called Operation Ajax. The CIA released dangerous thugs like Shabanjafari and prison friends, and unleashed them in groups to walk the streets of the city, hanging Mossadegu posters on their chests. The funded gang attacked public and private property along the way, ranting and extinct in the name of Mosadegu supporters.
Over the course of five days, fighting between Mosadegu and Shah supporters resulted in hundreds of deaths.
Ultimately, the British Kora-name operational boot, the coup d’état brought the stumbling Pallavi dynasty back to the pinnacle of power, ensuring the brutal Pallavi restraint of the Iranian people for the next 26 years.
What happened after the coup
After the successful coup, Shah returned to the country, dismissed Mossaddegu and issued a decree appointing General Fazlora Zahedi as prime minister. These statutes, although previously issued, played a key role in legalizing coups when they were made public.
Mossaddegu was arrested, tried and convicted on treason by the Shah military court. On December 21, 1953, he was sentenced to three years in prison, and then placed under house arrest for the rest of his life. Other Mossaddeg supporters were imprisoned, and several were sentenced to death.
Shah reverses course on nationalisation of the oil industry
The young Shah, along with the UK and the US, was unable to withstand the nationalization of the oil industry and democratically elected Mossaddegu. That’s why they overthrew his government.
In the aftermath of the coup, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi reasserted his dictatorial rule, negotiating a 1954 consortium agreement with the UK, and reverting Iran’s oil ownership to a consortium of Western companies until 1979.
It is generally agreed that the 1953 coup d’etat put together the seeds for the 1979 Islamic Revolution. However, even after the Islamic revolution that completely eliminated the US presence in Iran in 1979, Washington continued his efforts to overthrow the Iranian revolutionary government. They sent troops to Iran in Operation Eagle Claw, supported the counter-revolutionary coup plotter and Saddam Hussein’s regime, and imposed sanctions on Iran that continues to this day.
US intervention in Iran is part of a broader trend in American foreign policy aimed at overturning a nation that refuses to become a puppet government controlled by Washington. According to a dataset published by the Military Intervention Project (MIP), the United States has engaged in around 400 military interventions since its establishment in 1776.