History: The 1953 CIA Coup d'état of Iran

[one...two...tree 2,762]

The interesting thing about our history with Iran is that the vast majority of Americans don't even know it. They somehow think that it all started in 1979 under the Carter administration when a horde of Iranians overthrew their Shah and overtook the American embassy. Of course…if that's what you think – you have no idea. The reality is – that while most Americans are very much ignorant to the history of Iran…conversely – the vast majority of Iranians are entirely educated about the history of America's involvement in Iran.

On the morning of August 19, 1953, a crowd of demonstrators operating at the direction of pro-Shah organizers with ties to the CIA made its way from the bazaars of southern Tehran to the center of the city. Joined by military and police forces equipped with tanks, they sacked offices and newspapers aligned with Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh and his advisers, as well as the communist Tudeh Party and others opposed to the monarch.

By early afternoon, clashes with Mosaddegh supporters were taking place, the fiercest occurring in front of the prime minister's home. Reportedly 200 people were killed in that battle before Mosaddeq escaped over his own roof, only to surrender the following day. At 5:25 p.m., retired General Fazlollah Zahedi, arriving at the radio station on a tank, declared to the nation that with the Shah's blessing he was now the legal prime minister and that his forces were largely in control of the city.

Although official U.S. reports and published accounts described Mosaddegh's overthrow and the shah's restoration to power as inspired and carried out by Iranians, this was far from the full story. Memoirs of key CIA and British intelligence operatives and historical reconstructions of events have long established that a joint U.S.-British covert operation took place in mid-August, which had a crucial impact.

Yet, there has continued to be a controversy over who was responsible for the overthrow of the popularly elected Mosaddegh, thanks to accounts by, among others, former Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and Zahedi's son, who later became a fixture in the Shah's regime. Those versions of events virtually ignored the possibility that any outside actors played a part, claiming instead that the movement to reinstate the Shah was genuine and nationwide in scope.

Source: http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB126/index.htm

The democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mossaddegh was put on trial; he is on record of saying:

Yes, my sin – my greater sin, and even my greatest sin – is that I nationalized Iran's oil industry and discarded the system of political and economic exploitation by the world's greatest empire … This at cost to myself and my family and at the risk of losing my life, my honor and my property … With God's blessing and the will of the people, I fought this savage and dreadful system of international espionage and colonialism.

So – the question is…why would America support the overthrow of a democratically elected government that posed ZERO threat to it? The answer is oil.

Before the 1953 CIA coup, the British were the dominant power in Iran. The most important aspect of British power in Iran was its control of Iranian oil. Historian Nikki Keddie summarizes the relationship:

"Iran…[had] no say in the [oil] company, not even the right to see its books, …[and was] paying high prices for Iranian oil. …The AIOC [Anglo-Iranian Oil Company] paid much more money in income taxes to the British government than it did in royalties to the Iranian government. …The AIOC was seen [by the Mossadeq-led Iranian patriots] as a major cause and channel for British influence and control over Iran."

[3]

Keddie explains that the royalties paid to Iran were just 26% of total net profits, but some of that money was recovered by the British anyway because, as we see above, the AIOC (the biggest industry in Iran) sold oil to the Iranians at high prices! Iran was a British possession in all but name.

Source: http://www.hirhome.c...q/iran-coup.htm

Victims of the 1953 CIA coup

Cover an an Iranian newspaper showing anti-Mossadegh demonstrators riding atop a tank on August 19, 1953

Prime Minister Mossaddegh on trial in 1953

Leading up to the overthrow of Prime Minister Mossaddegh

Leading up to the overthrow of Prime Minister Mossaddegh

The trial of Prime Minister Mossaddegh

The trial of Prime Minister Mossaddegh

[luckytxn 2,265]

Who doesn't know this?

[IR5FORMUMSIE 850]

Who doesn't know this?

The Department of State of the United States of America and every other person who is blind to this and other fiascoes like LuMumba in the Congo.

This is VJ not a froum to discuss project MKULTRA and other CIA plots such as Montreal's notorious sleep room (MKULTRA subproject #88) conducted By Dr.. Ewan Cameron at the Allan Institute In Montreal.

[Nagishkaw 510]

Who doesn't know this?

[Karee 4,191]

Nothing new. See Guatemala in the 50s. Or better yet see Chile.

[luckytxn 2,265]

Nothing new. See Guatemala in the 50s. Or better yet see Chile.

And Vietnam.

The Department of State of the United States of America and every other person who is blind to this and other fiascoes like LuMumba in the Congo.

This is VJ not a froum to discuss project MKULTRA and other CIA plots such as Montreal's notorious sleep room (MKULTRA subproject #88) conducted By Dr.. Ewan Cameron at the Allan Institute In Montreal.

Everyone knows that the CIA interfered in about every country on Earth.

OK. I meant people that had a brain.

[Dan and Judy 614]

The Department of State of the United States of America and every other person who is blind to this and other fiascoes like LuMumba in the Congo.

This is VJ not a froum to discuss project MKULTRA and other CIA plots such as Montreal's notorious sleep room (MKULTRA subproject #88) conducted By Dr.. Ewan Cameron at the Allan Institute In Montreal.

What exactly happened in that sheep room?

[IR5FORMUMSIE 850]

What exactly happened in that sheep room?

Highly classified, mind-control bvllsh*t. Giving an 8 y/o acid to see what would happen, lots of unethical and disgusting ####### like that. Brain-washing. you name it. Memory elimination, reprograqmming, you name it.