Iranian Liberation
Sixty-five years ago today, a CIA-led coup overthrew the democratically elected prime minister of Iran, Mohammed Mosaddegh. From the 19th century, British military might enforced massive concessions on Iran, including the D’Arcy Concession, which granted the Anglo-Person Oil Company (a forerunner to BP) the vast majority of revenues from Iranian oil. By allying with corrupt monarchs, Western companies were free to exploit and extract Iran’s wealth at the expense of her people.
After WWII, the situation changed significantly. Britain, which had ruled much of the Middle East as a protectorate, was bankrupt, and America stepped in as the pre-eminent global Western power.
During this time, nations across the world sought to cast off colonial yokes and manage their own affairs. As part of this wave, Iran elected the left-leaning Mosaddegh in 1951. While the pliant Shah, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, remained as head of state, the rise of Mosaddegh reflected a popular desire for self-determination and the end of Western interference. One of Mosaddegh’s programs to promote Iranian independence and prosperity was to nationalize Iran’s natural resources. This would mean an end to exploitative “sweetheart” deals for British oil companies, who were justly horrified by this proposal.
The Coup
Western oil interests immediately demanded action to reverse Mosaddegh’s decision. To gain American support, the British Government told the Eisenhower Administration that Mosaddegh was moving Iran towards Communism. As McCarthyism gripped America, this claim was both incendiary and effective. However, Secretary of State John Foster Dulles and his brother, CIA Chief Allen Dulles also saw huge economic benefits from ensuring that Iranian oil stayed in friendly hands. They had been planning an Iranian coup even before Eisenhower entered office, and had selected Kermit Roosevelt (grandson of Teddy Roosevelt) to lead it. Roosevelt worked to slander Mosaddegh and spread anti-Mosaddegh propaganda. He worked with military elements to spark riots and violence. Finally, he convinced the young Shah to throw his support behind the coup. On August 19th, 1953, Mosaddegh was overthrown and the pro-Western Fazlollah Zahedi replaced him as prime minister.
Mosaddegh would spend the rest of his life in prison or under house arrest. The Shah regained much of his power after Mosaddegh’s downfall, and continued to rule Iran with an iron fist until the Iranian Revolution of 1979. In that revolution, Ayatollah Khomeini and other leaders decried the Shah as a Western puppet. The Islamic Republic they founded grew even more repressive and undemocratic than the regime it replaced. Khomeini become an implacable foe of American interests and used anti-Americanism as cover for his own brutality.
The coup of 1953, code-named Operation Ajax, was one of many shameful American Cold War misadventures. Like the Vietnam War and support for General Pinochet in Chile, CIA intervention in Iran was a grave moral and political failure. Its architects were blinded by short-sighted economic aims that failed to consider the welfare of another sovereign nation. In the end, their decisions helped to destabilize the Middle East, from the Iran-Iraq War to the current issues with Iran’s nuclear program.
Iran and America Today
Iran has been a pariah for nearly forty years. Yet, it is a powerful nation with 80 million people, among them a large, educated middle class. The Obama Administration, took a major step forward with the Iranian Nuclear Deal. This deal halted Iran’s nuclear program and vastly reduced their stockpiles of Uranium. In exchange, sanctions were lifted, allowing trade between American, European, and Iranian companies. This complex deal was particularly challenging because of the great distrust of America by Iranian leaders. In the past, hardliners have used anti-Americanism to silence moderates and assert a dangerous form of Iranian nationalism.
In 2002, Iran and America had the best relations since the 1979 Revolution. Then, George Bush included Iran in the Axis of Evil, and all that progress collapsed. Iranian president Mohammed Khatami was replaced by the bombastic, anti-Semitic hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Will a similar fate befall moderate president Hassan Rouhani now that Trump has killed the Iran Deal? When America reneged on the deal, it provided Iran’s conservatives with further evidence of American perfidy. Trump has hurt American diplomatic efforts worldwide, hurt the case for reform inside Iran, and has made the Middle East less safe, all to score political points at home. Trump should heed the lesson of the 1953 coup, that bad faith foreign policies can have catastrophic long-run consequences.
For a great book about the coup, check out Stephen Kinzer’s book: All the Shah’s Men. The story reads like a Bond thriller: one scene even involves Kermit Roosevelt sneaking the Shah back into Tehran in the trunk of his car. Kinzer also does a nice job connecting the coup to contemporary terrorism and regional rivalries.