On This Day in History: August 19
The 1953 Iran Coup
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Was Iran on Trump’s list of “shithole countries?” Because like with so many other places, direct American interference in local politics did a lot to change the path of that nation for the worse. In this case, the hypocrisy was staggering, because the alleged pro-democracy USA overthrew a democratically elected prime minister to strengthen the power of the Iranian monarchy. Didn’t … didn’t the U.S. come into being doing the exact fucking opposite of that? Isn’t that the thing they’re most proud of?
--On This Day in History, Shit Went Down: August 19, 1953--
Mohammad Mosaddegh was elected Prime Minister of Iran in 1951 and implemented numerous social reforms, such as creating social security, land reforms, and striving to increase the power of the people over power held by the Shah, the country’s monarch. Where he really pissed off the west, however, was the nationalization of Iran’s oil industry.
It’s almost always about the fucking oil.
Mosaddegh wanted to limit the control that the British-owned Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (AIOC, which is now part of British Petroleum, those fucks who poisoned the Gulf of Mexico in 2010) had over Iranian oil reserves. The Brits wouldn’t cooperate, so Iran said fuck you get out.
At the time, Clement Atlee was PM in Britain, and Truman was U.S. president. Ironically, the “Truman Doctrine” is about the containment of communism, but neither Atlee nor Truman favored direct military action, instead choosing to boycott Iranian oil. But then, good old Winston Churchill was back in as the British Prime Minister, and Eisenhower became president, and they saw what was going on in Iran and said, “Smells like some fucking commie bullshit.”
So, the U.S. struck a deal with the Brits. In exchange for helping with a coup d’état, the AIOC would end its monopoly and let American oil companies set up shop in Iran as well. The Brits agreed, and the CIA was unleashed to overthrow Mosaddegh on August 19, 1953 and put the Shah back in as an authoritarian ruler, backed by well-bribed Iranian politicians and military brass, exacting a promise he’d be a good little boy to the western capitalists.
It was the first such covert action by the U.S. in overthrowing a democratically elected regime during peacetime, but far from the last. Mosaddegh was arrested, sentence to three years in prison, then spent the rest of his life under house arrest. Many of his supporters also received prison sentences, and several were put to death. Hundreds of others died in the coup.
Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, viewed by many as an American puppet, would rule for another 26 years, and finally be overthrown by the Iranian Revolution in 1979.
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I was 13 when I read "Hiroshima" by James Hersey. Later, I learned about this coup and the way my country's government had undermined democracy in several other parts of the world. By the time 9/11 rolled around, I'd been waiting for something like it to happen for a very long time. Which makes me think of what we've learned since then -- Americans, like most people, don't like it when there are consequences for our actions. And, as is the case all over, when those consequences come home to roost, the people who committed the atrocities (or allowed them to happen) are almost never the people who pay the cost.
‘ It’s almost always about the oil.’