The coup that shaped Iran-US Relations

India Today

2 days ago

On August 18, 1953, after the Shah fled to Iraq, the CIA asked its Middle East head Kermit Roosevelt to halt Operation Ajax in Iran. (See part 1) Unfazed, Roosevelt, holed up in a safehouse, unleashed his backup plan. 'We staged chaos,' he later boasted in a documentary, The CIA in Iran.Chaos in the StreetsOn August 19, Tehran's newspapers, paid by the CIA, published the Shah's decrees replacing Prime Minister Mosaddegh with General Fazlollah Zahedi. Shah's followers, joined by soldiers bribed by Roosevelt, and tribesmen, led by a goon called Sha'aban Jafari, spilled into the streets. The mobs, posing as Tudeh Party communists, rampaged through Tehran, smashing shops and defacing mosques to provoke fear of a Red takeover. Simultaneously, Sha'aban's pro-Shah thugs marched toward the city center, chanting 'Long live the Shah! Death to Mosaddegh!' Amid the anarchy, the CIA seized Radio Tehran, broadcasting the Shah's decree and fake news of Mosaddegh's fall. The lie became reality.advertisementBy noon, tanks loyal to Zahedi rolled into Tehran's Kokh Avenue, where Mosaddegh's villa stood 100 yards from the Shah's Winter Palace. As Mosaddegh's guards fired from their fortifications, tanks pounded the villa. The battle lasted nine hours, claiming at least 300 lives, 200 at Mosaddegh's residence alone.
'The home was found vacant,' wrote The New York Times, as Mosaddegh and his cabinet escaped by climbing a garden wall. His personal bodyguard lay dead, and Colonel Ezatollah Mumtaz, who betrayed the royalists by tipping off Mosaddegh on August 15, was torn apart by the mob.By evening, General Zahedi seized Radio Tehran, broadcasting his triumph, promising re-establishment of a rule of law, improved standards of living and an early election.The Shah ReturnsIran, historically known as Persia, boasts a rich history spanning millennia, marked by powerful empires. Persia's history began with the Elamites (2700–539 BCE), followed by the Achaemenid Empire (550–330 BCE), founded by Cyrus the Great. This empire, known for its vast reach and administrative innovations, fell to Alexander the Great. Subsequent dynasties included the Parthians (247 BCE–224 CE) and Sassanids (224–651 CE), who established Zoroastrianism as the dominant religion. The Arab conquest in 651 CE introduced Islam, shaping Iran's culture under the Umayyad and Abbasid caliphates.advertisementThe Safavid dynasty (1501–1736) established Twelver Shi'ism as Iran's state religion, fostering a distinct national identity. After their decline, the Qajar dynasty (1794–1925) struggled with internal weakness and foreign interference, particularly from Britain and Russia, who competed for influence over Iran's resources and strategic position. The 1906 Constitutional Revolution limited royal power, establishing a parliament.In 1921, Reza Shah Pahlavi, a military officer, seized power through a coup, becoming prime minister and then Shah in 1925, overthrowing the Qajar dynasty. Reza Shah's pro-German leanings alarmed the Allies, leading to a 1941 invasion by Britain and the Soviet Union. He was forced to abdicate in favour of his son. Exiled, he died in South Africa in 1944. His son, Mohammad Reza, ascended at 21, ruling with the help of the West. But the failed coup on August 15, 1953, had forced him to flee to Iraq.August 22, 1953, Tehran, 11:20 AMThe Shah's twin-engine Piper touched down in Tehran. According to The New York Times, Zahedi, half-entering the plane, kissed the Shah's knee, a gesture of loyalty. Clad in a gold-braided Air Force Commander's uniform flown to Baghdad for the occasion, the Shah stepped out, his eyes moist with emotions. His return was a spectacle of loyalty. High officials and courtiers swarmed him, kissing his shoes. From behind the rails, a crowd led by Sha'aban, called the Brainless One, chanted slogans hailing Shah. Sheep and an ox were slaughtered in his path as a Thanksgiving offering.advertisementThat evening, the Shah addressed the nation, condemning the Tudeh Party communists and Mosaddegh without naming them. 'Traitors had constantly tried to sidetrack the glorious national struggle,' he declared, accusing them of wasting 'the nation's money and the spilled blood of innocent persons to promote hypocrisy.' Zahedi, praising the Shah's words as 'crystal-clear water,' promised to prosecute Mosaddegh for 'illegal' acts.Moscow's Pravda accused the US of orchestrating the coup. 'This time the weapon of subversive activity was directed against Iran, which did not wish to become the submissive slave of American monopolies,' the Soviet mouthpiece thundered on August 20. In Tehran, anti-Soviet sentiment flared, with royalists and a tank besieging the Soviet Embassy's iron gates.Mosaddegh surrendered on August 21, emerging from a Tehran hideout to face trial. 'My only crime is loving Iran,' he said during the trial. Sentenced to three years, he spent his final days under house arrest, dying in 1967.Zahedi was once accused of being a Nazi stooge. Now Prime Minister, he presided over a purge. Hundreds of National Front leaders and communist Tudeh Party members were arrested. Hossein Fatemi, Mosaddegh's foreign minister, was executed in November 1954.advertisementThis was no mere power grab. It was a high-stakes chess game, played for oil and Cold War supremacy, with Iran as the board. The West had won this round, but the Russians were waiting to strike back.The FalloutThe coup was a triumph for the CIA, costing just $100,000 of the $1 million budget, according to leaked reports. A new oil deal gave American and British firms 40% of Iran's oil, with Iran getting 50%, a far cry from Mosaddegh's vision of Iran's complete ownership.But the victory was pyrrhic. The CIA's own 2013 declassification admitted: 'The coup sowed the seeds of resentment that haunt US-Iran relations.' The Shah's regime, propped up by US arms and SAVAK - the Iranian Gestapo - terror, grew repressive. It fueled anti-Americanism, leading to the 1979 Islamic Revolution, when students stormed the US Embassy, shouting 'Death to America!' Operation Ajax was over, but the thriller had only begun.(Next: The Revolution)- Ends
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