Introduction
There was a time when Iran was free only in name. Great Britain controlled Iran’s oil wealth. The British stole the oil while the Iranian public rotted in poverty. Then a popular PM came to save Iran. He reestablished Iranian control over its oil reserves. However, the British conspired to topple him with US support. What was this conspiracy? Did PM Dr. Mossadegh succeed or fail? Why does the United States regret this conspiracy today?
Dr. Mossadegh
Mossadegh is the greatest secular and nationalist leader of modern Iran. He belonged to the Qajar dynasty, a former royal family of Iran. The dynasty ruled Iran from 1789 to 1925. Then this family was replaced by the Pahlavi dynasty. The first Pahlavi king, Raza Shah, took oath in December 1925. Ahmad Shah Qajar, the last king of the Qajar dynasty, was exiled to Paris. Dr. Mossadegh had held several official positions in the Qajar government. He also served as Iran’s Minister of Finance and Foreign Minister.
Raza shah pehlavi
When Raza Shah Pehlavi took over, Mossadegh quit politics. In 1946, Raza’s son, Muhammad Raza Shah Pahlavi, was the king of Iran. In that year, Dr. Mossadegh re-entered politics. The reason for his return was the movement to nationalise Iranian oil. This movement made Dr. Mossadegh an Iranian hero.
This movement was started by the oil refinery workers in Abadan in 1946. The Anglo-Iranian Oil Company was controlling Iranian oil at that time. The British government owned more than 50% of the company’s shares. Iran wasn’t a shareholder. In a way, Iranian oil had become British property.
Iranian oil
The British company was transferring Iranian oil wealth to Britians. However, the Iranian people, the real owners, weren’t getting anything. The majority of Iranian people were living in poverty. Even the Iranian workers of the British company were living a difficult life.
More than 10,000 workers at the Abadan oil refinery lived in huts. They had no clean drinking water, no electricity, and no other facilities. These workers went on strike in 1946. The British company threatened the workers. Two British warships conducted drills off the Iranian coast to pressurise the workers. However, the Iranian workers didn’t give up. They ended the strike only after the company agreed to raise their salaries.
The strike ended, but the Iranian people learned a great deal from the incident. They learned that without controlling the oil wealth, they couldn’t change their plight. Therefore, the Iranians started a movement to take over their oil reserves. They demanded the nationalisation of Iranian oil to end the British monopoly.
The movement lasted from 1946 to 1951, or about 5 years. Dr. Mossadegh was the main leader of the movement. He spread the movement to nationalise oil throughout Iran. Rallies and processions began to take place in villages and cities. Mossadegh and his colleagues explained to the public the benefits of nationalization. Mossadegh had also formed a political alliance called the National Front of Iran.
He also supported nationalisation in the Iranian parliament. By 1951, this movement had become the voice of every Iranian patriot. The Iranians were so emotional that they even killed the opponents of the movement.
Haji Ali Razmara
In 1951, a group called Fidayeen-e-Islam killed Iranian Prime Minister Haji Ali Razmara. He was opposed to the nationalisation of Iranian oil. On March 15, just days after his murder, the parliament approved the nationalization. This long-held Iranian dream had come true. The people attributed the success of this struggle to Dr. Mossadegh. He will be elected the new Iranian PM by the Iranian parliament next month. But the economic situation grew from bad to worse under his rule.
A British conspiracy fueled this economic meltdown. The biggest loser in the nationalisation of Iranian oil was Britain. because it had lost the huge oil wealth it was snatching from Iran. The estimated net worth of the British oil company in 1951 was 585 million dollars. The UK earned 100 million euros in profit annually from the Iranian oil company.
It also received 22 million tonnes of products and 70 million tonnes of crude oil. Britians was by no means ready to give up this wealth. Britians was not a superpower. The United States and the Soviet Union had previously held this position. However, Britians was still a major military and economic power.
Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill was then prime minister of the United Kingdom. He had led Britain to victory over Nazi Germany in World War II. He was re-elected prime minister of the United Kingdom in 1951. He did not want to lose Iran’s oil wealth in any way.
When Iran nationalised its oil wealth, Churchill launched retaliatory actions against Iran. Winston Churchill immediately ordered the blockade of Iranian ports. The blockade was intended to prevent Iran from selling its oil abroad.
Rose Mary
In June 1951, an Italian ship named “Rose Mary” sailed with 1,000 tonnes of Iranian oil. The British warships took it to the British-controlled Yemeni port of Aden. Here, British authorities confiscated the oil loaded on the Rose Mary. As a result of this action, other countries stopped buying oil from Iran. They thought it unwise to buy the oil that couldn’t reach them.
Then in October 1955, the United Kingdom took another action. It recalled all its engineers and other staff from Iran. Now the Iranians had no means to extract and refine oil. Now Iranians couldn’t extract or sell their oil. Thus, the Iranian oil industry came to a standstill. The workers of the Iranian oil industry also became unemployed.
The UK also froze Iran’s accounts in London. It also stopped sugar and steel exports to Iran. These bans harmed the Iranian manufacturing industry. As a result of these retaliatory actions, Iran suffered a severe economic crisis.
Churchill had hoped for a public backlash against Mossadegh. He thought the Iranian people would overthrow his government. Yet Dr. Mossadegh remained a popular leader despite economic sanctions. Now Churchill decided to overthrow his government through conspiracy. He asked the US to help him. The declassified American documents have now proven that.
British diplomats were asking the Americans for help. Harry Truman was the American president at the time. He refused to take action against Iran. He didn’t see any benefit for America in doing so.
British intelligence (MI6)
From 1951 to 1952, the situation remained unchanged. Churchill and British intelligence (MI6) tried their best. Yet the S didn’t help them. The situation changed when Eisenhower became president in November 1952. MI6 tricked the US government into action against Iran. Even a shrewd person like Eisenhower couldn’t understand their trick. What was that trick?
In the 1950s, the US was afraid of only one thing: Communism. At the time, the cold war was raging between the US and Soviet Russia. The cold war had precipitated a new war in Korea. There was only one dilemma for the Americans. It was the fear of a communist world takeover. Even Americans called the polio vaccination a communist conspiracy.
The public was cautioned against the polio vaccination in newspaper ads. Even a superstar like Charlie Chaplin fell victim to this fear. He was expelled from the U.S. for 20 years for being a communist. MI6 contacted the foster brothers.
John Foster Dulles
John Foster Dulles, the United States secretary of state, and Alan Foster Dulles, the CIA chief.MI6 warned them of the danger posed by Mossadegh’s government. They said that Iran was in danger of becoming a communist state. It meant that another powerful country would become America’s enemy. Now communism was a sensitive point for the Americans. So Britain succeeded in convincing them.
It convinced them that it was necessary to topple Mossadegh to save Iran. Soon the foster brothers were ready to topple the Iranian government. They also convinced US president Eisenhower and got permission to do that. Thus, in 1953, it all began. The CIA launched its operation. The CIA codenamed it “Operation TPAJAX” (Ajax). The British MI6 called it “operation boot.”
Operation Ajax
The declassified documents from the United States confirm Operation Ajax. The CIA also prepared a summary of the operation. It was dubbed the “campaign to install a pro-Western government in Iran.” According to the summary, the target of Operation Ajax was Dr. Mossadegh. The CIA was authorised to use legal and quasi-legal methods against Mossadegh. The plan was to replace him with a pro-Western government led by the Shah.
General Zahidi was to be the new Iranian PM. Operation Ajax had four phases. In the first phase, the mosque had to launch a campaign against Mossadegh. The royal decree of dismissal would then be delivered to Mossadegh by military officers. It was the second phase. They had to arrest him in case he resisted.
Pro-Shah military and civilian groups would take to the streets in the third phase. They were to take over Tehran. They were also to seize army and police headquarters, army radio, and radio Tehran. Thus, Tehran was to fall completely under rebel control. In the 4th phase, a CIA-selected PM was to take charge under a royal decree. As you know, Fazlullah Zahidi was selected as the new PM.
The CIA also paid him over $100,000 as a bribe. He was then hidden in a CIA safe house near Tehran. In the event of failure, he was to avoid being arrested. Kermit Roosevelt Jr. was chosen as the CIA agent to conduct the operation. He was the grandson of US President Theodore Roosevelt. He arrived in July 1953. He resided in a Tehran villa under the fake name “James Lockridge.” The first phase of Operation AGX had already begun prior to his arrival. The CIA provided funds to journalists, politicians, and clerics to oppose Dr. Mossadegh.
Propaganda against Dr. Mossadegh
The Iranian press published a lot of propaganda against Dr. Mossadegh. He was called a British agent, a communist, a homosexual, and even a Jew. 75% of Tehran’s newspapers were under the CIA’s influence or were on its payroll. They frequently published anti-Mossadegh articles. All these articles were written in the CIA’s Washington office. These articles were published with big headlines on the front pages. But Dr. Mossadegh didn’t try to stop this campaign. He refused to suppress the freedom of the press.
Tuda party
He had great respect for the sanctity of a free press. The CIA also tried some other tactics. They made fake threatening calls to clerics to provoke them against Dr. Mossadegh. The calls were said to be made by the communist Tuda party. The callers threatened the clerics with dire consequences if they opposed Mossadegh. CIA agents disguised as Tuda party workers committed acts of violence. They attacked religious leaders. A mosque was also desecrated in Tehran.
The homes of some religious leaders were even bombed. Such situations provoked the religious community against Dr. Mossadegh. As a result, the first phase of the Ajax operation was completed.The CIA has successfully provoked public anger against him. Now they had to convince the king to issue two decrees, or “farmans.”
Under the first decree, the shah had to dismiss Dr. Mossadegh. The second decree would appoint General Zahidi as the new PM. The CIA had prepared the documents; the Shah only had to sign them. However, it proved difficult to get the signature from the Shah of Iran.
Raza Shah Pahlavi was afraid of Dr. Mossadegh. This was because Dr. Mossadegh was a popular leader. Attempts to remove him could have led to a revolution against the shah. Just a year before Operation Ajax, a military coup had taken place in Egypt. Shah Farouk of Egypt was overthrown. The Egyptian story could have been repeated in Iran.
Taqi Riahi
The Iranian army’s chief general, Taqi Riahi, was loyal to Mossadegh. Dr. Mossadegh could abolish the monarchy through parliament. Thus, the Shah would have lost his power and even become a prisoner. That’s why he was refusing to sign these decrees.
The CIA sent Shah’s twin sister, Princess Ashraf, from Paris to convince him. Princess Ashraf was also gifted a bag of money and a precious coat. But even she couldn’t convince her brother, and she returned to Paris. Then the CIA played another card. They used an old friend of Shah. He was a former U.S. general named Norman Schwarzkopf. He was stationed in Iran during World War II.
Norman Schwarzkopf
He was a friend of the Shah and had trained the Iranian police. The Shah relied heavily on his advice. So the CIA sent Schwarzkopf to Tehran to convince the shah. Schwarzkopf was given diplomatic cover. It was said that he was touring Lebanon, Egypt, Pakistan, and Iran. Schwarzkopf arrived in Tehran on August 1 with two bags full of dollars. He immediately met the Shah at his palace. He asked the Shah of Iran to trust the CIA and sign both decrees. But the Shah was very nervous. He only responded with hand gestures.
He was afraid of microphones, so he asked his guest to accompany him. They took Schwarzkopf with him to a ballroom. Here he dragged a table to the middle of the room. Then he climbed on the table and asked Schwarzkopf to do the same. Now the shah was comfortable enough to talk. He thought he had deceived the supposed microphones in this way. Then the shah spoke and refused to sign the decrees. The meeting ended, but there was a breakthrough.
Kim Roosevelt
The shah agreed to meet U.S. agent Kim Roosevelt in Tehran. Now the success of Operation Ajax depended on this one meeting. It happened on the night of August 2nd and 3rd, 1953. A car was speeding through the semi-dark streets of Tehran. There was a man lying on the floor of the car, covered with a blanket. This arrangement was made to hide him from public view. The car was headed towards the palace, and the person inside was agent Kim Roosevelt. Shortly afterward, the car entered the royal palace.
The lights were off in the area where the car was parked. As the car stopped, the driver stepped into the darkness and got out of sight. Meanwhile, a thin man walked out of the palace and approached the car. He opened the door, and Kim Roosevelt saw that he was the shah of Iran. The two shook hands. Shah said, “Good evening, Mr. Roosevelt.” Then they both sat in the car and closed the door. Now a conversation has started.
Roosevelt talked about Dr. Mossadegh. He warned that Mossadegh would make Iran a communist state or a second Korea. He also warned that America and Britain wouldn’t accept this. The shah had to sign the decrees to avoid any problems. He had to dismiss Mossadegh and appoint Zahidi as the new PM. However, the shah refused once again. The meeting ended, and Roosevelt returned in the same car. However, their meeting continued.
They met every midnight and discussed this matter in the car. Roosevelt pressed on with his arguments. At last, on the night of August 9, Shah agreed to sign the decrees. However, the shah decided to move to Ramsar with his queen. The city, 228 km from Tehran, is situated on the bank of the Caspian Sea. The shah had a royal hunting lodge and a palace surrounded by green hills. A runway and a beechcraft were also provided for the Shah. It was the Shah’s escape route in case of failure.
Colonel Nematollah Nassiri
He had decided to escape from Iran in the plane. Roosevelt agreed with the Shah’s plan. Then he returned to his safe house. Now the CIA has sent the royal decrees to the shah. However, the shah had already left for Ramsar. Though earlier he had agreed to leave only after signing the decrees, Now the CIA had to go to Ramsar to get his signature. Colonel Nematollah Nassiri, head of the royal guards, was sent to Ramsar. He got the signatures and sent back the decrees to Tehran.
On August 12, at midnight, Roosevelt received both decrees. The second phase of operation Ajex had begun.A military officer was to arrest Dr. Mossadegh under the royal decree. Colonel Nassiri was chosen for the task once more. He had to move out with military units on the night of August 15. First, he was to arrest the army chief.
General Zahidi
You know that the army chief was loyal to Dr. Mossadegh. Then, Colonel Nassiri was to go to Dr. Mossadegh’s house and arrest him. After his arrest, the other two phases would be much easier. Shah’s supporters could easily take to the streets, and General Zahidi could become the new PM. The plan seemed to be working. CIA chief Allen Dulles was so sure of the plan’s success.
He took a holiday trip to Europe a week before the plan’s execution. He wasn’t aware of a problem. The CIA’s Ajex operation had been exposed by an unknown person. The army chief was also aware of this plan. Now the Iranian military was waiting to arrest the rebels red-handed. Then the conspirators made their next move. On the night of August 15, the CIA started the coup.
Colonel Nassiri arrested
Colonel Nassiri approached the army chief’s house with a military convoy. However, the soldiers found the house empty. They found no one, not even a servant or watchman. It was obvious that something was wrong. This should have alarmed Colonel Nassiri. But he didn’t pay attention. He moved to Dr. Mossadegh’s house. But when he reached there. The Iranian army surrounded and arrested them.
Some Iranian commanders were standing in the shadows. The men emerged from the shadows and escorted Nassiri into a jeep. Before the army chief, he was taken to the army headquarters.General Taqi called him a traitor, dismissed him, and imprisoned him. The Iranian troops took over the city of Tehran on General Taqi’s orders. They arrested the other conspirators.
Some rebel Iranian commanders were already occupying positions in Tehran. They had also taken over the telephone exchange. They had also raided Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Fatemi’s house. He was dragged out of his bedroom. However, the Iranian military retook the city and got him released. At 7 a.m., Dr. Mossadegh spoke over the radio. He declared that a foreign conspiracy had been thwarted.
Thousands of Mossadegh supporters came out and chanted happily. They declared that their nation had won and that Mossadegh was victorious. The protesters also chanted slogans against the Shah of Iran. A statue of the Shah’s father was installed on a high pedestal in Tehran. The protesters demolished the statue. They broke it into pieces and took away those pieces as a souvenir.
spontaneous revolution
The shah already knew the outcome from the radio. He woke up the queen, and they boarded their beechcraft and fled to Baghdad. Then they moved to Rome from Baghdad. All the CIA agents took refuge in their safe houses. Kim Roosevelt hid in the U.S. embassy. The CIA’s selected PM, General Zahidi, was already in hiding. It looked like the CIA conspiracy had failed.
But then something unexpected happened (a spontaneous revolution).What was this sudden revolution? As Mossadegh’s supporters celebrated, the CIA was making another plan. The CIA distributed $50,000 among Shah’s supporters. and supported them in starting violence in Tehran. The next day, pro-Shah protesters started violent protests in Tehran.
Their mission was to jam the government machinery. So the rioters, aided by the US, disrupted life in Tehran. The U.S. often uses one party against the other. It also provides unseen financial aid. All this is done to fuel unrest, thus fulfilling American interests. The CIA brought thousands of southern tribesmen to Tehran. Trucks and buses full of these tribesmen arrived in Tehran. These tribesmen rioted in the city.
Pro-Shah protesters took to the streets with the president’s posters. The CIA had brought wrestlers and bodybuilders to the city. An ideal choice for the riots The United States’ deputy ambassador, William Rountree, referred to it as a sudden revolution (spontaneous revolution).
Bakhtar-e-Emruz
The rioters started their final action on the morning of August 19. Theran’s notorious goon, Shaban Jaffrey, was also among them. He was on the CIA’s payroll and participated in the riots with his gang. The rioters targeted every building that was linked to the government. Offices of four pro-government newspapers were torched, including “Bakhtar-e-Emruz.”
Dr. Mossadegh’s house and party headquarters were also torched. Dr. Mossadegh had already gone into hiding. The rioters also tortured many cabinet members. CIA agents also took over Radio Tehran and the other important buildings. Mossadegh’s supporters also battled with the attackers on the streets of Tehran. The Americans wanted all this. Around 300 people died in the riots.
Even the Iranian military was powerless. The rebels also arrested General Taqi. The mob rode the tanks, waving Shah’s posters. By the evening of August 19, the army chief was arrested and the PM was in hiding. Dr. Mossadegh’s government had lost its writ. Now the coast was clear for the CIA. They started the 4th phase, i.e., installing General Zahidi as the new PM.
The general was given a new dress for the occasion. But something was missing. The CIA agent attached buttons to the coat. Now General Zahidi was ready to become PM. He left for Tehran. The CIA already had a royal decree authorising his appointment.He took charge of the PM’s office. Dr. Mossadegh also surrendered after a few days.
On August 22, the Shah also returned to Tehran and began his dictatorship. Dr. Mossadegh spent three years in jail. Then he was taken to Ahmadabad, 96 km away from Tehran. He was put under house arrest in his own mansion. Not it is called Ahmadabad-e-Mosaddeq. Dr. Mossadegh was brought to Tehran in 1967 from cancer treatment. He was admitted to the Najmiyeh hospital Tehran. He died on 5 March 1967.
Ahmadabad-e Mosaddeq
He was buried in a room in his mansion in Ahmadabad-e Mosaddeq. The shah of Iran proved his loyalty to the U.S. and the U.K., and the UK and the other western powers retained 50% of Iranian oil wealth. An oil consortium was formed in 1954 to control Iranian oil. 50% of oil reserves were given to American, British, and French companies. Iran controlled the remaining 50%. The US-Shah friendship grew stronger each day afterwards.
Even the US considered Iran its policeman in the Middle East. But the overthrow of Dr. Mossadegh’s secular government was a mistake. The US suffered backlash In 1979. Religious extremists grew stronger after Mossadegh’s overthrow. The overthrew shah’s government in 1979 in a so called Islamic revolution. The new Iranian government chanted slogans like “Death to America.” It also kidnapped the American diplomats. It fought proxy wars against the S, Israel and Saudi Arabia in Iraq and Lebanon.
Conclusion
Because of this, some Americans call Operation Ajex a mistake. The former US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, regrets this regime change. However, she says that the regime change happened because of the Cold War. Barnie Sanders says that had this not happened, Iran could have been different. The CIA released documents on this operation in 2013 and 2017. These documents expose the conspiracy in detail. It means that the CIA has publicly admitted its role in the conspiracy. But it’s too late for such regrets now. It’s useless to cry over the split milk.