- News code: 1386266
- Source: en.imam-khomeini.ir
The hostile politics exercised by imperial and colonial powers against Iranian nation should be traced back to 1953 and even earlier decades.
The planned coup in 1953 toppled the democratically elected government of Mohammad Mossadeq and established a dictatorship in Iran.
Recalling unpleasant events of 1953, Imam once said that such nasty coup happened because of the then government had not attached enough significance to religious figures of that era. Imam also criticized the separation between religion and politics at the certain juncture of history.
This coup, in which the CIA admitted to having played a role , was organized by Britain and the United States .
However the two states never offered the Iranian nation an apology for their anti-democratic plot which took the lives of hundreds of citizens.
Kermit Roosevelt, the mastermind behind the coup writes in his memo:
“Mossadegh’s nationalization of the billion-dollar oil holdings of Anglo-Iranian Oil Co., a British consortium later renamed British Petroleum, had aroused concern. The possibility of major damage not only to British but also to American, Western European and Japanese interests was real”.
The coup, called Project Ajax by the CIA, took only three weeks. The shah regained his throne, and the United States was able to safeguard its security.
What Mossadeq did to gain Iranian independence was great but it was not enough.
Instead of teaming with the political Islam, the Shia clergy and supporters of Ayatollah Kashani, he formed alliances with the communist Tudeh Party who were at odds with Western interests.
As long as Mossadeq was close to Ayatollah Kashani, Harry Truman did not feel the urge to act against his government .
The action taken by Mossadegh to nationalize Iran’s oil meant that Mossadeq is going to be at loggerheads with the British and the Americans as the Anglo-Iranian Oil Co. (AIOC later named BP), most of whose stock was owned by the British government would lose every right to exploit the Iranian oil, a right that was gained through bribery and illegal means by the British company despite a large popular opposition to the D’Arcy Concession, a colonial-style treaty between Britain and Iran.
