Back انقلاب 1953 في إيران Arabic Golpe d'Estáu n'Irán de 1953 AST İranda dövlət çevrilişi (1953) Azerbaijani ایران چئوریلیشی (۱۹۵۳) AZB Иранда түңкәрелеш (1953) Bashkir Държавен преврат в Иран (1953) Bulgarian Cop d'estat a l'Iran de 1953 Catalan کوودەتای ١٩٥٣ی ئێران CKB Det iranske statskup 1953 Danish Operation Ajax German
| United States involvement in regime change |
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The 1953 Iranian coup d'état, known in Iran as the 28 Mordad coup d'état (Persian: کودتای ۲۸ مرداد), was the U.S.- and British-instigated, Iranian army-led overthrow of the elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh in favor of strengthening the monarchical rule of the shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, on 19 August 1953, with one of the significant objectives being to protect British oil interests in Iran.[5][6] It was aided by the United States (under the name TP-AJAX (Tudeh Party) Project[7] or Operation Ajax) and the United Kingdom (under the name Operation Boot).[8][9][10][11]
Mosaddegh had sought to audit the documents of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (AIOC), a British corporation (now part of BP), to verify that AIOC was paying the contracted royalties to Iran, and to limit the company's control over Iranian oil reserves.[12] Upon the AIOC's refusal to cooperate with the Iranian government, the parliament (Majlis) voted to nationalize Iran's oil industry and to expel foreign corporate representatives from the country.[13][14][15] After this vote, Britain instigated a worldwide boycott of Iranian oil to pressure Iran economically.[16] Initially, Britain mobilized its military to seize control of the British-built Abadan oil refinery, then the world's largest, but Prime Minister Clement Attlee (in power until 1951) opted instead to tighten the economic boycott[17] while using Iranian agents to undermine Mosaddegh's government.[18]: 3 Judging Mosaddegh to be unamenable and fearing the growing influence of the communist Tudeh, UK prime minister Winston Churchill and the Eisenhower administration decided in early 1953 to overthrow Iran's government. The preceding Truman administration had opposed a coup, fearing the precedent that Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) involvement would set,[18]: 3 and the U.S. government had been considering unilateral action (without UK support) to assist the Mosaddegh government as late as 1952.[19][20][21] British intelligence officials' conclusions and the UK government's solicitations to the US were instrumental in initiating and planning the coup.
Following the coup, a government under General Fazlollah Zahedi was formed which allowed Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the shah of Iran (Persian for 'king'),[22] to rule more firmly as monarch. He relied heavily on United States support to hold on to power.[13][14][15][23] According to the CIA's declassified documents and records, some of the most feared mobsters in Tehran were hired by the CIA to stage pro-shah riots on 19 August.[5] Other men paid by the CIA were brought into Tehran in buses and trucks and took over the streets of the city.[24] Between 200[3] and 300[4] people were killed because of the conflict. Mosaddegh was arrested, tried and convicted of treason by the Shah's military court. On 21 December 1953, he was sentenced to three years in jail, then placed under house arrest for the remainder of his life.[25]: 280 [26][27] Other Mosaddegh supporters were imprisoned, and several received the death penalty.[15] The coup resulted in the reinstatement of the Shah's authority, and he continued to rule Iran for the next 26 years as a pro-Western monarch[14][15] until he was overthrown in the Iranian Revolution in 1979.[14][15][18][28]
In August 2013, the U.S. government formally acknowledged the U.S. role in the coup by releasing a bulk of previously classified government documents that show it was in charge of both the planning and the execution of the coup. According to American journalist Stephen Kinzer, the operation included false flag attacks, paid protesters, provocations, the bribing of Iranian politicians and high-ranking security and army officials, as well as pro-coup propaganda.[29][30][31][32] The CIA is quoted acknowledging the coup was carried out "under CIA direction" and "as an act of U.S. foreign policy, conceived and approved at the highest levels of government".[33] In 2023, the CIA took credit for the coup,[34] contradicted by previous scholarly assessment that the CIA had botched the operation.[35][36][37]
- ^ Parsa, Misagh (1989). Social origins of the Iranian revolution. Rutgers University Press. p. 160. ISBN 0-8135-1411-8. OCLC 760397425.
- ^ Samad, Yunas; Sen, Kasturi (2007). Islam in the European Union: Transnationalism, Youth and the War on Terrors. Oxford University Press. p. 86. ISBN 978-0-19-547251-6.
- ^ a b Wilford 2013, p. 166.
- ^ a b Steven R. Ward (2009). Immortal: A Military History of Iran and Its Armed Forces. Georgetown University Press. p. 189. ISBN 978-1-58901-587-6.
- ^ a b Olmo Gölz (2019). "The Dangerous Classes and the 1953 Coup in Iran: On the Decline of lutigari Masculinities". In Stephanie Cronin (ed.). Crime, Poverty and Survival in the Middle East and North Africa: The 'Dangerous Classes' since 1800. I.B. Tauris. pp. 177–190. doi:10.5040/9781838605902.ch-011. ISBN 978-1-78831-371-1. S2CID 213229339.
- ^ Allen-Ebrahimian, Bethany (18 April 2024). "64 Years Later, CIA Finally Releases Details of Iranian Coup". Foreign Policy. Retrieved 18 April 2024.
- ^ Wilford 2013, p. 164. "'TP' was the CIA country prefix for Iran, while 'AJAX' seems, rather prosaically, to have been a reference to the popular household cleanser, the implication being that the operation would scour Iran of communist influence".
- ^ Wilber, Donald Newton (March 1954). Clandestine Service history: overthrow of Premier Mossadeq of Iran, November 1952-August 1953 (Report). Central Intelligence Agency. p. iii. OCLC 48164863. Archived from the original on 2 July 2009. Retrieved 6 June 2009.
- ^ Ends of British Imperialism: The Scramble for Empire, Suez, and Decolonization. I.B.Tauris. 2007. pp. 775 of 1082. ISBN 978-1-84511-347-6.
- ^ Byrne, Malcolm (18 August 2013). "CIA Admits It Was Behind Iran's Coup". Foreign Policy.
- ^ The CIA's history of the 1953 coup in Iran is made up of the following documents: a historian's note, a summary introduction, a lengthy narrative account written by Dr. Donald N. Wilber, and, as appendices, five planning documents he attached. Published 18 June 2000 by The New York Times
- ^ Kinzer, Stephen (2008). All the Shah's Men: An American Coup and the Roots of Middle East Terror. Wiley. ISBN 978-0-470-18549-0.
- ^ a b Cite error: The named reference
Kressinwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ a b c d Cite error: The named reference
Milani Persianswas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ a b c d e Milani, Abbas (2011). The Shah. St. Martin's Publishing. ISBN 978-0-230-11562-0.
- ^ Mary Ann Heiss (2004). "The International Boycott of Iranian Oil and the Anti-Mosaddeq Coup of 1953". In Boroujerdi, Mehrzad (ed.). Mohammad Mosaddeq and the 1953 Coup in Iran. Syracuse University Press. pp. 178–200. JSTOR j.ctt1j5d815.10.
- ^ Boroujerdi, Mehrzad, ed. (2004). Mohammad Mosaddeq and the 1953 Coup in Iran. Syracuse University Press. JSTOR j.ctt1j5d815.
- ^ a b c Kinzer, Stephen (2008). All the Shah's Men: An American Coup and the Roots of Middle East Terror. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-0-470-18549-0. Retrieved 11 August 2018.
- ^ "New U.S. Documents Confirm British Approached U.S. in Late 1952 About Ousting Mosaddeq". National Security Archive. 8 August 2017. Retrieved 1 September 2017.
- ^ "Proposal to Organize a Coup in Iran". National Security Archive. 8 August 2017. Retrieved 1 September 2017.
- ^ "How a Plot Convulsed Iran in '53 (and in '79)". The New York Times. Retrieved 5 June 2010.
- ^ Gholam Reza Afkhami (12 January 2009). The Life and Times of the Shah. University of California Press. p. 161. ISBN 978-0-520-94216-5.
- ^ Sylvan, David; Majeski, Stephen (2009). U.S. foreign policy in perspective: clients, enemies and empire. London. p. 121. doi:10.4324/9780203799451. ISBN 978-0-415-70134-1. OCLC 259970287.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ Zulaika, Joseba (2010). Terrorism: the self-fulfilling prophecy. University of Chicago Press. p. 139. ISBN 978-0-226-99417-8. OCLC 593226403.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
iranwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Project, M. (n.d.). Mossadegh — A Medical Biography | Ebrahim Norouzi, MD. Retrieved 6 August 2021, from http://www.mohammadmossadegh.com/biography/medical-history/
- ^ Elwell-Sutton, Laurence Paul (1975). Persian Oil: A Study in Power Politics. Greenwood Pres. ISBN 978-0-8371-7122-7.
- ^ "A CIA-backed 1953 coup in Iran haunts the country with people still trying to make sense of it". AP News. 25 August 2023. Retrieved 18 April 2024.
- ^ "CIA Confirms Role in 1953 Iran Coup". nsarchive2.gwu.edu. The National Security Archive. 19 August 2013. Retrieved 21 August 2018.
- ^ Allen-Ebrahimian, Bethany (18 April 2024). "64 Years Later, CIA Finally Releases Details of Iranian Coup". Foreign Policy. Retrieved 18 April 2024.
- ^ Kamali Dehghan, Saeed; Norton-Taylor, Richard (19 August 2013). "CIA admits role in 1953 Iranian coup". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 August 2013.
- ^ Kinzer, Stephen (2008). All the Shah's Men: An American Coup and the Roots of Middle East Terror. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-0-470-18549-0.
- ^ "In declassified document, CIA acknowledges role in '53 Iran coup". CNN. Retrieved 22 August 2013.
- ^ "CIA admits 1953 Iranian coup it backed was undemocratic". The Guardian. 13 October 2023. Archived from the original on 14 October 2023. Retrieved 17 October 2023.
- ^ Wilford 2013, pp. 166–68.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Taheri1991was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Cite error: The named reference
Takeyh2014was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
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