The United States and Israel have attacked Iran and killed Ayatollah Khamenei, in an unprecedented joint operation. Both leaders have justified this operation with the idea of ending Iran’s nuclear program, although this country has always said that advances in this matter were for peaceful purposes.
The enmity between the United States and Iran goes back a long way. In 1979 both countries broke relations after the Iranian Revolution. Student activists entered the US embassy in Tehran and kidnapped 52 American diplomats and citizens to protest Washington’s decision to admit the then-ousted Iranian monarch, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, for medical care. However, before this another event occurred.
The importance of Mohammad Mosaddeq
Khamenei was named president in 1981 and in 1989 he was chosen as Khomeini’s successor. Before Khomeini, Shah Mohammad Reza was in power and before him, Mohammad Mosaddeq, with whom it all began.
Mosaddeq was the nationalist prime minister of Iran. His mandate was very brief, just two years (1951-1953) because he was overthrown by a joint operation by the CIA and the M16. It turns out that Mosaddeq wanted to achieve economic and political independence from Iran and stand up to the British influence the country was under at that time.
To do this, he made the decision to nationalize the oil, which until then was controlled by the British company Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (AIOC). This left very few benefits for Iran, so Mossaddeq, who headed the Parliament’s oil commission, promoted a law in 1951 to nationalize the oil industry.
The law was passed unanimously and Iran expelled the AIOC. The response from the United Kingdom was to embargo and block Iranian exports, which plunged the country into a deep economic crisis, with a high unemployment rate. Meanwhile, the world was divided in two, because the Cold War had already broken out. Iran maintained a neutral position.
The joint operation TPAJAX between the CIA and the M16
Thus, the United States tried to mediate between both countries to prevent the nationalization of oil from affecting other countries, although it always remained on the British side. Meanwhile, Mossaddeq was ousted, but massive popular protests returned him to power.
In this new stage – starting in 1952 – he tried to restructure the economy so that the country depended less on oil, something that Washington saw as unviable and unstable, politically speaking; They believed that the country was going to collapse. At that time there was a change of power in the US and Dwight Eisenhower was elected president, who gave the green light to the financing of a coup against Mosaddeq.
Furthermore, as Moesaddeq had increased his power, becoming an authoritarian leader who did and undid as he pleased, it served as a justification for the United States in the eyes of others and to launch disinformation and propaganda campaigns against him.
This is how Operation Boot (British name) or Ajax (American name) was conceived, a covert and organized coup d’état between the CIA and the M16 to overthrow the government chosen by Mosaddeq and reinforce the monarchy of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. Paramilitary groups and tribal leaders such as the Qashqai – a nomadic tribal confederation in southwestern Iran – also participated.
After several days of failed attempts and street mobilization, on August 19, 1953, military units and opponents gained control of key points in Tehran, Mosaddeq’s residence was attacked and the government fell. Mosaddeq was subsequently arrested, tried by a military court on charges of treason, and convicted. After being released from prison, he remained under house arrest until his death.
