Aug 29, 2023
Anniversaries have a way of concentrating our minds on important
events, but most Americans paid little attention to a certain date
in history when it crossed their calendars this month. On August
19, 1953, the CIA toppled Iran’s democratic prime minister Mohammad
Mossadegh and installed the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, an event
whose consequences haunt U.S.-Iran relations to this day. For Iran,
the detested Shah’s rule, backed by billions in U.S. military aid,
led to an Islamic Revolution in 1979. For the U.S., the 1953 coup
was the first such operation pulled off by the new CIA, which under
eight years of the Eisenhower administration perpetrated dozens of
covert operations in 48 countries. Meddling in the internal affairs
of other nations would become standard U.S. procedure during the
Cold War following the “success” of 1953. In this episode, Eurasia
Group oil historian Gregory Brew discusses the remarkable series of
events that led to Mossadegh’s demise and the enduring relevance of
the coup in today's geopolitics.
Note: Excerpts of the documentary COUP 53 are courtesy Amirani
Media.