That 1953 CIA Iran Coup That Installed the Shah and Destroyed US-Iran Relations

In 1953, the CIA and MI6 staged a coup to overthrow Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh and restore the Shah of Iran to the throne. Mossadegh was democratically elected in 1951, intending to nationalize the Iranian oil industry, then monopolized by Britain’s Anglo-Iranian Oil (now British Petroleum, or BP). The British enjoyed tremendous revenues from Iranian oil and had depended on it since Winston Churchill, as First Lord of the Admiralty, had converted the British navy from coal to oil. The CIA’s installation of the despotic Shah ruined US-Iranian relations for generations.Show more

The 1953 coup foreshadows future CIA-backed regime change operations and color revolutions in later decades. Like the CIA-backed Ukraine coup in 2014 (the “Maidan Revolution”), the 1953 coup involved the CIA enlisting the aid of Nazi followers and leaders. The Shah ruled by terror, employing secret police surveillance and torture, operating in Europe and in the US (with the knowledge and assistance of the CIA and FBI). The CIA coup and the despotic regime it installed led directly to the Iranian Revolution and Iranian regime that so strongly opposes the US to this day.

CREDITS:
This video includes content from CBS 60 Minute broadcasts (1976, 1978, 1980), CNN, The Real News Network, vintage newsreels (British Pathe, MovieTone News), and the documentary “Coup 53”. (The excellent documentary, Coup 53, is recommended and is available at https://coup53.com).

FAIR USE COMMENTS:
Notice 60 Minutes’ aggressive reporting and questioning of the Shah – a US ally. (Television journalism seems much different than today’s media where “journalists” seem more like stenographers for the security state.) CNN, likewise, acted much more like a real news organization. While the vintage newsreels were much more propagandist, these clips have been edited, so the slanted reporting in the original is much less apparent in this video. (The originals are available on Youtube.)