Thread by @peoplesdispatch

#PeoplesHistory | 🇮🇷 On this day in 1953, the CIA’s first successful coup overthrew Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh and his democratically elected government. British intelligence backed their US counterparts in this illegal act.

Mossadegh was an icon of Iran’s secular democracy and resistance to foreign colonial powers. He became Prime Minister in 1951. He nationalized Iranian oil and instituted radical measures such as social security, land reform, and wealth redistribution.

The nationalization of oil, which took it out of British hands, was celebrated by the Iranian people. But the colonial and imperialist powers were not happy.

Britain responded by imposing economic sanctions and organizing a boycott of Iranian oil. If that sounds familiar, it’s because the same steps are used against countries like Venezuela - and Iran - today.

These measures intensified the economic crisis and scarcity while the CIA propaganda machine ran campaigns to portray him as a “dictator.”

As domestic tensions increased and undercut Mossadegh’s popularity, he was forced to resign on August 19, 1953, imprisoned for three years, and then placed under house arrest until his death in 1967.

A US-backed general formed a government that worked closely with the US to strengthen the Shah’s monarchical rule in the country until the Iranian Revolution ended it all in 1979.

Almost 60 years later, declassified CIA documents admitted its role in the coup, stating that it “was carried out under CIA direction as an act of US foreign policy, conceived and approved at the highest levels of government.”

The CIA and British intelligence plot against Mossadegh, known as Operation Ajax, is a model that to this day continues to be used against countries that stand up to imperialism.