Mohammad Mosaddegh (16 June 1882 – 5 March 1967), was the democratically elected Prime Minister of Iran from 1951 to 1953 when he was overthrown in a coup d’état orchestrated by the UnitedStates Central Intelligence Agency.
From an aristocratic background, Mosaddegh was an author, administrator, lawyer, prominent parliamentarian, and politician. During his time as prime minister, a wide range of progressive social reforms were carried out.
Unemployment compensation was introduced, factory owners were ordered to pay benefits to sick and injured workers, and peasants were freed from forced labor in their landlords’ estates. Twenty percent of the money landlords received in rent was placed in a fund to pay for development projects such as public baths, rural housing, and pest control.
He is most famous as the architect of the nationalization of the Iranian oil industry, which had been under British control since 1913 through the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (AIOC) (later British Petroleum or BP). The Anglo-Iranian Oil Co. was controlled by the British government. Mosaddegh was removed from power in a coup on 19 August 1953, organised and carried out by the United States CIA at the request of the British MI6 which chose Iranian General Fazlollah Zahedi to succeed Mosaddegh.While the coup is commonly referred to as Operation Ajax after its CIA cryptonym, in Iran it is referred to as the 28 Mordad 1332 coup, after its date on the Iranian calendar. Mosaddegh was imprisoned for three years, then put under house arrest until his death.
How this tragedy happened?
On August 19, 1953, the most genuine democratic government in the history of Iran was overthrown through an Anglo-American coup called “Operation Ajax”. The act against the nation had been plotted and put into action by the CIA, with a helping hand from Iranian co-conspirators.
Dr. Mohammad Mossadegh, the revered democratically elected Prime Minister, was arrested, tried in the military court and convicted of treason. The 72 year-old Mossadegh endured three years of solitary confinement and was kept under house arrest for the rest of his life.
In 1960, during the Shah’s dictatorial regime fully supported by the United States, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi published his book Mission for My Country. Tellingly, the Iranian audience went unconsidered, as it was published in English only. However, two of Tehran’s main daily newspapers, Kayhan and Ettela’at, published a Persian translation in a serialized format.
In Mission For My Country, the Shah criticized Mossadegh at length. Mossadegh, who was writing his own memoirs, became aware of the Shah’s accusations by reading the newspapers. Mossadegh’s Memoirs was finally published in 1986, 19 years after his death.
In the third and final chapter of Memoirs, Mossadegh responds to each one of the accusations made by the Shah against him. In his characteristic polite manner, he titled the chapter “Reply to the remarks of his Majesty, the Shah-in-Shah”
The following is translation of Mossadegh’s first entry:
Shah in Mission For My Country:
Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi”…the 28 Mordad 1332 [August 19, 1953] rescued Iran from the clutches of Mossadegh. Dr. Mossadegh was the type of man who had the potential to be a good political leader, but near the end of his government became a prisoner of his own extremist thoughts and a number of people around him; as well as the indirect dictates of a foreign government. I believe that the overthrow of Mossadegh was the work of ordinary people of my country whose heart held a spark of divine will.”
Mossadegh’s reply:
Dr. Mohammad Mossadegh”It was the spark of divine will in the heart of Eisenhower that he signed off on a plan to trade a nation’s freedom for a 40 percent share in the [oil] consortium. For this exchange to be workable, first the notice of my dismissal was issued and the coup of the night of 25 Mordad 1332 [August 16, 1953] was begun.
When that did not accomplish their goal, a second attempt was launched and $390,000 American dollars was distributed among some corrupt ulama [theologians] and unprincipled commanders and officers. Every one of those common people that the Shah-in-Shah mentioned received a pittance and, one for all and all for one, under the lead of the same officers and non-commissioned, proceeded to plunder my house, arrest and deliver me to the military court.”
Source: “mohammadmossadegh.com” and “saylor.org”