Iran’s Coup d’état of 1953: 

Who was the Real Culprit; the U.S or the British?

A careful analysis of the political events in Iran from early 1951 through August of 1953 clearly indicates that the British, not the Americans, were the real reason that the democratically elected government of Dr. Mossadegh was overthrown by the infamous coup d’état of the 28^th of Mordad.

Background

As I wrote in my memoir “Reza Shah vs. Mohammad Reza Shah” here on this blog, in 1901 an English businessman by the name of William Knox D’Arcy acquired the right of petroleum exploration in Southern Iran by bribing Mozzaffar al-Din Shah Qajar. 

W. D' Arcy

Above; Mozzaffar al-Din Shah

D’Arcy paid  Mozzaffar al-Din Shah 20,000 British Pounds along with the promise of 16% of all future profits.   










When Reza Shah came to power in 1925 the government of Iran declared that the D’Arcy Agreement was not valid since the concession was made by Mozzaffar al-Din Shah as an individual and not by the constitutional government of Iran. He then proposed a new contract to be negotiated.

Based on the above reasoning, Iran had officially informed the British government of the need for a new contract to be signed, demanding a 25% share in the Anglo Persian Oil Company’s (APOC) ownership along with number of other changes to the 1901 concession.

Abdolhosain Teymurtash, Iran’s oil minister was put in charge of the negotiations. However, after several months of negotiations the British government rejected the proposal in its entirety with the exception of the name change from Anglo Persian Oil Company to Anglo Iranian Oil Company (AIOC).

At this point Reza Shah himself stepped in and declared a unilateral nullification of the D’Arcy agreement. But later-on, with the British government blockading Iran’s harbors in the Persian Gulf and giving an ultimatum of an imminent invasion, Reza Shah was forced to capitulate to Britain’s will and had to sign a new agreement that contained a 32 year extension, the original 16% profit share and no rights to audit the company’s accounting books.

In order to have a better understanding of the situation of the 1953 coup, I will take an excerpt, as follows, from “My Memoir” and also from my article; “Why most Iranians have Bittersweet Feelings toward America!”

My memoir; http://maziaraptin.blogspot.com/2012/04/reza-shah-vs-mohammad-reza-shah.html
Why Most Iranians...:http://maziaraptin.blogspot.com/2012/02/why-most-iranians-have-bittersweet.html

Events of WWII in Iran, 1941-46

Until the WWII era, Americans were virtually unknown to the ordinary Iranian and consequently did not have any feelings toward them, neither positive nor negative.

In June 1941 Germany invaded the Soviet Union soon after Stalin had signed a treaty of alliance with Britain. In August 1941 the Allies demanded Reza Shah expel all German nationals from Iran and put the Trans-Iranian Railway and all Iranian ports entirely at their disposal.

Reza Shah responded that because Iran had already declared neutrality in the European war, Iran was thus obligated to stay neutral and subsequently refused the Allies’ demands. On August 24, 1941 (3rd of Shahrivar of 1320), the Allied forces invaded Iran simultaneously, the British from the south and the Soviets from the north. While they officially accepted Iran’s neutrality in the war, they intended to use Iran’s ports, railway system, and other facilities to transport war materials to the Soviets.

The Soviets occupied all northern states, which remained under their occupation throughout the war, and the British occupied the rest of the country. After the occupation the British demanded that Reza Shah leave the country. After some negotiating, Reza Shah accepted the exile with the condition that the Allied forces leave the country after the war was over.

The crucial role FDR played in Iran’s favor

The treaty of 1941 between Reza Shah and the Allies (the British and the Soviets) was a forced treaty and non-binding. This was cause for Iranian politicians to be worried, anticipating that after the war the two powers would not leave and would divide Iran between themselves, as they had already tried during Mohammad Ali Shah Qajar.

The United States of America entered Iran in December of 1942, alarmed by Iranian politicians; FDR became aware of the ambitions of his two allies.

Shortly afterwards the US State Department sent a memorandum to the British and the Soviets stating; "The Iranian nation has already suffered enough from the unwanted war; it is the policy of the United States to build an independent Iran, strong enough to stand up to its old imperial nemeses."

FDR of course was already aware of the passed British imperialism and he hated it. In one of his meetings with Churchill, when the British prime minister objected to the idea of giving independent to India after the war was over, FDR angrily told Churchill; you must change your 400 years of world domination mentality. Time has changed.

 With the above in mind, in November, 28-December, 1, 1943 at the “Big Three Conference” between Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin in Tehran, FDR convinced the other two to sign a joint statement called the “Tehran Declaration”, guaranteeing the independence of Iran. In addition, the three parties committed themselves to withdrawing all of their troops from Iran six months after the end of the war.

Formation of Hezb-e Tudeh
(the communist party)

Before the war, Reza Shah outlawed most political activities in the country and jailed fifty-three communists. In October 1941, now freed from jail, the communists formed a party and named it Hezb-e Toodeh (“Tudeh” or “The Masses”) Party.

Shortly after the formation, party leaders were approached by the Soviets and were persuaded to join the Stalinist cause, which they did. By joining, they received considerable financial and political assistance from the Soviets, became very active in Iranian politics and were very successful in the Soviet-occupied Northern States of Iran.

Toward the final years of the war Stalin became active in pursuing his ambition of expanding the Soviet Union into part of Iran.  The Tudeh Party in Azerbaijan became more active and from there the Soviets expanded their activities into Kurdistan and gradually into all the occupied areas of Northern Iran.

The Crucial Role Harry Truman Played in Favor of Iran

Six month after the end of the war the Americans and the British moved out of Iran but the Soviets stayed and politically became even more active to a point that they had created a puppet government in Azerbaijan named (Pishehvary) which had declared the independence of Azerbaijan with Kurdistan following suit. When the Iranian troops marched toward Azerbaijan to overthrow the Pishehvary government they were stopped by the Soviet troops.

It was at this time that Harry Truman sent an ultimatum to Stalin; "either move your troops out of Iran or you will have a war against the U S on your hands" and immediately started moving the U S naval fleet toward the Indian Ocean.

Considering that the United States was the only world power with nuclear arms capabilities in this period and with the Soviets already severely damaged by the war, there was no room for hesitation for Stalin. By May 1946 (two months later than the treaty had dictated) the Soviets were out of Iran.

After their departure and the end of their direct support for the “Pishehvary”, the puppet government was not strong enough to stand against the Iranian Army and the will of the people of Azerbaijan.

Dr. Mohammad Mossadegh the Prime Minister

In 1951 Mossadegh, with the suggestion made by his cabinet member Dr. Fatemi, demanded the nationalization of the Iranian oil industry.

Dr. Mossadegh and Dr. Fatemi

At that time the AIOC was the main supplier of petroleum products for the British military and thus too important for the British to lose. Because of this they pressured Mohammad Reza Shah to fire Mossadegh and replace him with Ghavam.         

Shah had done what the British asked him to do but, after several major bloody demonstrations throughout the country, Ghavam did not last more than three months, causing Shah to put Mossadegh back in-charge.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

This series of events made Mossadegh politically much stronger because he accepted the offer under certain conditions that dramatically increased his authority.

In short, Mossadegh’s constant success towards the nationalization of Iran’s oil industry made the British very nervous, causing them to seek the overthrow of Mossadegh’s government via a coup d’état.

Britain approached the newly-founded CIA, winning their approval. However, when the proposal reached Harry Truman’s desk, he angrily rejected the idea and said; “we are not in the business of overthrowing a democratic government of a sovereign nation”.

The British then waited until 1952 when Dwight D. Eisenhower of the Republican Party was elected and resubmitted their request via the CIA to the office of the president, and Eisenhower approved the operation (“Operation AJAX”).  (For further reading on these events please read “The Persian Puzzle” by Kenneth Pollack, a high ranking ex-CIA officer)

As mentioned in my memoir, on the night of August 14, 1953, Kermit Roosevelt, Chief of the CIA station in the US Embassy in Tehran, with the cooperation of the British Intelligence apparatus, staged a failed coup against the Mossadegh administration. The next morning, upon learning of the results, Shah panicked and fled the country for Baghdad, flying from there to Rome.

At this juncture, President Eisenhower ordered the coup operation be aborted. He convinced the British to accept the nationalization of Iran’s oil and began negotiating with the Mossadegh government. Unfortunately, Dr. Mossadegh had upped his demands and asked for an additional $50 million for the financial losses incurred due to the British blockade of Iran’s southern ports which interrupted the sale of petroleum for several months.

 These increased demands gave the British the excuse to once again pressure the US government to attempt the second, successful coup. (For more details please read “Reza Shah vs. Mohammad Reza Shah” on this blog)     

Eisenhower, the sponsor of the coup

                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Immediately after the coup succeeded, not only was an agreement favorable to the Anglo/American companies signed, but the name of the company, Anglo Iranian Oil Company, was changed to British Petroleum (BP). Bravo Mohammad Reza Shah.

The above episode of the British intervention in Iran’s internal affairs was only the most recent one. As I have mentioned in my memoir; during the Qajar period the British humiliated our nation and our people for two centuries.

Below is an excerpt from my memoir, on this blog: (Reza Shah vs. Mohammad Reza Shah, observed by an ex-Imperial Iranian Air Force officer)

http://maziaraptin.blogspot.com/2012/04/reza-shah-vs-mohammad-reza-shah.html

An Example of the British Humiliating Iranians:

According to Kenneth Pollack, “The AIOC (Anglo Iranian Oil Company) was a rapacious and careless company.” “They were determined to maximize immediate profits without regard for Iran or even for the ill will they were creating for themselves. The company lied and manipulated its books to underpay the Iranian government to the tune of billions of dollars. AIOC also indulged in bribery of Iranian officials, attempted to manipulate Iranian internal policies, and armed local tribesmen in return for their support”.

“The British used to import laborers from India for unskilled jobs that Iranian laborers believed was rightfully theirs.”

“The working conditions of AIOC’s Iranian employees were unconscionable: They were paid 50 cents per day and lived in a shantytown called “Kaghazabad” (paper city) for the principal means of construction; without running water or electricity. They had no vacation, no sick leave, and no disability compensation.”

A foreign worker who worked for several years at Abadan wrote that “the Iranian AIOC workers were the poorest creatures on earth…. They lived during the seven hot months of the year under the trees…In wintertime these masses moved into big halls, built by the company, housing up to 3,000-4,000 people without walls or partitions between them. Each family occupied the space of one blanket. There were no lavatories….In debates with British colleagues we often tried to show them the mistake they were making in treating the Persians the way they did. The answer was; we English have had hundreds of years of experience on how to treat the Natives. Socialism is all right back home, but out here you have to be the master….”

Averell Harriman, visiting Abadan in 1951, cabled President Truman that “the slums he saw there were “shocking” for the housing of employees of a large Western oil company.” “The British held a completely nineteenth century colonial attitude toward Iran.”

***************

 Yet the British, like the cat with nine lives, have avoided any retaliation from Iran and are actually close friends of the current IRI regime, while the United States has been politically ostracized for the last 33 years.

Maybe it’s because the British were using Mohammad Reza Shah cleverly in more discrete ways while, in contrast, the Americans were doing it out in the open. For example, the 1953 coup was a joint Anglo/American project with the British initiating the coup but the America taking all the credit (or all the blame, so to speak).

Similarly, in the mid-1960s,  the giving away of Bahrain to the British by the Shah did not attract much attention while in that same period, when the American advisers in Iran were awarded political immunity, the action was widely publicized by the opposition under the leadership of Ayatollah Khomeini. Perhaps it was due to the friendship that had existed between the British and Khomeini’s family as far back as the Qajar era.

 Conclusion

As mentioned in my article on this blog; “Why most Iranians have Bittersweet feelings Toward America”, http://maziaraptin.blogspot.com/2012/02/why-most-iranians-have-bittersweet.html
the U.S. participation in the 1953 coup was a gross assault on the sovereignty of Iran, and an official apology by the US government is called for. However, at the same time, the combined actions of FDR and Harry Truman during and after WWII that saved Iran from being disintegrated by the hands of the USSR and the British should not be forgotten by Iranians and deserve our appreciation

With the above in mind, if it was not because of Britain’s insistence on the second coup attempt, the Mossadegh government would not have fallen. And with the consideration that Mohammad Reza Shah had left the country voluntarily, the people of Iran would have asked for a democratic republic form of government. In that scenario we would have had a free democratic Iran today, perhaps allied with the U.S. and other advanced countries of the world.

As we can see, the real guilty party in the 1953 coup was the British, not the Americans. The Americans were simply the hired hand of the British.
Right after the infamous coup, the British were in complete control of the clean-up, the Americans were just the on-lookers.

For example; it was the British that decided Mossadegh should not be executed, concerned about a possible revolt, but Dr. Fatemi should be hanged and he was executed.

Bellow is an excerpt from My Memoir on this blog: http://maziaraptin.blogspot.com/2012/04/reza-shah-vs-mohammad-reza-shah.html

آیت الله زنجانی تلاش بسیاری برای جلوگیری از اعدام دکتر فاطمی می‌کند و حتی از آیت الله بروجردی هم کمک می‌خواهد و بروجردی در پاسخ او چنین می گوید: “انگلیسیها از او کینه به دل دارند، شاه هم ضعیف است کاری نمی‌شود کرد.”

دبیر شرقی سفارت انگلیس در تهران در زمان کودتا می‌نویسد «… اعدام بی رحمانه، صرفنظر از غیر انسانی بودن آن، ممکن است در مورد مصدق عاقلانه نباشد ولی شاید برای فاطمی، اگر دستگیر شود، بهترین راه حل باشد. تا زمانی که اینگونه افراد زنده هستند و در ایران به سر می برند، همیشه خطر ضد کودتا وجود دارد، شدت عمل ضروری است…»

« دکتر فاطمی قبل از اعدام گفته بوده : ما سه سال در این کشور حکومت کردیم و یک نفر از مخالفان خود را نکشتیم برای آنکه ما نیامده بودیم برادرکشی کنیم ما برای آن قیام کردیم که ایران را متحد کرده و دست خارجی را از کشور کوتاه کرده و 

P.S. In my personal opinion, historically, the British have done more harm to Iran than any other nation with the exceptions of the infamous atrocities of the invasions in the 7^th century A.D. by the Arabs, and in the 13^th century by the Mongols and Teymur-Lang.