1953 in Context

By Paul Iddon

The coup undertaken by the British and American intelligence agencies in 1953 against the democratically elected Mohammad Mosaddegh was an unfortunate but highly significant moment in Iranian history. Nevertheless it should not be used as justification for the unmentionable acts of those ruling Iran at present.

Mohammad Mossaddegh.

There seems to be an underlying presumption in a large part of Iranian political discussion and discourse that all of Iran's problems can be blamed on the United States and Britain, as it was their combined intelligence services which executed the coup d'etat that subverted Mohammad Mosaddegh's move for power as the democratically elected Prime Minister of the country. And who, on top of this, had made a bid to try and nationalize Iran's vast oil reserves which had been then falling into the hands of foreign British and American owned oil corporations. Mosaddegh was by all means a true Iranian patriot, a true nationalist who should be seen as an icon for those at present rallying and battling against the repression of the Iranian state and its inhabitants from internal as well as external forms of oppression.

Following this coup the Shah was reinstated to the peacock throne, and gradually made the transition from a constitutional monarch into an authoritarian one with continued support from the foreign powers who orchestrated said coup, throughout the rest of his reign he gradually became more isolated from his people, a prime and pivotal example of this (which is cited by many historians as the beginning of the end for the Pahlavi dynasty) was the 2,500 year celebration of the Persian Empire held in Persepolis, which was mostly planned and organized by western contractors and attended by wealthy aristocratic foreigners. This in turn effectively excluded and marginalized the majority of Iranians in their own backyard.

Also the SAVAK secret police used fear as a means of preventing widespread dissent against the Shah's rule and oft tortured political prisoners, this widespread evidential discontent eventually culminated in every layer of Iranian society taking to the streets to demand reform and change, this eventually led to the Iranian Army being stopped cold when its soldiers conscientiously objected to carry out their orders which were to effectively suppress large amounts of their fellow countrymen using live ammunition in order to secure the throne of a disillusioned megalomaniac -- who had become so transparently isolated from his own people as a result of being palpably deluded by his American backers who themselves had no firm grasp on not just the situation in Iran in the mid to late 1970's but Iranian society and cultural traditions as a whole.

In their report about the coup against Mosaddegh the CIA stated their actions in Iran may have some blow-back in the future, it wouldn't be a stretch to say that a lot of the discontent among Iranians was a direct result of the harsh measures the Shah took to ensure he solidified his hold on power, which for a large part included the affliction of brutal secret police forces like the SAVAK on Iranian civil society making Iranians extremely reluctant and hesitant of even voicing a negative opinion against the monarchy or its policies in public for fear of their livelihoods and to a greater extent, their actual lives.

Whilst the 1953 coup was carried out for strategic purposes for the major western powers to ensure their hegemony over Iran's vast oil resources a substantial motivating factor for many protesters who marched on the streets in 1978-79 was the misconception that the overthrowing of the Shah would lead to a home-grown democracy and the nationalization of Iran's oil which would make the country and its people extremely wealthy, instead the Islamic Republic was born and has since seen a turbulent 32 year history.

The 1953 coup isn't a conspiracy theory, but a long history of British coveting and colonialism in Persia seems to have given creed and paranoia to the clerical cast who guide the current proverbial Iranian ship of state and attribute everything bad that happens to conspiracies against them executed by shady foreign powers, Iraj Pezeshkzad recognized the ludicrousness of such schizophrenic and eventual hateful beliefs back in the early 1970's when he penned the now famous novel My Uncle Napoleon which was adapted into a television show, both of which have been banned by the theocrats when they took power in 1979. The current ruling theocracy itself harbours such paranoia and highly delusional beliefs that Pezeshkzad poked fun at, and have become just as oppressive as the Shah, the only difference being they're a completely home-grown internal form of oppression, not one heavily backed and influenced by external powers, but a form of oppression against the majority of the Iranian people nonetheless. Such a regime should be held accountable for the actions they carry out inside as well as outside of Iran's borders, if the western powers are to seriously conduct themselves by engaging in dialogue with the Iranian regime over issues Iran is heavily involved in, such as Palestine, Hamas, Lebanon, Hezbollah, Iraq and its own nuclear program they need to know whether those representing Iran and its people were in turn appointed by the people who make up the Iranian state, if they are however (which I highly suspect) a regime maintained by elite clerical elements then the western powers have no choice but to take a more interventionist policy to give the Iranian people a fair say in how their state conducts itself in foreign affairs, as to deal with such a clerical cast would be a major disservice to the countless Iranians who are prohibited from having a say in their own affairs and who are forced on pain of torture and extreme brutality and moral degradation (that is the everyday norm for the wide range of political dissidents in the now infamous Evin prison) to remain silent and passive while their state -- which consists for the most part of noble respectable law abiding people -- is reduced to one run by violent repressive theocrats whose hallmark is that of violence and corruption. The effects and results of which are borne by the majority of the Iranian people. But this isn't just a provincial matter as this same regime has been caught meddling in the internal affairs of Iraq and Lebanon trying to destabilize and prevent them from becoming functioning democracies by taking an opportunistic approach in which to export their theocratic authoritarianism.

The young and maturing generation of Iranians have grown more and more discontent with the way in which they are governed and would rather see the proverbial ship of state navigated into the future by a compass rather than by clerical dogma which has gone as far as to blame ever growing problems such as the issue of impending earthquakes on something as preposterous as promiscuous women. These young democrats have become part of yet another generation of disenfranchised Iranians who have since 1953 been denied their right as noble citizens to live in harmony in their own country, this right has been denied to them for the past 58 years by a rather banal trend of tyrants, one more despicable and deplorable than the last.