The Left’s nonsense about Iran 1953.
Iran was a democracy from 1923-1953. The PM Mohammad Mosaddegh wanted to save his national resources from exploitation from UK/US Oil companies. He nationaled the OIL wells.
MI6/CIA did coup, removed him and put puppet Shah on throne.
Technically true, sort of, but it’s lying by omission. Eli Lake:
This is an ignorant talking point repeated by people who want to sound like they know the history.
Mossedegh had dissolved the Majles [the Iranian parliament], replaced the army leadership and Supreme Court and closed newspapers by the time the Shah used his constitutional authority to fire him.
Commenters:
This convenient historical myth has become a staple of the populist left. Its roots lie in Marxist historiographical revisionism, and many scholars shaped by that tradition appear as sources in major media. Notably, even outlets as different as The Free Press and Al Jazeera rely on the same intellectual lineage when convenient. …
Mossadegh was wildly unpopular with the Iranian people by the time of his removal, a fact that always seems to get ignored in popular mythology …
And the CIA didn’t do anything. They tried to claim responsibility, but Eisenhower saw through it and called their report little better than a dime store spy novel.
Oh, let’s not forget: the mullahs actually supported the removal of Mossadegh.
More:
On July 25, 1953, Mossadegh’s government decreed a referendum to dissolve the Majlis entirely. The vote (August 3–10) was non-secret and widely criticized as rigged. Official result: ~99.9% approval (over 2 million “yes” votes). Mossadegh then ruled by decree, declaring “the will of the people is above law.” This directly violated the 1906 Constitution, which reserved dissolution power to the Shah.
There are three things about the post WW2 Iran -USA relationship that needs to be understood:
- Post WW2 Iran exists because Truman threatened to nuke the USSR in 1947 if the didn’t stop their invasion of Iran. They did.
- Under Eisenhower, the world was to be populated by small and medium sized countries run by people supporting the USA. And some of them would be selected to be regional powers that kept their area mostly peaceful. And that includes the first shah.
- President Carter was a smart idiot. He was offended by the fact that the Shah would kill as many as a thousand people each year to keep control. Carter could not understand that the replacement for the Shah would be a regime killing millions. If he [had] supported the Shah, the entire Mideast would have been pretty peaceful for the last 45 years. The Shah understood his role to be the USA supporter and be the regional power to keep the neighborhood relatively quiet. Carter directly caused the Shah to run by not acting as his backstop.
All Trump is trying to do is to get Iran back to 1955. Iran continues to be the best alternative for the regional power who sides with the USA and keeps the neighborhood peace.
The last 45 years shows us that Trump needs to succeed.
Fascinating. And entirely omitted from the breathless war coverage.