On August 15th, 1953,
an armored caravan weaved through the streets of Tehran.
Inside the lead car, the commander of the Iranian Imperial Guard
carried a decree from the Shah, officially dismissing the country's
prime minister, Mohammad Mosaddegh, from office.
The military action culminated months of secret planning by British and American
intelligence agencies as part of a plot to overthrow the Iranian government.
In 1901, Iran's imperial leader granted a British businessman
exclusive prospecting rights in what would soon prove to be
one of the largest oil fields in the world.
British investors formed the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, and in 1913,
the British government purchased a majority stake in the corporation.
By 1920, nearly 1.5 million tons of oil being extracted by
the Anglo-Persian Oil Mompany was generating huge profits for Britain,
while Iran received just 16% in royalty fees.
To many within Iran,
British control of their country's oil wealth was becoming intolerable.
Mohammad Mosaddegh was elected to a seat in Parliament
in 1943 as a champion of Iranian self-determination
and known for his outspoken criticism of British control of Iran's oil industry.
In 1951, Iran's parliament voted to nationalize the oil industry
and elected Mossadegh as prime minister.
The move sent shockwaves across the world.
The British responded by freezing Iranian assets held in British banks
and imposing economic sanctions.
But as those efforts stalled,
British intelligence agents began conspiring to overthrow Mosaddegh.
In early 1953, they found
a receptive partner in the newly elected Eisenhower administration
increasingly concerned about communist influence in Iran.
At the urging of Secretary of State John Foster Dulles
and CIA Director Allen Dulles, President Eisenhower agreed to a covert operation
to overthrow Mosaddegh and put the Shah in control.
The plan was codenamed Operation Ajax.
37-year-old CIA agent Kermit Roosevelt ran the operation.
The CIA sent $1 million to their station in Tehran for use
in any way that would bring about the fall of Mosaddegh.
Roosevelt placed key military leaders on the CIA payroll to gain their support.
He then convinced a nervous Shah to go along with the plan
to take control after military forces moved against Mosaddegh.
Operation Ajax accelerated in the spring of 1953
with an intense propaganda campaign.
The CIA bribed newspaper editors and religious leaders
to denounce Mosaddegh.
On August 13th, the Shah signed a decree dismissing Mosaddegh from office,
setting the military coup in motion.
When Mosaddegh got wind of the plot, he briefly managed to upend the operation
by capturing the military commanders sent to arrest him.
The next day, pro-Mosaddegh
demonstrations took place in Tehran.
The CIA hired thugs to wage
pro-Shah demonstrations in response.
After days of protests and street fighting that left 300 people dead,
the capital city was in chaos.
On August 20th, Mosaddegh surrendered.
An American backed general became the new prime minister
to form a government that expanded the powers of the Shah.
Mosaddegh was convicted of treason and kept under house arrest
until his death on March 5th, 1967.
An international consortium
of oil companies negotiated a revenue sharing deal with the Shah
that gave foreigners contracts to manage and refine Iranian oil.
The memory of 1953 would linger in the minds of Iranians for years to come.