Mohammad Mosaddeq and the 1953 Coup in Iran

Mohammad Mosaddeq is widely regarded as the leading champion of secular democracy and resistance to foreign domination in Iran’s modern history. Mosaddeq became prime minister of Iran in May 1951 and promptly nationalized its British-controlled oil industry, initiating a bitter confrontation between Iran and Britain that increasingly undermined Mosaddeq’s position. He was finally overthrown in August 1953 in a coup d’état organized and led by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, along with British intelligence. This coup initiated a twenty-five-year period of growing dictatorship in Iran, leaving many Iranians resentful of the U.S.—legacies that still haunt relations between the two countries today.

This book examines the turbulent political climate that prevailed in Iran during Mosaddeq’s tenure, the confrontation between Iran and Britain for control over Iran’s oil, the strategic considerations that led U.S. officials to intervene, and the details of the coup itself. Based on exhaustive research by leading academic experts in the field, this is the most authoritative account of the tragic events that led to the overthrow of Mosaddeq. With the recent declassification of CIA and other documents regarding the events of 1953 in Iran, there is an opportunity for
new in-depth analysis into not only the coup d’état itself but also the events that led up to it.