Thread: The Empire continues without change: Obama accuses Iran of building nukes

Mohammad Mosaddeq and
the 1953 Coup in Iran
Edited by Mark J. Gasiorowski and Malcolm Byrne
New Volume Reexamines a Seminal Event
in Modern Middle Eastern History
A Joint U.S.-British Regime-Change Operation in 1953 that Holds Lessons for Today
New Documents Shed Further Light on Secret U.S. Policy
June 22, 2004
For further information Contact
Malcolm Byrne 202/994-7043
mbyrne@gwu.edu

Jump to the Documents

The "28 Mordad" coup, as it is known by its Persian date, was a watershed for Iran, for the Middle East and for the standing of the United States in the region. The joint U.S.-British operation ended Iran's drive to assert sovereign control over its own energy resources and helped put an end to a vibrant chapter in the history of the country's nationalist and democratic movements. These consequences resonated with dramatic effect in later years. When the Shah finally fell in 1979, memories of the U.S. intervention in 1953, which made possible the monarch's subsequent, and increasingly unpopular, 25-reign intensified the anti-American character of the revolution in the minds of many Iranians.

Mohammad Mosaddeq and the 1953 Coup in Iran

Sample Documents


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Document No. 1: National Security Council, NSC 136/1, "United States Policy regarding the Present Situation in Iran," Top Secret Report, November 20, 1952
Source: National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), Record Group 59, "Records relating to State Department Participation in the Operations Coordinating Board and the National Security Council, 1947-1963," Lot 63D351, National Security Council, Box 68, Folder: "NSC 136: U.S. and Policy regarding the Present Situation in Iran"

This was the last policy statement on Iran prepared during the Truman administration. Truman and his top advisers always focused on working out an oil agreement between Mosaddeq and British. To the end, they believed that Mosaddeq represented the most effective barrier to a communist takeover in Iran. This view differed sharply from the Eisenhower administration's, which held that Mosaddeq's inability to withstand Tudeh subversion or a coup made him a liability that had been removed. Truman's fears about the deterioration of conditions in Iran grew while he was in office, leading him to declare, as in this document, his readiness to deal militarily with a communist coup. But he never reached the point of considering an anticipatory move as Eisenhower ultimately did. Still, the steady progression of his views raises the interesting hypothetical question of whether, had he remained in office for another term, Truman might have eventually followed the same path.

Document No. 2: State Department, "First Progress Report on Paragraph 5-a of NSC 136/1, 'U.S. policy regarding the present situation in Iran'," Top Secret Memorandum, March 20, 1953
Source: National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), Record Group 59, "Records relating to State Department Participation in the Operations Coordinating Board and the National Security Council, 1947-1963," Lot 63D351, National Security Council, Box 68, Folder: "NSC 136: U.S. and Policy regarding the Present Situation in Iran"

One of the points of interest about this memo is that it is a progress report from the Eisenhower period on a policy adopted by President Truman. It is of particular importance because it focuses on a series of specific covert measures the U.S. planned to take in the event of "an attempted or an actual communist seizure of power" in Iran - one of the aspects of US policy that long remained out of reach for historians because it was classified. In fact, the section under discussion, paragraph 5-a of NSC 136/1 (see previous document), was redacted in the policy document itself but has been included - and of course elaborated on in detail - in this follow-up report.

Document No. 3: State Department, "Measures which the United States Government Might Take in Support of a Successor Government to Mosadeq," Top Secret Memorandum, March 1953.
Source: National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), Record Group 59, Records of the Officer-in-charge of Iranian Affairs, 1946-1954, Lot 57D529, Box 40, Folder: Policy

This fascinating memo lists several proposed steps to take in the event - apparently still hypothetical at this stage - of a coup against Mosaddeq by "a successor government we wish to support." The document is referred to in the CIA's "Zendebad Shah!" history (below) in footnote 66 on page 19. The gist of the memo's recommendations is to make sure the new government and the Shah were aware that the United States was ready to offer support. But the authors make clear that any substantive measures would have to be taken outside of the public eye since it "would be literally fatal to any non-communist successor to Mosaddeq if the Iranian public gained an impression that the new premier was a 'foreign tool'."

Document No. 4: State Department, "Proposed Course of Action with Respect to Iran," Top Secret Draft Memorandum, August 10, 1953
Source: National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), Record Group 59, Policy Planning Staff 1947-53, Box 42, Lot 64D563, Folder: Record Copies, July-Aug 1953

Written just five days before the initial launching of the coup, this memo reflects several interesting points. For one, it shows how completely out of the picture some parts of the U.S. government were regarding the operation. Months after Eisenhower's top advisers had given up on winning an oil settlement with Mosaddeq, this paper continues to recommend steps in that direction. Equally interesting are the author's assessments of Iran's political and economic situation, which are at odds with the views of top policy-makers that led them to approve the coup. Specifically, the author downplays the likelihood of a Tudeh overthrow attempt, saying the party is not "sufficiently strong or well-organized to attempt a coup." He does point up the longer-term threat of the Tudeh building power and prestige, as did those who supported the intervention. The author of this memo also indicates that Iran's economy, while deteriorating, is "in balance" in several areas and continues to allow the government to "meet its fiscal needs."

Document No. 5: CIA, "Zendebad, Shah!": The Central Intelligence Agency and the Fall of Iranian Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadeq, August 1953," Top Secret Draft History, History Staff, Central Intelligence Agency, June 1998.
Source: Freedom of Information Act lawsuit
This 139-page internal history prepared by the CIA's History Staff became available in highly redacted form after the National Security Archive filed a lawsuit with the CIA in 1999 for materials relating to Iran in 1953. At first it was denied in its entirety, then upon review sections already marked Unclassified were released (for the most part), along with a single section previously marked Secret (but apparently based primarily on a published account). The document is potentially of great historical value because it was prepared by a trained historian with the benefit of a variety of still-classified supporting documentation and many years of historical perspective. As such, it would be extremely useful to compare it with the only other extant internal history, which by contrast was written by one of the coup's main architects, Donald Wilber, just a few months after the operation. In its current largely inaccessible state, however, the document is mostly a testament to the continuing obstacles faced by researchers to a more complete understanding of the coup.


Mohammad Mosaddeq and the 1953 Coup in Iran


More documents here..Electronic Briefing Book: The Secret CIA History of the Iran Coup

Obama Stifles Hope of Change on Iran Relations


Posted November 9, 2008

After Tuesday’s election, Iranian citizens and officials hoped that President-elect Barack Obama’s victory was the beginning of a radical shift in US foreign policy with respect to Iran. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad offered a congratulatory statement to Obama, while Iranian MPs displayed an openness to the first significant improvement in relations between the two nations since the 1979 Iranian Revolution.

And there was some cause for hope: Obama spent much of the presidential primaries chiding the Bush Administration for avoiding direct talks with Iran, and cautioned against talking about launching attacks on Iran.

But any hopes for major changes in the American stance toward Iran died pretty quickly when Obama publicly condemned the Iranian government, accusing them of developing a nuclear weapon and vowing an international effort against them, which he would not elaborate on until he takes over the White House in January.

The condemnation has sewn pessimism in Iran, and has cost President Ahmadinejad politically as he has come under public attack, oddly from the same reformist faction that has long called for reconciliation with the US, for overstepping his station in offering a hand to the incoming US administration. Its a limb on which the Iranian President is unlikely to go out again.

Obama hangs out with terrorists. Why are you suprised that he's also a liar?

Originally Posted by Freedom for All

Obama hangs out with terrorists. Why are you suprised that he's also a liar?

You could have just said, "Obama is a politician, why are you surprised he's a liar"?

:laughing: