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CIA & Overthrow of the Iranian Government

In 2000, the New York Times published an extensive article outlining the role of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency in the 1953 overthrow of the Iranian government of Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh, a leading proponent of nationalizing the oil industry in Iran (Walsh). It had long been know that the American and British governments were behind the coup, which restored the Shah Mohammed Reza Pazhlavi to power. The timing of the article is interesting, since it is known that the U.S. and Iranian governments were, at the time the document was released, trying to effect some sort of rapproachment. A month before the document was released, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright had announced the lifting of a ban on the import of Iranian luxury goods, She said that the U.S. government wanted a new relationship with Teheran. She acknowledged the role of the U.S. in the 1953 coup, saying it was clearly a setback for Iran's political development, and it was easy to see why many Iranians continue to resent the American intervention in their internal affairs.

The overthrow of Mossadegh was a turning point in modern Iranian history, and is a persistent irritant in Iranian-U.S. affairs (Walsh). The article blames the anti-American strand in Iranian government policy following the coming to power of the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1979 on the earlier coup and America's long history of supporting the shah. The shah's regime was a central component of U.S. strategy in the Middle East for the following quarter of a century.

Iran was a key supplier of oil for Israel and South Africa, and the American military and the CIA operated bases on Iranian soil to gather intelligence against the neighboring USSR (Walsh). The shah's army was used to quell national liberation struggles in the Persian Gulf area. The hated SAVAK secret police, who were responsible for the arrest, torture and murder of thousands of people, were trained by A...

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CIA & Overthrow of the Iranian Government. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 16:09, March 28, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1705825.html