Overview

• In 1951, Mosaddegh nationalized the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, triggering a British embargo and Western fears of Soviet influence.
• Under Kermit Roosevelt Jr’s direction, the CIA spent about $100,000 on bribery and fake communist mobs to manufacture chaos in Tehran.
• The coup drove out Mosaddegh, restored Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi’s rule and led to trials, executions and Mosaddegh’s eventual house arrest.
• A new oil agreement awarded American and British firms 40% of Iran’s oil output while Iran retained half of the revenues.
• Declassified CIA reports from 2013 and recent retrospectives tie the intervention to enduring anti-American sentiment and the 1979 Islamic Revolution.