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LequteMan
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The CIA has released documents which for the first time formally acknowledge its key role in the 1953 coup which ousted Iran's democratically elected Prime Minister, Mohammad Mossadeq.
The documents were published on the independent National Security Archive on the 60th anniversary of the coup. They were obtained by the NSA under the Freedom of Information Act.
The US role in the coup had been openly referred to by US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright in 2000, and President Barack Obama in 2009 but the intelligence agencies had denied the allegations until now.
Mossadeq, after being elected in 1951 quickly moved to renationalise the country's oil production, which had been under British control.
This posed serious concern to the US and the UK, which saw Iranian oil as key to its post-war economic rebuilding.
The Cold War was also a factor in the calculations.
"t was estimated that Iran was in real danger of falling behind the Iron Curtain; if that happened it would mean a victory for the Soviets in the Cold War and a major setback for the West in the Middle East," says coup planner Donald Wilber in one document written some months after the coup.
The documents show how the CIA prepared for the coup by placing anti-Mossadeq stories in both the Iranian and US media.
The US and UK intelligence agencies also bolstered pro-Shah forces and helped organise anti-Mossadeq protests.
"The Army very soon joined the pro-Shah movement and by noon that day it was clear that Tehran, as well as certain provincial areas, were controlled by pro-Shah street groups and Army units," Wilber wrote.
"The military coup... was carried out under CIA direction as an act of US foreign policy," says an excerpt of the document.
The coup strengthened Shan Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who was a close ally of the US. He had fled Iran following a power struggle with Mossadeq. He returned after the coup and left power in 1979, when he was overthrown in the Islamic revolution.
The documents were published on the independent National Security Archive on the 60th anniversary of the coup. They were obtained by the NSA under the Freedom of Information Act.
The US role in the coup had been openly referred to by US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright in 2000, and President Barack Obama in 2009 but the intelligence agencies had denied the allegations until now.
Mossadeq, after being elected in 1951 quickly moved to renationalise the country's oil production, which had been under British control.
This posed serious concern to the US and the UK, which saw Iranian oil as key to its post-war economic rebuilding.
The Cold War was also a factor in the calculations.
"t was estimated that Iran was in real danger of falling behind the Iron Curtain; if that happened it would mean a victory for the Soviets in the Cold War and a major setback for the West in the Middle East," says coup planner Donald Wilber in one document written some months after the coup.
The documents show how the CIA prepared for the coup by placing anti-Mossadeq stories in both the Iranian and US media.
The US and UK intelligence agencies also bolstered pro-Shah forces and helped organise anti-Mossadeq protests.
"The Army very soon joined the pro-Shah movement and by noon that day it was clear that Tehran, as well as certain provincial areas, were controlled by pro-Shah street groups and Army units," Wilber wrote.
"The military coup... was carried out under CIA direction as an act of US foreign policy," says an excerpt of the document.
The coup strengthened Shan Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who was a close ally of the US. He had fled Iran following a power struggle with Mossadeq. He returned after the coup and left power in 1979, when he was overthrown in the Islamic revolution.
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