THE LAST SHAH — Part 3: The Crown and the Coup (1952–1953)

History Onion · Part 3 The Crown and the Coup · 2:59

To some, it was a foreign-backed coup. To others, an Iranian uprising against a prime minister they believed had gone too far. The truth is both. When Britain finally turned to Washington to remove Mohammad Mossadegh, Truman said no — he did not trust Britain's imperial motives. Then Eisenhower took office, and the Dulles brothers reframed the problem: not a British oil dispute, but a Cold War opening. The CIA approved Operation Ajax. On August 13, 1953, the Shah signed two decrees: Mossadegh out, General Zahedi in. Colonel Nassiri tried to deliver the dismissal at one in the morning. Mossadegh refused — and had Nassiri arrested. The Shah fled to Baghdad, then Rome. In Tehran, the first American plan failed. Langley ordered the operation aborted. Kim Roosevelt — the CIA officer on the ground — kept going. What followed was not only American. It was foreign-backed and deeply Iranian. British and American intelligence helped fund and organize networks that already wanted Mossadegh gone — royalists, clerics, military officers, bazaar factions, street strongmen. By August 19, tanks were moving. A tank shelled Mossadegh's house. He escaped over the back wall.