Iran, August 19, 1953 - Symbol of American interference
August 19, 1953 - Symbol of American interference against popular movements in Iran.
Twentieth-century Iran was fertile ground for numerous social movements aimed at purifying the country of colonialism and despotism. These two evils often went hand in hand: some despotic and incompetent shahs of the Qajar period, to manage daily affairs and quell crises caused by empty state coffers, formally guaranteed the economic influence of Great Britain, Russia, and other powers on the Iranian market through shameful agreements, pompously calling them "positive equilibrium."
Overall, however, the movement to reject colonialism and preserve independence had priority and urgency. Naturally, disagreements sometimes arose within society, among intellectuals, merchants, and the clergy, over which of the two evils to combat first—as evidenced by the Constitutional Revolution—though this movement achieved lasting successes in its fundamental principles.
The Rise of Reza Khan and the Pahlavi Dynasty
The British, particularly affected by the weakening and poor reputation of the Qajar shahs and the divisions in Iran that had increased insecurity, famine, and epidemics, gradually succeeded in imposing an Iranian-born military officer (Reza Khan Mirpanj) who worked in the Cossack Brigade as Iran's savior and reformer. He ultimately, from 1925, shaped the new Pahlavi period in Iran, which nevertheless remained a military monarchy and not a republic.
While implementing reforms aimed at urbanization, the import of European goods, and the modernization and industrialization of Iran, Reza Shah heavily strengthened the foundations of colonialism and despotism in the country, until during World War II he was forced to bow to the will of the Allies and the two great powers interested in interfering in Iran: Great Britain and the Soviet Union. This humiliation and his anti-popular record showed the British that his usefulness had expired.
Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and the Rise of Mossadegh
After him, his son Mohammad Reza continued the same policy, leaning more toward the West and absorbing liberal culture. However, he had to contend with the resurgence of various nationalist, left-wing, and religious movements. This movement culminated with the unification of religious and nationalist groups around the nationalization of Iran's oil industry, leading one of the movement's leaders, Mossadegh, to become prime minister and the global face of Iranian popular movements.
The initial goals—to prevent the British from plundering the South's oil (the expropriation of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, AIOC)—expanded into a broad nationalist and anti-colonial movement. The movement's scope included freedom of the press, elections, the development of associations, and the formation of political parties, fueling foreign powers' concerns about the spread of this model in the Middle East.
Operation Ajax: American and British interference
Mossadegh's leadership effectively reduced the Shah's power, interference, and influence. It was here that the new ally of Iranian despotism—the United States—joined forces with Great Britain, orchestrating a coup that for a decade undermined the basis of popular political movements in Iran.
America and Great Britain feared the rise of communist influence in Iran and the negative impact of oil nationalization on their economic interests. For this reason, the two Western powers decided to illegally overthrow Mossadegh's democratically elected government and restore the young Pahlavi to power. The United States and Great Britain then provided funding and logistical support to opposition groups, preparing intelligence and operational strategies for the coup.
According to CIA documents, the American agency played a central role in the operation known as "Operation Ajax," coordinated with British intelligence. This involvement included planning, organization, and coordination with internal forces opposed to Mossadegh (the democratic nationalist government) and the provision of intelligence for the execution of the coup against the Iranian popular will.
The Legacy of the Iranian Resistance
For the past two centuries, popular political movements in Iran have struggled to simultaneously reject colonialism and despotism, and the 1979 Revolution represents the turning point of this movement. Therefore, its main and "negative" slogan was independence and freedom: independence in the sense of rejecting and severing the arteries of dependence and tolerating no foreign sponsors for a nation that possesses the identity card of millennia of human civilization in the East; freedom in the sense of eradicating the structure and culture of despotism and arrogance, replacing them with law and morality.
Of course, the aggression and conspiracy against this movement and the people who are the true owners of Iran and the Islamic Revolution continues to this day. It is this resistance, awareness, and unity of Iranians in the face of specialists in war, coups, and genocide that has transformed them into a model for other nations—a resistance rooted in culture and identity, not in "-isms" or temporary and artificial political ideologies, nor in weapons of mass destruction.
Iranians' resistance against interference, war and coups is etched in their historical memory.