Iranian officials recall Washington’s role in the 1953 coup, vowing to resist a new one

Tabnak - 65 years ago today, the United States organized a coup in Iran to topple the popular and democratically elected administration of Mohammad Mossadegh. As Washington has recently started a new wave of pressures against Iran, high-ranking Iranian officials highlight the country’s determination not to allow another similar scenario to be realized.

In this vein, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif says the Iranian nation will never again allow Washington to launch a coup against their government and overthrow it with the help of London like the one orchestrated in August 1953.

“65 years ago today, the US overthrew the popularly elected democratic government of Dr. Mossadegh, restoring the dictatorship & subjugating Iranians for the next 25 years. Now an “Action Group” dreams of doing the same through pressure, misinformation & demagoguery. Never again,” Zarif said in a message posted on his Twitter account on Sunday.

Separately, Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani said the role of Washington and London governments in devising the 1953 Iranian coup d'état is a “manifestation” of their hypocrisy.

“One of the manifestations of hypocrisy in the history was the painful event of the 28 Mordad (August 19) coup d'état, which was precisely devised by the United States and Britain, which overthrew the national government of Mossadegh and put Iran under their dictatorial domination for several other decades,” Larijani said, addressing an open session of the parliament on Sunday.

“Today, this imperialist hypocrisy is seen again in another way in Iran’s nuclear case and its regional influence and defense power,” he said. “The Americans shamelessly speak of designing economic sanctions on Iran (under the pretext of) protecting the freedom, human rights, global and regional security,” Larijani added.

It’s worth mentioning that on June 15, 2017, the US State Department released a long-awaited volume of declassified US government documents on the 1953 coup in Iran.

The publication of the documents put an end to decades of internal debates and public controversy after a previous official collection omitted all references to the role of American and British spy agencies in the ouster of the legal government of Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh.

London had previously denied any role in the coup but the new evidence confirmed Britain’s involvement in it.

In August 1953, the British and American intelligence agencies initiated a coup by the Iranian military, setting off a series of events, including riots in the streets of the capital, Tehran, which led to the overthrow and arrest of Mossadegh. Mossadegh, who was convicted of treason by a court martial, served three years in solitary confinement and then died under house arrest in 1967.

His overthrow, which is still given as a reason for Iranians' mistrust of the UK and the US, consolidated the Shah's rule for the following 26 years until the victory of the Islamic Revolution in 1979, led by Imam Khomeini, which toppled the US-backed monarchy.

The Iranian premier had played a key role in the country’s 1951 movement that resulted in the nationalization of Iran’s oil industry, which had been mainly controlled by the British-owned Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (AIOC), now known as BP.

Experts say the 1953 coup, known as the 28 Mordad coup, was aimed at making sure the Iranian monarchy would safeguard the West's oil interests in the country.