Peter Cox’s Blog

To a fascinating evening with Professor Roger Louis of the University of Texas at Austin to hear a gripping account of the MI6/CIA coup against Mohammed Mosaddeq, the last democratically elected prime minister of Iran.  I knew little of this era’s history – as evidently do those in high places today who plot and manoeuvre in much the same way as their forebears did then – but the parallels are all too obvious.

Particularly interesting was the key role of MI6 prior to the coup itself: something largely omitted from the British records of the period.  We seem to have done most of the preparatory spade work; bribing (massively) all the right people, buying influence in the parliament, the army, the media and mob leaders; doing all that could be done to give the weak and ineffectual Shah some backbone for the fight.  On this latter point, both the British and Americans were united in their disdain: finally prevailing on the Shah’s sister (some cash and a mink coat did the trick) to talk some spine into him.  It only partially worked; he still fled the country in fear for his life at the first setback.  And, like all weak and fearful autocrats, his regime later became oppressive and tyrannical against his own people.

Another starting revelation (at least, to me) was the contrast between the Iranian populace’s attitude towards the British and Americans.  The Brits had long been distrusted, for their meddling and oil-based imperialism.  The Americas, by contrast, were generally held in some esteem – before the coup.  Of course, all that changed after August 16, 1953. 

Widely considered a strategic masterstroke at the time, now – half a century later -  we can see what a catastrophic piece of adventurism it really was, laying the seeds for all the troubles we have today.  I wonder if either government have ever thought about apologising?

The evening was all the more poignant for the presence of Mosaddeq’s grand-child, and indeed the Shah’s last ambassador to London, both of whom spoke well and movingly.