Most people think the fight between the US and Iran started with the hostage crisis in 1979. They are wrong. You have to go back further, to 1953. That is the year the CIA organized a coup that overthrew Iran’s democratically elected prime minister, Mohammad Mossadegh.
What was Mossadegh’s crime? He nationalized Iran’s oil industry. For decades, the British had controlled Iranian oil through their own company, making huge profits while Iranians saw very little of that wealth. Mossadegh wanted to change that. He wanted the oil money to stay in Iran to fight poverty and improve the country.
The West panicked. The Cold War was raging, and America feared that if Mossadegh wasn’t stopped, Iran might fall to the Soviets. So President Eisenhower gave the green light for a secret mission. The CIA bribed politicians, funded mobs to stage violent protests, and spread propaganda to make it look like Mossadegh was a communist threat.
The coup worked. They ousted Mossadegh and brought back the Shah, who was more than happy to do what the West wanted. The Shah reversed the oil nationalization and gave control back to American and British companies.
For the average Iranian, this wasn’t just a political change. It was a humiliation. They saw their first real experiment with democracy crushed by foreign powers simply because they wanted to control their own resources. The Shah they installed ruled with an iron fist for the next 26 years, using his brutal secret police to crush any dissent.
America thought it had secured its oil interests and a strong ally. In reality, it planted a seed of hatred that would grow for decades. The 1953 coup broke the trust between the two nations forever. Every time Iranians protest America today, the memory of 1953 is in the background. They remember that America didn’t want them to be free.
