Goldie Ghamari - Mossadegh vs The Shah of Iran： The 1953 CIA ＂Coup＂ debunked

00:00:00.160 what happened in 1953 in iran is often referred to by the western media as a military coup to

00:00:07.600 topple the democratically elected prime minister muhammad musaddiq and reinstate the shah of iran

00:00:14.720 hello this is persian history and today we are going to talk about the so-called 1953 coup d'etat

00:00:22.160 in iran as i already mentioned it has become conventional wisdom that in 1953 the united

00:00:29.200 states cia led a coup to overthrow the then prime minister of iran mossad for nationalizing the

00:00:36.880 british-owned oil industry in iran and that many of the u.s problem with the current iranian

00:00:43.520 government stem from this coup even former president barack obama spreads this lie hollywood

00:00:48.960 has also repeated it many times as demonstrated by the popular movie argo first technically there

00:00:56.240 was no coup by definition coup d'etat is a sudden violent and illegal seizure of power from a

00:01:03.760 government was this the case in iran absolutely not mosaddegh was the prime minister of iran and

00:01:09.840 as such under the constitution then in place he could legally be removed by the shah and the shah

00:01:16.320 did indeed dismiss mosaddegh in fact it was mosaddegh who staged a coup to seize power the

00:01:23.360 only unconstitutional behavior came from Mossadegh himself who refused to step down and ordered the

00:01:29.760 arrest of the officers who delivered the Shah's notice of his dismissal leading to a to the

00:01:35.360 creation of a military dictatorship under Mossadegh second the CIA was not the driving force behind

00:01:42.880 Mossadegh's removal on august 19. there is a rumor that one CIA agent in his biography allegedly took

00:01:48.880 credit for the protests that eventually led to mosaddegh's removal but declassified documents

00:01:54.560 from the cia demonstrate just the opposite during the crisis the cia station in tehran reported

00:02:00.400 the anti-mosaddegh protest contained a large element of spontaneity and there seemed to have

00:02:06.880 been a genuine reaction of shock and dismay on part of the tehran populace when the shah left

00:02:12.400 iran for iraq the cia station also admitted two days before mosaddegh's removal that the cia

00:02:18.720 cut out of military preparations by General Batman Gelich and Zahedi. In fact, the CIA was unaware

00:02:25.920 that Mossadegh was being removed at all, and they were very surprised that anti-Mossadegh forces

00:02:31.840 were taking control over Tehran. The CIA acting director Charles Cabell briefed President Eisenhower

00:02:38.400 that an unexpected strong upsurge of popular and military reaction to Prime Minister Mossadegh's

00:02:44.880 government has resulted, according to late dispatches from Tehran, in the virtual

00:02:49.860 upoccupation of that city by forces proclaiming their loyalty to the Shah and to his appointed

00:02:56.100 Prime Minister Zahedi. Third, not only was the CIA unaware that Mossadegh was being removed on

00:03:02.840 August 19th, but they expected Mossadegh to remain in power for the next two months. They

00:03:09.940 seized all activities against him and even considered working with him. Mossadegh's illegal

00:03:15.240 government was in fact overtone three days after the CIA's failed attempt on August 16. Wow, so if

00:03:22.280 one can speak of a coup at all, then Mossadegh's removal was a direct response to an anti-constitutional

00:03:29.100 coup staged by Mossadegh.

00:03:30.940 69 years ago on august 19 1953 the resurrection of the iranian nation took place while on one

00:03:42.420 hand Mossadegh supporters called that day the american destruction of iran's last chance to

00:03:48.660 become prosperous Mossadegh opponents however celebrate this day and call it the liberation

00:03:54.640 of iran from the tyranny of one of iran's wealthiest feudal landlords and reactionaries

00:04:00.220 Wait, feudal landlord? Reactionary? No way! Wasn't Mossadegh a progressive, self-made man who fought for freedom?

00:04:08.160 I'm sorry to disappoint you, but that is not true. 0.97

00:04:11.560 Mossadegh was a descendant of the Turkey Qajars who had occupied Iran and imposed their brutal dictatorship on the Iranian people for almost 200 years. 0.74

00:04:22.500 Owning huge estates through forged papers, Mossadegh was a wealthy landlord and eventually married a Qajar princess and was given the office of a provincial finance minister. 0.95

00:04:36.320 Within just 10 years, he became one of Iran's richest landowners, totally via his merit and not at all because of his relations and positions of power. 0.88

00:04:45.560 Mossadegh was anti-democratic and always sided with the tyrannical Qajar aristocracy. 0.63

00:04:54.180 He was an opponent of the democratic movement in Iran 1.00

00:04:58.260 and back then you could already see his unpatriotic behavior

00:05:02.540 when he sided with Muhammad Ali Shah Qajar to torpedo Iran back

00:05:07.380 from a parliamentary monarchy to an absolute monarchy.

00:05:11.000 Even after the restoration of the constitution in 1909,

00:05:14.920 Mosaddegh still defended the unpopular Hajar dynasty and during Reza Khan's seizure of power 0.97

00:05:22.420 he was rightly put in prison for treason. Ironically Mosaddegh was freed from jail by the young Shah of 0.97

00:05:28.800 Iran Muhammad Reza Pahlavi whom he later betrayed as well as we are going to see in this video.

00:05:35.460 Mosaddegh was not a man of progress. He had never realized how important it was to industrialize

00:05:42.540 Iran and longed back to the good old days when Western technology had not yet begun to change 0.74

00:05:48.520 the world. He was strongly opposed to the construction of railways and argued that

00:05:53.680 Iranians did not need railways, roads or ports. There was no need to travel. It would be much

00:05:59.900 more comfortable to stay at home. What do we expect from a man who receives state guests

00:06:05.020 in pyjamas in his bedroom? During his term as prime minister, Mossadegh exploited the oil

00:06:10.620 dispute with britain to slowly establish a dictatorship in iran mozadek violated the

00:06:18.720 constitution and dissolved the senate the kurds and the parliament after it expressed the will

00:06:25.200 to impeach him eventually he received his letter of dismissal by the shah but refused to resign

00:06:31.920 and launched a full-on military coup d'etat yeah what a democrat the shah seeing this left the

00:06:37.700 country to give the iranians the freedom to choose between mosaddegh and him the iranians chose him

00:06:44.000 as we are going to see in this video mosaddegh's increasing anti-constitutional authoritarianism

00:06:50.940 was initially tolerated by the iranians who saw it as a necessary evil to nationalize the oil

00:06:57.260 industry but when it became clear that mosaddegh wanted to overt show the parliamentary monarchy

00:07:04.360 the masses mobilized and occupied tehran declaring their loyalty to the shah and his

00:07:10.200 appointed prime minister zahedi and when mossadeh sent the army to restore order

00:07:14.680 the army sided with the people and the constitution

00:07:21.800 despite all the documents mentioned there is not the slightest hint of a massive cia

00:07:28.360 involvement in the overthrow of mossad on august 19th yet professional historical revisionists

00:07:35.480 well organized in universities and the media constantly stress the opposite the most prominent

00:07:41.640 of these historical revisionists being ervant abrahamian and malcolm burn first let's look at

00:07:48.840 mr abrahamian in his book coup d'etat abrahamian claims that the plans for the events of the 19th

00:07:56.760 of august were implemented after the meeting between u.s ambassador loy henderson and mossadek

00:08:02.200 on august 18th one day before the overthrow but if we check the cia reports on that specific day

00:08:10.600 we not only see that the cia had no plans or predictions for that day but that the united

00:08:17.720 states was even preparing for a compromise with mossadek let's look at this character for a moment

00:08:23.320 Abrahamian is not only a sympathizer of the Islamic Republic, justifying their rule as an inevitable response to American imperialism, but he is also a sympathizer of the past terrorist Tudor party in Iran.

00:08:39.480 In his interview with Fatibah Amini on August 18, 2020, he described the Tudor Party as follows.

00:08:46.980 The Tudor Party was actually a nationalist party with leftist tendencies.

00:08:52.580 A nationalist party.

00:08:54.760 Let this description melt in your mouth.

00:08:57.080 For everyone who does not know, the Tudor Party was a communist party founded by the USSR during the Soviet occupation of Iran in 1941.

00:09:05.280 They were one of the most active parties who continuously worked towards the overture of the Pahlavi dynasty

00:09:12.160 and with it the destruction of the Iranian state.

00:09:14.800 In 1944, the Tudor Party entered Iranian parliament where they supported the Soviet policies in Iran without protest.

00:09:22.760 The Tudor Party not only supported Moscow's plans to balkanize northern Iran,

00:09:27.880 but also held its fourth plenum in Moscow under the direct supervision of the Soviet Union.

00:09:33.660 Now, imagine someone who describes the treacherous Marxist-Leninist to the party as a nationalist party being an Iran expert, let alone being a credible historian.

00:09:44.640 Having ticked off Mr. Abrahamian, let's proceed to the other history forger, Malcolm Byrne.

00:09:49.480 Since 2013, various individuals and media outlets have repeatedly referenced a website and fake headline

00:09:57.340 that has nothing to do with the CIA to prove that the CIA acknowledged its role on August 19.

00:10:05.100 This website is linked to the Washington State University and has absolutely no ties to the CIA.

00:10:11.880 The fact that the CIA's official website has never admitted to playing a role in Mossadegh's overthrow

00:10:17.600 just proves that this headline is made up and backed by no evidence.

00:10:23.480 The so-called National Security Archive website is run by journalists

00:10:27.920 and masquerades as a government site.

00:10:30.620 The map you can see here was designed by Ali Rahnaman,

00:10:33.880 one of Mossadegh's admirers, 60 years after Mossadegh's removal.

00:10:37.900 It has been inserted into the release document so that the VO believes

00:10:41.880 that this was part of a pre-arranged CIA plan to attack Mossadegh's house.

00:10:47.040 The funniest thing about this article with the fake headline CIA Confession is the use of pictures with the watermark of the Institute for the Study of Contemporary History of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

00:11:02.560 I wonder how secret the CIA documents must be if even the Islamic Republic of Iran has access to them.

00:11:10.920 It is also interesting to note that in this article in which Malcolm Byrne claims to have published documents on the role of the CIA on August 19, his second document proves the opposite.

00:11:25.160 It states that the CIA admitted,

00:11:28.340 The nationalists and communists during this period inadvertently assisted our cause

00:11:33.120 through their premature attempts to promote a republican government.

00:11:37.080 This theme was contrary to the public's opinion, whose sympathies were with the Shah.

00:11:44.820 The Shah's dramatic flight out of the country served to further intensify his people's sense of loyalty to him.

00:11:51.020 This action resulted in literal revolt of the population.

00:11:56.200 To sum it up, Malcolm Byrne, who wrote this fake article, is not representative of the CIA and was never authorized to comment on their behalf.

00:12:09.240 The goal of the National Front, since its foundation by Mossadegh, was the overture of Iran's parliamentary monarchy

00:12:16.760 and the abolition of its constitution to establish a republic,

00:12:21.120 although not everyone within the National Front was subscribed to this.

00:12:24.840 One could say that Mossadegh's National Front was in fact the legal continuation of the Communist Tudor Party,

00:12:30.300 which had been declared illegal after a failed assassination attempt on the Shah of Iran.

00:12:34.260 While the National Front championed Mossadegh's authoritarianism in Parliament,

00:12:38.260 the Tudor Party organized violent demonstrations in the streets.

00:12:41.580 Both parties were working hand-in-hand to abolish Iran's constitutional monarchy.

00:12:46.760 Mossadegh was, contrary to circulating claims, not a democratically elected prime minister.

00:12:52.760 The Iranian constitution did not provide for free elections of the prime minister,

00:12:57.160 but for the Shah to appoint and remove the prime minister.

00:13:00.160 And when in 1952, the parliament refused to grant Mossadegh additional powers,

00:13:05.480 Mossadegh got enraged and immediately resigned.

00:13:08.280 So you didn't receive emergency powers and decided to throw a tantrum?

00:13:13.020 Very major.

00:13:13.700 Ahmad Qawam became the next prime minister but was met with massive protests from Mossadegh's supporters,

00:13:19.980 especially the Tudor party, demanding the resignation of Ahmad Qawam.

00:13:24.240 The Shah, to avoid a civil war, reinstated Mossadegh as prime minister

00:13:27.640 and the parliament was forced to accept Mossadegh's demands for further emergency powers,

00:13:32.880 which empowered him to rule the country by decree.

00:13:35.540 After the overthrow of Mossadegh's government,

00:13:37.960 subsequent interrogations of traitors proved that most of Mossadegh's followers

00:13:42.220 were today communists who wanted to use Mossadegh to overthrow the Pahlavi dynasty and then to take

00:13:48.920 control over Iran and establish a republic. It is said that they were already planning to proclaim

00:13:55.060 a republic on February 20, 1953, when they heard that the Shah had to go abroad on a medical trip

00:14:02.080 but failed since the Iranians, fearing Mossadegh would overthrow the monarchy in the Shah's absence,

00:14:07.860 organized demonstrations, demanding the Shah to stay. On that day, the Shah made the following

00:14:13.100 remarks. Despite the fact that my illness has been forcing me to travel abroad for a long time,

00:14:18.640 and despite the fact that I wanted to visit the Holy Shait in Iraq today and then travel to Europe

00:14:24.380 for treatment, I decided to cancel because I see that you demand my presence here. I have no choice 1.00

00:14:30.400 but to postpone my trip for the time being. Of course, like everyone else in this country,

00:14:34.920 I have a duty to fulfill and accept the demands of the people.

00:14:39.460 And if the people do not want me to travel and be treated, I will have to cancel this trip.

00:14:44.580 Contrary to what is reported by the leftist media, we don't see here the image of a cruel despot,

00:14:51.440 but the image of a dutiful king loved by his people.

00:14:55.180 The leftist media who likes to call the Shah of Iran a puppet of the West

00:14:58.820 should read the following CIA report on the Shah.

00:15:01.620 The Shah has vivacity, imagination and wit tempered with a deep sense of personal dignity and almost mystical feeling of his mission and duty to Iran.

00:15:12.300 The Shah identifies himself strongly with the Iranian army, considering himself a qualified strategist and tactician.

00:15:19.620 Devoting a great deal of his private fortune on charities, his popularity is now much greater than at his accession.

00:15:26.700 were he to make himself absolute dictator on the model of his father the iranian people would

00:15:32.460 acquiesce but his attachment to democratic principles prevents such a step these are the 0.98

00:15:38.140 cia's own words the cia would have to be very stupid to use such a patriotic man to exploit iran 0.91

00:15:45.820 what many do not realize the shah did not oppose mossadek nationalization of the oil industry 0.92

00:15:53.260 On the contrary, the Shah and Mossadegh were on the same page regarding this issue.

00:15:59.100 The problem, however, was that even though the Shah had given Mossadegh every opportunity to develop a constructive oil policy,

00:16:08.580 Mossadegh was unable to lead a constructive policy, sank into destructiveness, depression, and instead blamed the Shah for his failures. 1.00

00:16:17.720 What a jerk! Even his own party members had begun to criticize him. 1.00

00:16:22.080 Thereupon, Mossadegh made the parliament incurate by forbidding his supporters to participate.

00:16:28.940 Whoever resisted was beaten up by his gangs.

00:16:31.720 Due to the oil shortages and the resulting enormous economic problems caused by his populist economic policies,

00:16:39.720 Mossadegh had several million dollars worth of money printed without sufficient gold backing, which caused high inflation.

00:16:48.800 Does this sound familiar to you?

00:16:51.180 Mossadegh had moved closer to the Tudor party in his second term.

00:16:56.340 He was working closely with them and simultaneously infiltrated the imperial army with Tudor he communists.

00:17:03.940 By mid-1953, however, the Iranians had realized that the goal of Mossadegh's oil policy

00:17:10.940 was to drive the British out of the country so that the Soviets could move in.

00:17:16.340 and so the unity between the Shah Mossadegh and the Parliament that had prevailed at the beginning

00:17:22.580 of the confrontations with the British was now broken. Yes the Americans wanted to overthrow

00:17:32.240 Mossadegh and they did try but the point is that they failed miserably and then tried to mend

00:17:38.900 relations with him as we will see. Eventually the Iranians did the job on their own. The name 0.99

00:17:43.880 operation ajax that has gone down in history was actually tp ajax tp for the communists to the

00:17:49.880 party and ajax for the cleaner ajax although mosaddegh was not a communist himself he often

00:17:55.800 enlisted their support the communists in iran were the main source of mosaddegh's power

00:18:00.200 and the americans feared a communist takeover if mosaddegh would remain in power both the tutor

00:18:05.880 party as well as mosaddegh hated the pahlavi dynasty cooperation with the tutor party suited

00:18:12.280 Mossadegh well, who had a personal vendetta with the Pahlavi dynasty for deposing the previous

00:18:17.640 Qajar dynasty to whom he was related to. Furthermore, for the Tudor party, Mossadegh's

00:18:22.600 nationalization of the oil industry was an important step towards a socialist Iran.

00:18:27.980 On June 10, 1953, the Soviet Union in Iran signed a new economic agreement. In further

00:18:33.440 negotiations, the Soviet Union offered to return Iranian gold reserves. It had ceased during World

00:18:39.200 war ii border issues were to be settled in iran's favor and the soviet iranian friendship treaty of

00:18:44.780 1921 was to be renegotiated this of course worried the americans were expected a communist takeover

00:18:52.920 if mosaddegh was not to be stopped after all the two-day party was very well organized in iran

00:18:59.880 and had built a secret network of middlemen in politics the army and even the shah's imperial

00:19:06.480 guard. In fact, the very same scenario took place in Czechoslovakia not too long ago.

00:19:13.180 Anatoly Lavrentiev, the man who was the Soviet ambassador to Iran, had also been the Soviet

00:19:19.040 ambassador to Czechoslovakia in 1948 and he had played an important role in the overthrow of the

00:19:25.200 liberal president Dr. Benesh. Benesh, like Mossadegh, had been the head of a national front

00:19:31.000 government. He had come under increasing Soviet pressure so that at the end of his reign, the

00:19:36.400 non-communist members of his government resigned and the communists took power. During his three

00:19:41.780 years in office, Mossadegh had not managed to reach an agreement with the British on the

00:19:46.580 nationalization of their oil refineries. The Americans who up to then had only played a

00:19:52.600 mediating role between Britain and Iran and were giving large amounts of loans to Mossadegh

00:19:58.400 were now facing a dilemma.

00:20:00.780 On the one hand, the US did not want to finance Mossadegh's insane policies.

00:20:06.000 But on the other hand, they had to finance Mossadegh's regime 0.53

00:20:09.000 so that Iran would not further drive into the hands of the communists.

00:20:12.520 To solve this issue, the United States decided to support the anti-Mossadegh coalition in Iran,

00:20:17.580 who had formed because of Mossadegh's ever-increasing despotic rule and disastrous economic policies. 0.60

00:20:23.420 The solution was finally Operation TP-Ajax.

00:20:26.340 The plan was to create a pro-Western government and at the same time to prevent the Tudor Party, which was under the control of the Soviet Union, from coming to power.

00:20:35.100 And thus, the United States sent CIA agent Kermit Roosevelt to meet with resistance leader General Zahedi, a man who owned large estates and was considered a strict anti-communist.

00:20:46.000 Zahedi was a man who had initially supported Mossadegh's national front, but had fallen out with Mossadegh because, unlike Mossadegh, he was against a cooperation with the communists.

00:20:57.320 After his breakup with Mossadegh, Zahedi became a member of the Committee of the Salvation of the Fatherland, Komitee Nejate Vatan, also called Committee of 46,

00:21:06.500 a resistant movement among Iranian officers and civilians who wanted to restore the constitutional monarchy and save Iran from a communist takeover.

00:21:14.440 General Zahedi was a patriotic Iranian, very anti-British, who was in fact interned by the

00:21:21.460 British after their troops occupied Iran during World War II. The objective of Operation TP-Ajax

00:21:28.080 was to prevent Iran from falling behind the Iron Curtain and to stop the Tudor Party from taking

00:21:32.960 power over Iran. TP-Ajax was supposed to be a quasi-legal coup, that is, the Americans would

00:21:38.120 bribe 20 parliament members so they would join the rest of the anti-mossetic opposition in

00:21:42.840 parliament and dismiss him. Simultaneously, the Shah would appoint Zahedi as chief of staff,

00:21:48.120 then parliament would give a word of confidence to him so that the Shah appoints Zahedi as the

00:21:52.540 new prime minister. And if parliament refuses to cooperate, the Shah should order the imperial

00:21:57.080 guard to remove Mossadegh by force and then Zahedi would emerge victorious and accept the decree of

00:22:02.100 prime minister. TPHX was supposed to be carried out on August 16th, three days before Mossadegh's

00:22:07.880 actual removal by the Iranian people but failed because Mossadegh who had heard about the plan

00:22:13.760 to dismiss him as prime minister launched a full-on military coup d'etat. TPHX however also

00:22:21.080 failed to a large extent because the Shah refused to cooperate with the CIA. The Shah rejected all

00:22:29.280 the plans and no part of the plan could get operationalized. The Shah argued that he would

00:22:35.420 dismiss Mossadegh only if he did something illegal and that he would never go against the constitution

00:22:41.240 he had sworn to keep. Mossadegh on the other hand violated the constitution on August 13th 1953 by

00:22:48.580 dissolving the parliament through a silly show he called a referendum. Mossadegh's so-called

00:22:54.680 referendum to abolish the parliament was held between August 3rd and August 10th. Mossadegh

00:23:00.060 the great democrat for free elections ordered that those who were against him had to vote in

00:23:06.660 specially marked polling booths the result was that 99 percent had voted for the dissolution 0.72

00:23:12.580 of the parliament because the population was afraid of Mossadegh's terror squads who systematically

00:23:18.120 murdered those who voted against Mossadegh it must also be said that many voters were basically

00:23:25.260 illiterate peasants who didn't know what they were even voting for and therefore had no vote of their

00:23:30.940 own thus musadak's referendum looked more like this general aladdin won 98.8 percent of the vote 0.82

00:23:39.820 just to give you an idea how ridiculous this referendum was in some towns where the population

00:23:45.900 was around 3 000 there was a turnout of 600 percent had the dead also worked here the

00:23:53.020 The Shah, who condemned Tehdi's rig referendum, wrote in his memoirs,

00:23:56.540 Mossadegh's bulldoze elections had cost hundreds of people their lives.

00:24:00.260 Mossadegh wanted to make himself the absolute dictator

00:24:03.140 and had nothing else in his mind but to overthrow me and my dynasty.

00:24:07.340 Accordingly, the Shah instructed Colonel Naseri, commander of the Imperial Guard,

00:24:11.740 to bring Mossadegh the certificate of impeachment

00:24:14.540 and General Zahidi the order to form a new government. 0.53

00:24:17.940 With the dissolution of parliament, Mossadegh had given the Shah

00:24:21.340 the right to remove him and replace him with another prime minister.

00:24:25.400 According to the constitution, the Shah had the right to dismiss the prime minister

00:24:29.040 after the dissolution of parliament and to replace him with an interim prime minister

00:24:33.760 until new parliamentary elections were held.

00:24:35.920 So much for the Shah being an unconstitutional dictator. 0.61

00:24:39.000 Ergo, the Shah made it clear to the CIA that he would only remove Mossadegh legally, which he did. 0.65

00:24:44.840 Therefore, the CIA did not play a significant role in the legal removal of the illegal government of the unelected dictator Mossadegh.

00:24:54.360 In the verbal report, we also see that even though the United States and Britain repeatedly threaten the Shah that if he does not cooperate with them, they will end his reign,

00:25:05.240 The Shah categorically rejects all offers and says that if Mossadegh holds a referendum to resolve the parliament, I will dismiss Mossadegh legally.

00:25:16.600 In a meeting with U.S. Ambassador in May 1953, the Shah states emphatically that first, if Zahedi is to become prime minister, it must be through legal means, no coup.

00:25:28.380 Secondly, if the new government does not receive financial and economic assistance caused by Mossadegh's disastrous policies,

00:25:37.100 I would prefer Mossadegh to remain prime minister.

00:25:40.040 What we see in these documents about the events that led to August 19 is the sincerity from the Shah,

00:25:47.300 who, despite all the threats of the great powers in his youth with dignity and courage,

00:25:54.240 even at the cost of threatening his kingship and his life

00:25:58.680 does not undertake illegal action

00:26:02.080 and respects the law and acts only where the constitution authorizes him.

00:26:08.060 After TP Ajax failed, the US government decided to improve relations with Mossadegh

00:26:12.280 and the CIA orders Roosevelt to take no further actions.

00:26:16.280 At this point, the Americans thought that Mossadegh was going to remain in power for about two months

00:26:21.460 until the communists would oust him.

00:26:24.200 And therefore, not only did the CIA cease activities against Mossadegh,

00:26:28.640 but they even decided to support him following their failed plan to remove him.

00:26:36.040 With the appointment of General Zahedi as the new prime minister on August 13th,

00:26:41.120 Mossadegh was officially deposed and had to resign.

00:26:44.060 However, he refused and launched a military coup on August 16th,

00:26:48.140 marking the beginning of his three-day dictatorship.

00:26:50.680 A year prior, on October 23, 1952, Mossadegh had dissolved the Senate.

00:26:56.320 That was an important step because the Senate was responsible for reviewing and approving laws.

00:27:01.680 And on August 3, 1953, Mossadegh was given the authority to take over the judicial and executive branches,

00:27:08.420 just as today these three branches in Iran are under the direct supervision of the supreme leader of the Islamic Republic.

00:27:16.040 Mossadegh abolished the separation and independence of the three powers,

00:27:19.840 enabling the National Front to eliminate any other alternative in Iran to its rule, 0.66

00:27:24.460 except, of course, the Communist Studio Party.

00:27:27.040 Mossadegh wanted to turn Iran into a Soviet-style republic.

00:27:30.340 His goal was to replace the parliamentary monarchy in Iran with a republic and assume its presidency.

00:27:35.300 In Egypt, for example, a republic had already been proclaimed on June 18, 1953,

00:27:40.580 after King Farouk had been deposed through a coup d'etat by his own prime minister.

00:27:44.800 Fearing a similar fate for Iran, most members of parliament turned against Mossadegh, including his closest allies.

00:27:52.120 On August 13, 1953, Mossadegh, in collaboration with General Tahririyahi, drew up a detailed plan to overthrow the monarchy.

00:28:00.020 Instead of accepting his dismissal order, Mossadegh should first declare that the army had revolted against him.

00:28:05.460 Second, Mossadegh should order the arrest of senior officers of the army.

00:28:09.720 Third, the imperial guard should be eliminated and the Shah should be put under house arrest.

00:28:14.120 and then large demonstrations should be organized in tehran and the speakers of the national front

00:28:19.020 the pan-iranists and the two the party should inform the people about the abolition of the

00:28:23.620 monarchy and the establishment of a republic in iran at one o'clock in the morning on august

00:28:28.440 16th 1953 the shah's decree which had removed masadegh from the post of prime minister was

00:28:34.160 delivered to his house by colonel naseri and masadegh was notified but masadegh sent naseri

00:28:40.580 to the army headquarters where he was to be arrested.

00:28:43.660 Mossadegh, now a dismissed prime minister, accused the army of making a coup

00:28:48.080 and thereupon ordered General Riyahi to arrest the accompanying officers of Colonel Nasseri.

00:28:54.180 The Shah was called a dictator and General Riyahi was ordered to disband the Imperial Guard,

00:28:59.180 arresting their officers and sending them to West Tehran to be dispersed among their brigades and divisions.

00:29:04.280 Mossadegh also ordered the arrest and imprisonment of many high-ranking government

00:29:09.340 and military officials without a warrant and so the decree of Mossadegh's dismissal became the

00:29:15.460 basis of the leftist propaganda from that moment until today. Now imagine Mossadegh whose request

00:29:21.900 of emergency powers were not accepted by the parliament but was appointed prime minister

00:29:27.240 nonetheless by the Shah is being portrayed as the only democratically elected prime minister

00:29:33.400 iran ever had while the shah who always adhered to the constitution is constantly called a brutal 0.52

00:29:40.760 dictator by the leftist media how crazy is that yes mossad who established an absolute dictatorship

00:29:50.200 in iran is advertised by the leftist media to the entire world as a model for the struggle

00:29:56.680 for democracy a man who built iran's first secret police as well as many prisons to detain his

00:30:03.240 political opponents has been branded by the leftist media as a fighter for political freedom.

00:30:08.700 On August 16th, several army officers were arrested and a bounty of 100,000 rials was

00:30:14.900 set on the head of the Shah's appointed prime minister, General Zahedi, which was a lot of

00:30:20.140 money back then in Iran. Adjusting inflation, with this sum you could have bought a 71 Mercedes in

00:30:26.060 1972. Mossadegh's first decision as dictator of Iran was to take command of the army, something

00:30:32.700 that only the Shah was authorized to do under the constitution. Again, very democratic. At 6am on

00:30:39.800 August 16, Mossadegh called the first cabinet of the so-called Mossadegh government to a meeting at

00:30:45.960 his home to decide what this government would be like. A radio statement was broadcasted at 7am

00:30:51.600 which stated that Mossadegh had assumed all the duties that were designated for the Shah in the

00:30:57.420 constitution and declared that the constitution was invalid and ordered the removal of the name

00:31:03.240 shah throughout iran to legitimize his illegal government at seven o'clock in the morning

00:31:09.280 mossadeh ordered bashir farah mand the head of the general directorate of propaganda to read

00:31:15.560 the government announcement twice that the coup had taken place by the army at one o'clock in the

00:31:20.600 morning and on august 16th but that the coup was foiled at four o'clock in the morning then mossadeh

00:31:26.420 ordered the seizure of the imperial palaces and then to arrest the Shah.

00:31:30.520 What Mossadegh, however, did not suspect was that the Shah, who was outside Tehran, had left the country.

00:31:36.140 The Shah, seeing Mossadegh refusing to step down and seeing him systematically arresting political opponents,

00:31:42.280 immediately realized Mossadegh was doing a coup d'etat and decided to leave Iran in the early morning of August 16.

00:31:48.620 In a statement, he declared that since he has sworn an oath to be the guardian of the constitution and of the law,

00:31:54.340 And since he has noticed Mossadegh violating the constitution and that he wants to seize total power for himself, he decided to dismiss him.

00:32:04.680 And seeing Mossadegh disobeying his orders, he decided to leave Iran temporarily to avoid a civil war and unnecessary bloodshed.

00:32:11.760 I ask you, are these really the actions of a power-hungry dictator?

00:32:17.860 Would a tyrant voluntarily leave the country to give the people the choice to freely decide who they want to follow?

00:32:24.380 To arrest the Shah, Foreign Minister Hossein Fatemi sent a telegram to the Iranian ambassador in Baghdad.

00:32:30.500 Embassy contact with those who fled the morning after the failed military coup without informing the government is not permitted in any way.

00:32:37.460 At the Mossadegh government's cabinet meeting, it was decided that on the evening of August 16th,

00:32:42.900 demonstrations by the Tudor Party, the National Front, the Iran Party, the Third Force,

00:32:48.020 and the Pan-Iranists would take place in Bahriristan Square.

00:32:51.160 They would announce the establishment of the so-called new government of Mossadegh

00:32:54.820 and with it the abolition of the parliamentary monarchy.

00:32:57.820 And so, an hour after noon, the Tudor Party, the National Front, and the Pan-Iranists

00:33:02.920 marched through the streets of Tehran towards Bajoristan Square with red flags and hammers,

00:33:08.440 chanting communist slogans to declare the establishment of a socialist republic under Mossadegh.

00:33:13.400 The people of the capital trembled with fear and saw with their own eyes that the Soviet Union was literally seizing power in Iran.

00:33:21.820 In the meantime, the Shah arrived in Baghdad airport and was well received by the Iraqi authorities,

00:33:26.940 acknowledging him as Iran's head of state, despite Hossein Fatemi's propaganda.

00:33:31.700 The Shah's departure, however, encouraged the communists to the party to stage demonstrations in Tehran,

00:33:37.740 chanting the slogan, the Democratic Republic shall rise.

00:33:41.640 During these pro-Mosedaq demonstrations, communist gangs, along with thugs and rioters, 0.91

00:33:46.640 dispersed in the streets of Tehran and attacked people with stones and sticks, while looting shops and stores.

00:33:53.260 And so the people's fear and concerns about the Soviet-backed Tudorhi militants dominating the affairs of the country was growing.

00:34:00.180 In Baghdad, the Shah told the Speaker of the Iraqi Parliament that he hopes to return to Iran soon and that he has appointed General Zahidi as Prime Minister because Mossadegh was abusing his authority and that General Zahidi did not stage a coup but that he merely informed Mossadegh of my order for his dismissal.

00:34:19.260 The socialist forces of Mossadegh now had gathered at Baharistan Square and as tapes of the demonstrations show, Fatemi declared the abolition of the monarchy and announced the establishment of the People's Democratic Republic.

00:34:31.120 We do not want a king, all the speakers said with the utmost ruthlessness and impudence, followed by a handful of traitors and ignorant people shouting, complete the task of the country.

00:34:42.280 The demonstrations began with a speech by Jalalim Mousavi, a former member of the parliament. 0.53

00:34:46.680 then Hussein Fatemi came behind the microphone and gave a speech as the tapes show which were

00:34:52.060 later broadcasted in the trial of Mossadegh and General Riahi Fatemi called the end of Iran's

00:34:57.620 constitution and its parliamentary monarchy and declared the establishment of the Democratic

00:35:02.040 Republic of Iran and at the same time Mossadegh's followers tore down the statue of Reza Shah in

00:35:08.880 Bahorestan Square with a crane and then dragged down the remaining statues of the Pahlavi kings

00:35:14.480 in Tehran. Mossadegh personally ordered his followers to tear down the statues. This was

00:35:20.420 Mossadegh's message to the Iranian nation that there was no place for a Shah in his so-called 0.55

00:35:25.800 Mossadegh government. You must realize that most things that happened on the orders of Mossadegh 0.52

00:35:31.360 in this three-day period from August 16 to August 19 were not spontaneous decisions but they were

00:35:38.320 Rather, based on a detailed plan, as Mossadegh and his accomplices confessed later in Kurd.

00:35:44.860 Abdul Qasem Amini, the guardsman of the royal Kurd, was Mossadegh's cousin and simultaneously his spy,

00:35:51.020 and he had informed Mossadegh in advance of the Shah's decision to dismiss him,

00:35:56.420 therefore not making Mossadegh's violent seizure of power a mere reaction towards some attempted coup by the imperial guard,

00:36:03.660 but a carefully planned betrayal.

00:36:05.700 To U.S. Ambassador Henderson, Mossadegh even told that while he doubted the authenticity of the royal decree dismissing him, it would not have mattered to him anyway, since he did not care about the Shah's opinion, which implies that Mossadegh was going to make a coup regardless of his legal dismissal.

00:36:24.400 Mossadegh, however, had misjudged the situation.

00:36:27.760 The people were not at all enthusiastic about the parade.

00:36:31.340 They did not cheer the Marxist socialist takeover, but were horrified.

00:36:35.820 When they saw Mossadegh's communist supporters tearing down the statues of their king

00:36:40.240 and defacing the statues of the father of the Iranian nation, Raisa Shah,

00:36:44.620 they knew full well what Mossadegh was intended to achieve.

00:36:48.140 And so, on August 19th, 1953, at 6 a.m., people took to their streets.

00:36:54.400 and the uprising of the Iranians against Mossadegh's government began.

00:37:01.600 It is ironic that the very idea to establish a republic in Iran was first considered by

00:37:07.840 then Prime Minister and later King Reza Pahlavi. But the parliament and the Iranian people opposed

00:37:13.920 this idea, arguing that Iran needs a Shah and that this is the culture and tradition of Iran.

00:37:19.840 and this attitude did not change with mosaddegh the iranians loving their king opposed mosaddegh

00:37:28.000 and when mosaddegh called the army to restore order the army instead ousted him mosaddegh supporters

00:37:34.640 often claimed that thousands of iranians were bribed by foreigners to demonstrate against

00:37:39.680 mosaddegh but when we look at eyewitness accounts we quickly find out the opposite

00:37:45.920 sha'ban ja'fari often known as sha'ban the brainless was an infamous street thug in tehran

00:37:53.120 during the national uprising against masada he was often regarded as a leader of street fights

00:37:57.920 for the shah in an interview he stated that he did not receive any bribes but that he had

00:38:04.320 revolted against masada because he loved the shah as we can see in this interview

00:38:15.920 and so from six o'clock in the morning of august 19 groups of people took to the streets and the

00:38:40.800 uprising of the people in the capital against the mossadach government began all straighter of the

00:38:46.480 population participated in the uprising workers artisans peasants students but also soldiers and

00:38:52.960 policemen the imperial guard and women in a fever of patriotism people occupied the radio station

00:38:59.600 and then took strategically important centers and government offices one government institution

00:39:06.080 after another was taken over by the people and when the radio office was occupied by the people

00:39:11.520 the victory of the people was announced by playing the royal anthem and the voices of

00:39:16.120 mirash rafi and pera step the people's representatives in the parliament were heard

00:39:21.220 on the radio the message was clear the representatives of the iranian people

00:39:26.060 were behind the shah and the legal prime minister zahidi mosaddegh's interior minister dr sadi

00:39:32.780 went to Mossadegh's house on Wednesday morning, August 19th, at about 7 a.m. Mossadegh told

00:39:38.740 Sadiri that since the Shah had left the country, a royal council should be formed through a

00:39:43.540 plebiscite. Sadiri replied, relayed this to the ministers who informed him that people in

00:39:50.240 Separske were shouting slogans such as Long live the Shah, Death to the Tudor Party and

00:39:56.220 save the monarchy, demanding the Shah to return.

00:40:01.140 General Riyahi told Sadiri by telephone that Mossadegh had expressed a desire to hand over

00:40:06.160 the post of police chief and milchi governor to his nephew and son-in-law, General Muhammad

00:40:11.420 Daftari, for fear that the police forces would join the people.

00:40:16.440 Sadiri was again informed that hundreds of people were demonstrating against Mossadegh

00:40:20.800 and his government in several places in the city with the participation of officers and soldiers.

00:40:28.040 The entire nation had revolted against Mossadegh and they were shouting,

00:40:31.820 Long live the Shah!

00:40:33.140 When asked by the Minister of Interior why they did not stop the demonstrators,

00:40:38.020 Sadiri replied that the authorities could no longer trust their own soldiers.

00:40:42.440 The mayor of Tehran, Dr. Sayyid Mohsen Nasr, told the Minister of Interior

00:40:48.120 that the people had attacked the city administration and that the soldiers were doing nothing.

00:40:54.320 Some people also attacked the prisons built on Mossadegh's orders.

00:40:57.580 Several were killed, but the innocent people who had been imprisoned by Mossadegh were freed.

00:41:02.460 Ironically, the house of the popularly loved Mossadegh, which was also the seat of his government,

00:41:08.300 was a military fortress constantly guarded by tanks.

00:41:11.600 During the uprising, his house was continuously attacked by the people.

00:41:16.140 Even though Mossadegh got shot at demonstrators without hesitation, killing several civilians.

00:41:22.780 Not so much loved by the people, I guess.

00:41:25.520 When Saderi arrived at Mossadegh's house around 3 p.m., he found other members of the Mossadegh government.

00:41:31.240 Foreign Minister Fatemi was also there, who said that the most important thing was to maintain the radio station.

00:41:37.920 However, Saderi countered that this was not easy, because the army and police had joined the people.

00:41:44.880 Mossadegh was very upset when he heard that the people had taken control of the radio station

00:41:49.720 and that the imperial anthem was played on radio.

00:41:52.400 So the people do not appreciate your attempt to turn Iran into a proletariat dictatorship?

00:41:57.040 Oh gee, what a shame!

00:41:58.580 Then General Riyahi informed everyone in Mossadegh's house

00:42:01.760 that the people have taken the main places of the city and occupied the radio center.

00:42:06.500 It is good that you give the order to put down the resistance.

00:42:09.500 Colonel Ezzatollah Mumtaz, the commander of the mountain brigades in charge of guarding and defending Mossadegh's house,

00:42:15.940 entered and told Mossadegh that the opposition was growing stronger and that they would win.

00:42:20.760 At 6.40pm, Colonel Mumtaz came in again and said the two Sherman tanks,

00:42:26.140 which are stronger than our tanks in front of the police station on Pahlavi Street, have been seized by the opposition.

00:42:32.000 Continuous gunfire had now been heard for an hour between the Mossadegh troops and the opposition forces.

00:42:37.260 After a few minutes, Brigadier General Fulat Van came in and said

00:42:41.240 In the present situation, continuing the shelling of the opposition forces is futile

00:42:45.460 and causes many civilian casualties and is therefore dangerous to your lives, gentlemen.

00:42:49.880 Give the order to surrender.

00:42:51.320 Mossadegh replies, no, I will stay here no matter what.

00:42:55.140 Fulat Van then said, what have I done?

00:42:57.280 I wish I had not accepted this role and again demanded Mossadegh to surrender.

00:43:02.360 Eventually, even Mossadegh's closest allies turned their backs on him

00:43:06.400 and Razavi, Shoygon, and Zirkzadeh issued a statement saying

00:43:11.260 Dr. Mossadegh considers himself the rightful prime minister

00:43:14.700 even though the forces of law and order disobey him

00:43:17.740 and refused to continue defending his house.

00:43:20.300 But the shooting continued anyway

00:43:21.980 and Mossadegh's guards killed 41 people and wounded 75 others.

00:43:27.400 Who is the bloodthirsty dictator now? 0.88

00:43:30.000 The Shah who leaves the country to avoid a civil war

00:43:32.600 or Mossadegh who shoots at his own people to secure his power?

00:43:36.400 After the uprising of the people of Tehran, other residents joined the uprising and so the residents of the cities of Rasht, Esfahan, Kermanshah, Shiraz, Ahwaz also declared their loyalty to the monarchy and their willingness to martyr them.

00:43:52.080 After 12 hours of bloody clashes between the people in Tehran and the Mossadegh government, all ministries and government offices, military centers and barracks finally fell into the hands of the people and Mossadegh's home was finally stormed.

00:44:06.040 Mossadegh, who had not accepted the people's resistance,

00:44:10.040 jumped from the wall of his house into a neighbor's house and fled,

00:44:13.620 but was arrested and imprisoned after spending several days in hiding.

00:44:17.480 Very fit for a person who seems to be sick and keeps fainting in front of the camera, isn't it?

00:44:36.040 Forget about it, and I bought my father and my father, to present the 0.82

00:45:00.760 man was deaf and alone, I had someone because it left me without saying anything 0.99

00:45:08.440 another time we have collected a piece of just about you, Pallomen in that place 0.97

00:45:13.960 M unlike the остр, he said that you cannot cover your quality

00:45:18.480 Pallomen in aquilo, just give your generalosure, your sore shoulder, is five times

00:45:23.880 housework

00:45:25.960 just the rest of your head

00:45:28.440 dirt

00:45:30.360 Yes, the national resistance against Mossadegh was a popular uprising and the CIA was not

00:45:44.200 aware that something like that was taking place. However, CIA agent Kermit Roosevelt also played

00:45:50.360 a role in this popular uprising but was in fact disobeying orders as he was instructed to leave

00:45:57.000 after the failed coup attempt on August 16th and thus was acting on his own initiative.

00:46:03.000 Having said that, Roosevelt merely played a minor role giving some help to organize the army.

00:46:09.000 Roosevelt had absolutely no support from the U.S. government and was disregarding the chain of command.

00:46:15.000 He would have been probably executed by the U.S. government for treason if the attempt had failed.

00:46:21.000 failed. 0.64

00:46:25.420 To popular cheers, the Shah returned from his Iraqi exile and ordered the convening of a 0.97

00:46:30.820 Khurd to try Mossadegh for treason. 0.84

00:46:33.500 The prosecutor requested the execution of Mossadegh for treason and undermining the constitution.

00:46:39.120 Mossadegh was charged by the military prosecution to overthrow the imperial constitutional government

00:46:44.280 with the following charges.

00:46:46.520 So Mossadegh was found guilty in all 13 cases.

00:46:50.580 He was sentenced to only three years of house arrest.

00:46:54.280 This was because the Shah had told the court that Mossadegh should not be charged for his

00:47:00.040 offenses against in person. 1.00

00:47:02.400 Evil Shah my ass. 0.99

00:47:04.000 This is now the second time that the Shah has saved the life of Mossadegh who had been 0.99

00:47:08.520 accused of treason yet again. 0.77

00:47:14.220 To sum it up, on the one hand we had the supporters of Mossadegh who wanted to overthrow the monarchy

00:47:19.600 and establish a socialist republic.

00:47:21.720 And on the other hand we had the Iranian people standing behind the Shah's constitutionally

00:47:25.820 appointed Prime Minister Zahedi who wanted to preserve their parliamentary monarchy.

00:47:31.280 And therefore the people overthrew Mossadegh's government.

00:47:34.400 As simple as that.

00:47:36.820 No massive CIA involvement, no crew.

00:47:39.720 So anyone, including almost all scientists in this field, who claim that the removal 0.95

00:47:45.360 of Mossadegh was the result of Operation TP Ajax, must know that their claim is unequivocally

00:47:52.800 unsubstantiated.

00:47:54.600 I hereby take my leave. 0.98

00:47:56.560 This was the Persian history.

00:47:58.740 I hope you enjoyed it.

00:48:00.000 If yes, share this video and leave a like.

00:48:02.280 Thanks for watching.

00:48:03.280 Until next time.

00:48:04.620 And finally, I want to end this video with a speech of thanks from the Shah addressed

00:48:09.200 to the Iranian people.

00:48:39.200 Thank you very much.

00:49:09.200 Thank you very much.

00:49:39.200 Thank you.

Goldie Ghamari - November 03, 2025

Mossadegh vs The Shah of Iran： The 1953 CIA ＂Coup＂ debunked

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