General Discussion

In the photo below, Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh is carried on the shoulders of supporters after announcing plans to nationalize Iran's oil fields. This really, really ticked off the Western powers -- the former owners of all that oil, including the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (now British Petroleum) and their swell friends on Wall Street, who worried what might happen to Standard Oil of the great state of Rockefeller. So, MI-6 and their muscular cousins at CIA, overthrew him and his government in 1953 -- the last time Iran was a Democracy.



CIA publicly acknowledges 1953 coup it backed in Iran was undemocratic as it revisits ‘Argo’ rescue

by James Gambrell
Associated Press (AP), October 12, 2023

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — While revealing new details about one of the most famed CIA operations of all times — the spiriting out of six American diplomats who escaped the 1979 U.S. Embassy seizure in Iran — the intelligence agency for the first time has acknowledged something else as well.

The CIA now officially describes the 1953 coup it backed in Iran that overthrew its prime minister and cemented the rule of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi as undemocratic.

Other American officials have made similar remarks in the past, but the CIA’s acknowledgment in a podcast about the agency’s history comes as much of its official history of the coup remains classified 70 years after the putsch. That complicates the public’s understanding of an event that still resonates, as tensions remain high between Tehran and Washington over the Islamic Republic’s rapidly advancing nuclear program, its aiding of militia groups across the Mideast and as it cracks down on dissent.

The “CIA’s leadership is committed to being as open with the public as possible,” the agency said in a statement responding to questions from The Associated Press. “The agency’s podcast is part of that effort — and we knew that if we wanted to tell this incredible story, it was important to be transparent about the historical context surrounding these events, and CIA’s role in it.”

Continues...

https://apnews.com/article/iran-1953-coup-cia-218323db3cc1aca6bde1e54827527e8d

Didn't see this story at all when first published in 2023 -- and haven’t seen the real history or the National Security Archive at George Washington University mentioned much at all since — until today. Thank you, cliffside!