[DiogenesLamp]

It was a British MI6 initiative and America/CIA was later brought into it, and managed the actual coup which was a joint operation.

Best work they've ever done. Unfortunately Carter undone it.

[woodpusher]

Best work they've ever done.

If you say so. The best work the CIA ever did was climbing into bed with the Fadayan-e Islam/Shiites, to unlawfully overthrow a government on behalf of the oil companies. I was not aware you were so big on the Fadayan-e Islam/Shiites. Someone had to kickstart their movement and who better to do it than the CIA.

https://www.declassifieduk.org/iran-1953-mi6-plots-with-islamists-to-overthrow-democracy/

In order to trigger a wider uprising, the CIA turned to the clergy and made contact with Kashani via the Rashidian brothers. Footing the bill for this joint Anglo–American operation, the US gave Kashani $10,000 to organise massive demonstrations in central Tehran, together with other ayatollahs who also brought their supporters out onto the streets.

Amidst these demonstrations, the Shah appointed General Zahidi as prime minister and appealed to the military to come out in support of him.

Wider protests developed in which anti-Shah activists were beaten up and pro-Shah forces, including elements in the military, seized the radio station, army headquarters and Mossadeq’s home, forcing the latter to surrender to Zahidi.

The CIA also helped to mobilise militants of the Fadayan-e-Islam in these demonstrations; it is not known if Britain also did.

The Fadayan’s founder and leader, Navab Safavi, is believed to have had associations at the time with Ruhollah Khomeini, a Shia cleric and scholar based at the shrine city of Qom in Iran. According to Iranian officials, Khomeini, then a follower of Kashani, was among the MI6/CIA-sponsored crowd protesting against Mossadeq in 1953.