Operation: Ajax the Iranian Revolution

1953 – Operation: AJAX

From Operation Ajax to the Islamic Revolution: A Timeline of Iran’s 1953 Coup and Its Consequences

AI AUDIO OVERVIEW

The 1953 Coup: Oil, Nationalism, and Cold War Politics

In 1951, Iran’s elected prime minister Mohammad Mossadegh, a nationalist from the secular National Front party, moved to nationalize the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (AIOC, later British Petroleum). For decades, the British had enjoyed near-total control over Iran’s petroleum. The terms were deeply unequal: Britain extracted enormous profits while Iran received only a small fraction. AIOC operated like a “state within a state,” excluding Iranians from management and paying wages far below those of Western employees.

Mossadegh, who had a reputation for integrity, insisted that Iran deserved full sovereignty over its resources. His move to nationalize the oil industry won overwhelming support from the Iranian parliament and people, who viewed it as a matter of dignity and independence. But for Britain, the nationalization was intolerable. The AIOC stood to lose its most valuable overseas asset. Britain responded with a global embargo on Iranian oil, froze Iranian assets, and pressured other nations not to buy from Iran.

By 1952, Britain began plotting Mossadegh’s removal. But Britain could not act alone – its postwar empire was weakening. It turned to its ally, the United States. British intelligence (MI6) framed the crisis in Cold War terms: they warned Washington that Mossadegh’s weakening government might be overtaken by Iran’s small Communist Tudeh Party, thereby placing Iran’s strategic oil fields in Soviet hands.

At first, President Harry Truman’s administration rejected British pleas, seeing Mossadegh as a moderate nationalist, not a communist. But when Dwight D. Eisenhower entered the White House in 1953, things changed. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles and his brother, CIA Director Allen Dulles, argued that toppling Mossadegh was essential to protect the “free world.” While Eisenhower was briefed that Mossadegh was not a communist, he was persuaded that Iran could slide into Soviet control if left unchecked.

Thus was born Operation Ajax, a joint CIA–MI6 plan to overthrow Iran’s democratic government. CIA officer Kermit Roosevelt Jr. ran the operation on the ground. The plan included bribing Iranian parliamentarians, military officers, and clergy; planting propaganda in newspapers; and organizing violent street mobs to create chaos.

The coup was attempted once in early August 1953 but failed, forcing the Shah to briefly flee the country. The CIA regrouped, pouring more money into Tehran. On August 19, 1953, mobs paid by the CIA staged riots, while military units loyal to General Fazlollah Zahedi stormed key government sites. Mossadegh’s home was shelled, and he was arrested. Hundreds were killed in the violence.

The Shah returned to Tehran days later, triumphant. Mossadegh, a democratically elected leader, was tried in a military court and sentenced to house arrest until his death in 1967.

For Britain and the U.S., the coup was a success. A new oil consortium gave BP 40% control of Iranian oil and awarded another 40% to American companies – who had previously had no stake in Iran’s oil. Strategically, Iran was integrated into Western alliances like the Baghdad Pact (CENTO). For Iranians, however, the coup became a symbol of betrayal, confirming fears that Western powers would never tolerate true independence.

The Shah’s Iron Rule and the Rise of SAVAK

Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi had originally been a weak constitutional monarch. His father, Reza Shah Pahlavi, had seized power in 1921 with British backing, ruled as a modernizing autocrat, and was forced to abdicate in 1941 when the Allies accused him of favoring Nazi Germany. His son, Mohammad Reza, was seen as inexperienced and indecisive.

But after 1953, with CIA and MI6 support, the Shah became the undisputed ruler of Iran. He consolidated power by sidelining parliament, banning opposition parties, and creating a personality cult around the monarchy. His legitimacy rested not on popular consent but on the backing of the United States, which funneled billions in aid and weapons into Iran.

In 1957, the Shah created the notorious secret police, SAVAK (Sazeman-e Ettela’at va Amniyat-e Keshvar), with the help of the CIA and Israel’s Mossad. SAVAK quickly grew into one of the most feared intelligence agencies in the Middle East. It censored the press, monitored universities, infiltrated unions and political groups, and imprisoned thousands. Torture – including beatings, electric shocks, and mock executions – became a common tool. By the late 1970s, Amnesty International described Iran as having one of the world’s worst human rights records.

While repressing dissent, the Shah launched the White Revolution in the 1960s – a package of reforms including land redistribution, women’s suffrage, and literacy campaigns. Superficially modernizing, these reforms alienated many: land reform disrupted traditional rural life, clerics denounced social changes, and rapid modernization fueled inequality. Oil revenues enriched elites while many urban and rural Iranians saw little improvement.

The Shah’s extravagance, epitomized by the 1971 Persepolis celebration of 2,500 years of monarchy (costing hundreds of millions of dollars), contrasted sharply with the struggles of ordinary Iranians. Opposition figures, especially Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, condemned both the Shah’s repression and his subservience to foreign powers. Khomeini was exiled in 1964 but continued to inspire resistance from abroad.

Revolution Erupts: The 1979 Overthrow of the Shah

By 1978, opposition reached a breaking point. Protests erupted after a government newspaper insulted Khomeini. Demonstrations spread rapidly, with each government massacre fueling larger rallies. Strikes crippled the economy, especially the vital oil sector.

On September 8, 1978 – Black Friday – security forces killed hundreds of protestors in Tehran. Instead of quelling dissent, the violence united opposition across ideological lines: clerics, liberals, leftists, and bazaar merchants all demanded the Shah’s ouster.

Facing cancer and dwindling support, the Shah fled Iran in January 1979. On February 1, Khomeini returned from exile, greeted by millions. Within days, royalist forces collapsed and Iran declared itself an Islamic Republic.

The monarchy, rebuilt with CIA and MI6 backing in 1953, was gone. SAVAK was dismantled, with many of its leaders executed. For ordinary Iranians, the revolution symbolized liberation from decades of repression and foreign domination.

But relations with the U.S. quickly soured. When President Jimmy Carter allowed the exiled Shah into the U.S. for medical treatment, Iranian radicals feared another coup like 1953. On November 4, 1979, student militants stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, taking 66 Americans hostage. They demanded the Shah’s return for trial and denounced the U.S. as the “Great Satan.”

The Iran Hostage Crisis lasted 444 days. President Carter’s failed rescue mission deepened U.S. humiliation. The crisis dominated headlines and poisoned relations. Hostages were finally released in January 1981, the day Ronald Reagan took office.

Geopolitical Aftermath: Cold War Consequences and Propaganda

The overthrow of Mossadegh in 1953 initially gave the West a reliable ally in Iran. The Shah acted as America’s “policeman of the Gulf,” buying billions in U.S. weapons and aligning with Israel against Arab states. Israel and Iran cooperated closely, with Mossad training SAVAK and Iran secretly supplying oil to Israel.

But the 1979 revolution shattered this alignment. Iran cut ties with Israel, denounced the U.S., and positioned itself as the vanguard of anti-imperialism and political Islam. In the Cold War context, the U.S. lost a critical ally just as the Soviets invaded Afghanistan. Washington shifted to contain Iran, even quietly supporting Saddam Hussein’s Iraq during the brutal Iran–Iraq War (1980–88).

Propaganda played a central role in shaping perceptions. In the U.S., the hostage crisis dominated nightly news. Images of blindfolded Americans and chanting Iranian crowds cemented Iran’s image as a land of “fanatical” militants. Few Americans heard about the 1953 coup or the Shah’s repression. Scholars like Edward Said observed that U.S. media presented Iranians as irrational, violent, and religiously obsessed – stereotypes that persist to this day.

For Iranians, propaganda focused on U.S. imperialism, with constant reminders of 1953 as proof America would always subvert Iranian democracy. “Death to America” became a revolutionary slogan.

The mutual demonization solidified mistrust. For the U.S., Iran became a pariah state. For Iran, the U.S. remained the archetype of imperialist betrayal. The legacy of 1953 thus came full circle: a coup to protect Western oil and power led, within a generation, to revolution, hostage-taking, and enduring enmity.

Timeline of Key Events

1921 – Reza Khan seizes power with British support.
1925 – Reza Khan crowns himself Shah, beginning the Pahlavi dynasty.
1941 – Allies force Reza Shah to abdicate; his son Mohammad Reza becomes Shah.
1951 – Mossadegh nationalizes Anglo-Iranian Oil Company.
1953 (August 19) – CIA/MI6 launch Operation Ajax; Mossadegh overthrown; Shah restored.
1954 – Oil consortium formed; U.S. firms gain major share.
1957 – SAVAK created with CIA and Mossad support.
1963–64 – White Revolution reforms; Khomeini exiled.
1971 – Shah hosts lavish Persepolis celebration.
1978 (Sept. 8) – Black Friday massacre of protestors in Tehran.
1979 (Jan.) – Shah flees Iran.
1979 (Feb. 1) – Khomeini returns; Islamic Republic declared.
1979 (Nov. 4) – Iranian students seize U.S. Embassy; hostage crisis begins.
1981 (Jan. 20) – Hostages released as Reagan takes office.

1953 – Operation: AJAX

The 1953 Coup: Oil, Nationalism, and Cold War Politics

The Shah’s Iron Rule and the Rise of SAVAK

Revolution Erupts: The 1979 Overthrow of the Shah

Geopolitical Aftermath: Cold War Consequences and Propaganda

Timeline of Key Events

Primary Historical Sources

General Reference Sources

Historical Analysis and Context

Media and Propaganda Analysis