“The next time you find yourself reading about the intransigence and mistrust of Iran toward the United States, and how negatively it has affected the recent negotiations over Iran’s nuclear power plans, and you wonder what gives, consider this:
In 1951, the popular, democratically elected prime minister of Iran, Mohammad Mossadegh, realized it was long past time for his country to throw off the shackles of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company (later BP), which had been exploiting Iran’s huge oil reserves since 1913 and allotting the Iranians a mere 10 percent of the bounty.
Not about to sit still for this, BP appealed to the British MI6 to intercede.. In 1953, MI6 enlisted the aid of the American CIA, which helpfully organized and carried out Operation Ajax, the coup which enabled the re-installation of the Shah and the overthrow of Mossadegh. This loss of the leading champion of secular democracy in Iran’s modern history paved the way for the Iran we face today.”
DAVID BUTLER, AUSTIN
http://www.statesman.com/news/opinion/iraq-never-stable-after-invaded/kHDVaV6HP9mEynkXqfNL5H/
Note: Iran- CIA Operation Ajax 1953
