Critical triangle comtinues....

After a series of intensely anti-Soviet and pro-western prime ministers like Mohammad Saeed, Ali Mansur and Ali Razmara, a new socialist prime minister, Mohammad Mossadegh, took charge in April 1951 supported by Islamist parties under the guidance of Ayatollah Kashani and the Tudeh (Iranian Communist Party). Mossadegh promptly made good on his threat to nationalise the oil industry and further actions ultimately brought about a British naval blockade. The Truman administration was particularly disgusted by the British action, Acheson going so far as to claim it was “destructive, and determined on a rule-or-ruin policy in Iran.” However, the advent of the Eisenhower presidency in 1952 saw a significant change in this policy. Mossadegh was increasingly becoming autocratic and in August 16, 1953 suspended the parliament. The contradictions in the National Front that Mossadegh headed should have been obvious, with festering tensions between the Islamists and the communists.

When one time supporter Ayatollah Kashani started publicly denouncing Mossadegh in early 1953 “with a vitriol he reserved for the British,” the writing was on the wall. Ultimately, Secretary of State John Foster Dulles bought Winston Churchill’s argument that this contradiction along with Mossadegh’s socialism would drive him into a closer embrace with the communists and ultimately the Soviet Union. This convergence resulted in the US and British backed November 1953 coup that would depose Mossadegh and reintroduce an absolute monarchy to Iran.

To be continued......