Historic Roots and Impact of U.S.-Iran Relations Since the 1953 Coup

[Music] for many years iran has defined itself in part by its opposition to my country

and there is in fact a tumultuous history between us states like these

and their terrorist allies constitute an axis of evil arming to threaten the peace of the

world relations between iran and the united states have been mostly adversarial

since the 1979 islamic revolution here was not an embassy it was a cia center

this was a den of espionage where they were plotting against the iranian people but the seeds

of animosity between the two countries were planted decades before in 1952 time magazine chose iran's prime

minister mohammed mosaddegh as the 1951 man of the year for his efforts to nationalize his country's oil wealth

despite mounting economic pressure from britain musadek was iran's 35th prime minister but his government succeeded in

doing what no other iranian leader was able to do before he went against british interests in his country and

deprived the navy from securing oil supplies to understand how important this chapter is in iran's history and

how it shaped its future and its relations with the us we have to go back to the start of the century when iran

was still known as persia like many states in the region iranian oil wealth was monitored by foreign countries since

its discovery in 1901 the british government encouraged entrepreneur william knox darcy to invest in persia's

oil sector the british brokered a deal between darcy and the then shah of iran muzaffar

al-din dasi was granted a 60-year concession to prospect transport and sell petroleum natural gas asphalt and

minerals in three quarters of the country under the deal the shah was given a lump sum of twenty thousand

pounds in cash and a further twenty thousand pounds in shares with iran set to receive only sixteen percent of the

profits the darcy agreement is known historically as the deal that

compromised iran's ability to benefit from its own oil wealth for decades in 1908 a significant oil reserve was

founded masjid suleiman in southwestern iran it was the world's largest oil discovery at the time and it set off a

wave of exploration that would change the region's future after the discovery the british government bought out the

dicey concession and the anglo-persian oil company that later became the british petroleum company or bp in 1954.

in the coming era navies and national economies would be powered by oil replacing coal iranian oil helped the

british navy substantially during world war one winston churchill who secured the purchase of the shares from the

darcy concession affirmed the importance of iranian oil fortune brought a surprise from

fairyland beyond our wildest dreams for the next 50 years iran's vast oil reserves came under british control that

is until musadak came into power after world war ii shah mohammed reza pallavi's rule was weakened by the rise

of nationalist voices in the iranian parliament in march 1951 iranian prime minister hajj ali rasmara was

assassinated by an ardent supporter of oil nationalization shortly after the assassination nationalists in the

iranian modulus or parliament nominated musaddiq as their new prime minister fearing the strength of the nationalist

movement the shah was forced to approve masadek's nomination and in may 1951 the iranian parliament voted to nationalize

the oil industry addressing his victory musadek said in a famous speech our long years of negotiations with

foreign countries have yielded no results thus far with the oil revenues we could meet our entire budget and

combat poverty disease and backwardness among our people the nationalization of iranian oil was a

blow to britain's economic interests and to the survival of the british empire views of the great refinery at abadan

are sufficient evidence in themselves of its size and importance this great undertaking built up over

many years by british skill and with british money has now been evacuated in humiliating circumstances britain took

the matter to the international court of justice and placed an embargo in iran's oil industry making it impossible for

iran to sell its newly nationalized oil on the world market the british hoped that economic pressure would threaten

the popularity of musadak and force him out of power but musadek was adamant abroad that strange politician dr

musadek continued on his strange way refusing every offer for settlement of the oil dispute desperate to regain

control of iran's oil industry the british government approached the united states to assist in orchestrating a coup

against masada harry truman's administration rejected the idea of a coup in 1952 but when dwight eisenhower

came to power in 1953 the british were able to persuade him by warning him of musadek's communist alliances

demonstrations and riots in the streets of tehran have followed the usual pattern in that troubled country

with shouts of done with the shah fanatical leaders have been rallying the people in favor of dr masadek the

initial plan of toppling musa had failed but the british and americans eventually succeeded when they relied on royalists

the supporters of the exiled shah the country was divided between the shah supporters and muslim supporters this is

how proshar demonstrators took over the streets of tehran mobs said probe must subject newspapers on fire general

zahidi surrounded masadek's residents with tanks and protesters clashed with his guards musaddik and his cabinet

eventually surrendered and general fazola sahidi became iran's new prime minister the u.s then restored the

pro-western regime of shah mohammed reza pallavi to power this was the first foreign intervention orchestrated by the

newly formed cia the agency with the help of british mi6 overthrew the first democratically elected government in the

country it was the beginning of the sequence of events that shaped iran's relations with the u.s today in the

military court at tehran where he's been on trial for treason the persian ex-premier dr masadek demonstrates that

he knows how to make an entrant musadek was imprisoned for three years then put under house arrest until his death his

family were forced to bury him at his residence the overthrow of musaddiq transformed iran from a constitutional

monarchy into a royal dictatorship marking the beginning of public hostility towards the u.s

in 2000 secretary of state madeleine albright acknowledged for the first time the us's role in the 1953 coup but the

coup was clearly a setback for iran's political development and it is easy to see now why many iranians continue to

resent this intervention by america in their internal affairs after the queue of 1953 the oil was back

under the control of the british and the us gave increasing support to the shah of iran in 2013 iran's parliament

approved a bill for the government to sue the us for its involvement in the coup the bill followed the release of

declassified documents offering details about how the cia carried out the coup as an act of u.s foreign policy

campaign to install a pro-western government in iran target prime minister masadek and his government

objectives through legal or quasi-legal methods to affect the fall of the masada government and to replace it with a

pro-western government under the shah's leadership with zahedi as its prime minister

in 1957 the us government helped the shah establish its infamous secret police force known as savak savak was

tasked with monitoring the shah's political opponents and even iranians abroad the agency tortured many iranians

and its agents received training for interrogation tactics from the cia but the alliance between the shah and the

u.s turned a deaf ear to the growing anger in iranian streets against the oppression of the shah and u.s

interference in late december 1977 during a lavish new year's eve celebration

u.s president jimmy carter praised the shah for making his country an island of stability

iran because of the great leadership of the shah

is an island of stability in one of the more troubled areas of the

world little more than a year later animosity towards the shah and u.s policies

culminated in the shah's ousting religious leader ayatollah khomeini who played an integral part in the shah

overthrow returned to the country after 15 years in exile his return marked the beginning of more than four decades of

animosity between iran and the us since 1984 the us has designated iran as a sponsor of terrorism and although

there were periods of negotiations and decreased tensions changes in administration and iran's proxy wars

throughout the region have put the two countries at odds once again tensions between tehran and washington

have been rising since the trump administration withdrew from the iran nuclear deal in 2018.

for far too long all the way back to 1979 to be exact

nations have tolerated iran's destructive and destabilizing behavior in the middle east and beyond

those days are over the u.s has taken several steps to put maximum pressure on the iranian regime

[Music] the campaign aimed to curb iran's nuclear program and regional reach by

draining its economy iran responded to the maximum pressure campaign with a maximum resistance campaign in

retaliation iran showed off its ability to harm u.s interests in the region [Music]

in january 2020 the u.s assassinated qasim suleimani iran's most revered military commander suleimani was the

head of iran's revolutionary gods kudz force his controversial role in the war in syria enhanced iran's military

presence in the region president hassan rouhani drew parallels between suleimani's assassination and the u.s

engineered coup of 1953. this crime that the u.s committed is similar to the queer attempt and similar

to the downing of airbus passenger flight in the persian gulf this crime will never be forgotten trump said that

by killing suleimani the u.s had saved many lives but to many of these mourners suleimani just like musadek was another

national hero that the u.s removed from power against the will of the iranian people

[Applause] [Music] you