Context: Iran held relatively free elections under the British-Soviet occupation in 1943-44. Elections held in 1947, 1950, 1952 were manipulated and cannot be considered democratic. Thus, in April 1951, Mossaddegh was confirmed as prime minister by a parliament that had not been elected democratically. In 1952, both Mosaddegh and the Shakh tried to rig the election in their favor. Mossaddegh halted the vote once 79 out of 136 deputies were elected because the remaining districts were likely to elect opposition supporters.
Once in office, he ruled by decree using emergency powers. On 3-10 August 1953 he held an illegal referendum dissolving the parliament, which was approved by 99.9% of the vote, a percentage worthy of North Korea. His intention was to overthrow the monarchy. Iran was on the route to become a one-party dictatorship ruled by a populist nationalist leader, like Nasser's in Egypt. Given the direct threat to his remaining powers (and perhaps even his life) and Mossadegh's growing unpopularity, no wonder the Shakh conspired with the CIA to successfully overthrow him on 19 August 1953. Yet, you constantly see articles about how the CIA conspired to overthrow the "democratically elected" PM of Iran.
by intian1
8 Comments
But have you consider US bad soviet good according to Reddit?
the funniest part is that the CIA ‘overthrow’ was basically just a propaganda push, and its highly disputed by historians if it had any real effect – Many believe Mossaddegh would have lost power anyways due to his rapidly fragmenting coalition
The term coup is also a bit mistaken in my opinion. What happen is that the shah dismissed him as prime minister (legal in iranian law and in basically every modern monarchy, even if rarely used). Mossadegh refused and called on mobs to defend him. This was a coup, as the prime minister was usurping the head of state prerogative to appoint and dismiss the prime minister.
The military action that occurred a few days later that escalated in the shelling of his home and his arrest was a counter coup.
The Shah did what the italian king had no courage to do against Mussolini.
Oh. I didn’t know any of this.
One less thing to feel guilty about, I guess.
It’s always wild to see a meme that’s a response to another meme
Ok, but the U.S. absolutely overthrew the democratically elected President of Guatemala Jacobo Árbenz under the urging of the United Fruit Company a year later.
And who elected the Shah ?
Yeah, except the election interference in 1947 and 1950 wasn’t from Mossadegh’s faction, he and his supporters were the ones fighting for free elections. In the 1954 elections, after the coup, all political parties were banned.