Note the new documents of the coup d’etat of 28 August

The book “Oil Crisis in Iran” is a new book by “Arvand Abrahamian”, a professor of history at New York University, which has just been published. This work has been written according to the US State Department documents about the coup d’état of 28 August, which was released in 2017. Although many books have been written about the role of the US government in the August 28 coup; But these documents contain new points and details. These documents show that the oil companies, and consequently the US diplomatic apparatus in Britain, were in no way willing to compromise with Dr. Mossadegh’s government on the nationalization of oil. However, they agreed to formally accept the nationalization of Iranian oil; In practice, however, they demanded that the Iranian oil industry be managed by them as before, and that in practice no role be given to Iran. Their main reason was that any compromise with Iran would cause other countries to follow in Iran’s footsteps and lose control of the global oil market. Some British and American diplomats insisted that even if Iran fell into the Eastern bloc, it should not compromise with Iran; Because it will endanger the entire world oil industry. Another point is that the United States and Britain strongly criticize the Shah for not accompanying him in ousting or accompanying him in the coup. According to them, the Shah believed that because of Dr. Mossadegh’s popularity, he could only be removed through parliamentary action. They consider the defeat of Ghavam and 30 Tir due to the Shah not cooperating with him; After the July 20 incident, the US ambassador (Henderson) directly told the Shah that if he did not cooperate with the coup, the US would support the replacement of Alireza, the Shah’s brother, in his place. Another interesting point of these documents is the role of the British spy apparatus (MI6) in the coup. Interestingly, these documents state that in 1978, Britain formally requested the United States not to mention the role of Britain in the coup d’état of 28 August; In one thousand pages of the released document, about one hundred lines have been deleted.

Another interesting point of the documents presented in this book is the plan of the coup plot known as Ajax. This plan is the result of a combination of the plan of the US (CIA) and the British (MI6) spy apparatus, which consists of four parts:

2. The disruption of Iran’s economy with the oil embargo, although it was not very effective due to the fact that oil exports at that time accounted for about 10% of GDP. 3- The Shah threatened to accompany him in the coup. 4- Coup operations to use army units in Tehran and outside the capital and to organize a street repressive force. Interestingly, MI6’s role in launching repressive field forces and participating in the assassination of Afshar Toos (police chief) is crucial in this regard. Another interesting document in this book is the CIA’s financial support for Dr. Mossadegh’s opponents, especially his former comrades. Another point is that these documents state that the Tudeh Party does not have much power to overthrow the government; However, the United States and Britain are trying to intimidate Dr. Mossadegh’s opponents with the coup by creating panic. According to the documents, Abrahamian estimates that the CIA spent about $ 1 million and MI6 about هزار 700,000 on the coup. In addition to these documents, Abrahamian sometimes refers to the dangers of the politicians of that time and sometimes adds to his analysis. However, after about 70 years since the coup of 28 August, many of its secrets have been revealed; But there are still many vague points that Abrahamian explains some of them based on these documents. I recommend reading this book to all Iranian friends interested in the history of this land. long live Iran.

Dr. Reza Saidi Firoozabadi – Transplant surgeon