OPERATION AJAX - MUSSADEGH & IMRAN
I wonder why a few of us think that a regime change operation by the Americans against IK is an impossibility. Either they are ignorant of the history or intellectually dishonest to consider Pakistan’s significance in the Ukraine conflict (Coincidently, the dream to control Ukraine and its rich agricultural plains that ran across the Black Sea to eventually reach the oil wells of Persia was what brought the downfall of Hitler when the famous operation Barbarossa failed. The Germans wanted Ukraine to be their “India” and to that end, even offered the sea-port of Karachi to Afghanistan if it stopped being “neutral” – no pun intended).
I mean it wouldn’t be the first time the U.S. or Britain has done it – Their history is replete with regime change operations as acceptable means of foreign policy –Project FF (Fat Fucker) to remove the King of Egypt, Farouk, and Operation Ajax to remove the Prime Minister of Iran, Mohammed Mossadegh, to quote some of the examples.
What follows is the story of Operation Ajax: The story of the removal of Mohammed Mossadegh, which was finally revealed when the CIA de-classified details of the Iranian Coup 64 years later.
BRITISH PETROLEUM
In 1901, the exclusive and sweeping rights of a petroleum concession (The Knox D’Arcy concession) to search for petroleum, from the whole extent of the Persian Empire for a term of 60 years was granted by the Shah to a British company (Anglo-Persian Oil Company, which eventually became British Petroleum – BP) in return for 20,000 pounds, an equivalent amount of shares and 16% annual royalty. The Shah effectively handed over the keys of the Persian kingdom to the British, paving way for centuries of future political turmoil in the region. Now, all the British had to do was find the lock, and find they did. The discovery of oil made the piece of paper signed by the Shah in 1901 one of the most important documents of the twentieth century.
The operation of BP’s search for petroleum started in the early 1900s funded by the bankers at the Lloyds and on 28th May 1908, they found huge reserves of oil. A refinery was built at the island of Abadan in the Shatt al-Arab where oil was brought through pipelines from Persia to be exported to Europe via the British-made Suez Canal – the artery that enabled ships from the east to reach Europe weeks faster without circumnavigating Africa. The timing of such discovery could not have been better as Europe’s energy needs were rising sharply with the first World war round the corner. The Royal Navy converted its fleet from coal-burning to oil-consuming and that allowed her ships to move faster giving a definite strategic edge over other rival Naval forces in the region. This meant that the British vessels could stay out at sea longer. Meanwhile, Germany made a strategic mistake of paying too much attention to coal and iron, and not enough to oil – the blood of the earth.
THE IMPERIAL POWERS
With Britain already holding a controlling interest in Anglo-Persian Oil company (British Petroleum), they now had a death grip over Persia while the Russians, the Germans, the French, and the Soviets – all wanted a piece of the action. Americans also entered into the equation later.
The Germans and the Soviets
During the Second World War, the Soviets and the Germans were more interested in the Baltics and Poland. The problem for them was their poor geographical location which denied them access to the Atlantic and hence, the opportunity to trade with the Americans.
Pro-German feelings were always high in Iran during the Second World War. In fact, it is said that the decision to rename Persia formally Iran was the result of Tehran’s diplomats in Berlin explaining the idea of “Aryanism” and the shared heritage of Iran and Germany which the new name of Iran would refer to.
During the Second World War, the Germans were about to find a solution to its Achilles heel of not having access to oil resources. They were about to take over Baku oil resources and close to Iran and Iraq oil reserves more than ever before. Germany had become highly active in the Middle East with Lufthansa establishing an extensive network of commercial flights and companies like Siemens and the Todt making inroads into the Industrial Sector in the Middle East.
The British insisted that the Shah expel the German Ambassador but when the Shah delayed issuing orders to expel the Germans, BBC Persian Radio Service falsely accused the Shah of removing the crown jewels from the capital, of using forced labor in his own business interests, and of using Tehran’s water supply to irrigate his private gardens. In the end, the British forced the abdication of Reza Khan and replaced him with his son Mohammed Reza, a playboy with a love for fast cars, French crime novels, and even faster women. The German dream to access Persian oil was eventually shattered with their defeat in the Second World War.
After the Second world war ended in Germany’s defeat, the Soviets were also provided access to the Persian oil. In January 1942, a tripartite agreement was signed between the British and Soviet Union so that both can use the country’s roads, rivers, pipelines, airfields, and telegraph stations as they pleased. This was not an occupation, stated the treaty, it was a case of help being given to an ally. Fine words – but rather creative ones.
The British and the French
In 1916, Sykes-Pikot imperialist agreement was reached between the British and the French dividing the region between themselves, where the French took Syria and Lebanon while the British took Iraq, and Palestine (as a buffer zone against any threat to Suez Canal) and Suez, making the Middle East the breeding place for future wars and out-maneuvering the French from the Middle East. While different countries were offered independence from the Ottomans by the British and the French which included bribing rulers handsomely, there was only one thing that mattered – to secure control over oil and pipelines that would pump it to the ports to be loaded onto the tankers. To that end, the British had two strategic goals:
1. To retain control of the Suez Canal because of its unique strategic and commercial value,
2. Hold on to the oil fields in Persia and the Middle East
Access to oil became a major and decisive factor in British International policy as hostilities broke with the Germans, and resultantly the Royal Navy needed more and more oil for their oil-burning engines. The Suez Canal was extremely important as it allowed the British to protect its oil vessels from the Germans who had developed effective submarine warfare. It was difficult to protect British fuel ships when they circumnavigated Africa or imported oil from the U.S. through the Atlantic where the Germans sank many fuel ships. This made Suez and Persia critical for the British.
The British were determined to hang on to the control of oil supplies and they drew the following strategic conclusions:
1. Whoever controlled Basra, controlled India and the Gulf,
2. Whoever controlled Baghdad, controlled Iran,
3. Whoever controlled Mosul, controlled Turkey and Syria
However, the national debt of Britain after the Second World War was rising high as the cost of maintaining troops to run the Empire became unsustainable and too high, forcing the British to focus on reducing expenses. The British had always prioritized their strategic and economic priorities with little concern for the local population. In the 1920s alone, the British were responsible for or played a poisonous supporting role in installing or deposing rulers in Iraq, Persia, and Afghanistan. Britain was playing a dangerous game in choosing who to support and when and where to intervene. Broken promises and disappointed people lay scattered from India to the Levant. Add to it the lofty sense of entitlement that the British harbored that the fate of these countries lay in the hands of the British. The British thought that rulership in these countries was a gift to policymakers in London. It was clear that the power and influence of the British were in the decline and would diminish further thanks to their policies of constant interference in local affairs which gave rise to misgivings, mistrusts, and reservations.
The United States of America
Britain had successfully thwarted four economic powers – Spain, Holland, France, and Germany and hence came forward as the fifth and the greatest economic power as the Americans started taking interest in the oil business when the US Geological Survey declared that the American proven oil reserves would run out in nine years and three months. Hence, the Americans started looking into the possibility of entering into an oil exploration agreement with Iran. After Germany was defeated in the Second World War there were the British, the Soviets, and now the Americans trying to capture Iranian oil.
US interest was music to the ears of Tehran as they saw the U.S as their perfect white knight. The British reacted angrily telling the State Department that their interest in the Persian oil was illegal. The Persians went ahead regardless and granted a fifty-year concession to Standard Oil – the American company for oil exploration. However, the British still controlled the pipelines necessary for the transportation.
The Iranians soon realized that the American Dream was a false dawn and it was just another player in the exploitation of Persia. They were more British than the British.
Thus the British, the Americans, and the Soviets were all wrestling to capture the Irani oil resources for their national interest.
COMETH THE HOUR, COMETH THE MAN: MOHAMMED MOSSADEGH
The oil wealth in Persia was concentrated in the hands of the Shah and those around him. The Persians felt that the Persian government held no shares in the business. Finally, in Nov 1932, the Shah declared that the concession was canceled with immediate effect and it was renegotiated in 1933, on more favorable terms, showing that the West had weak bargaining power.
However, resentment was building in Iranians against the British. There were reports that British officers insisted that Irani officers should salute their counterparts when they passed them without this being reciprocated. The British ambassador had a very low opinion as can been seen from his dispatches (he was quoted as saying that most Persians will surely become blowflies in their next incarnation). The British continued to harbor their deeply ingrained views of entitlement and superiority when it was becoming increasingly clear that the dominant position built by the British was at risk as both the Russians and the Americans wanted a piece of the action.
Mohammed Mossadegh was a canny articulate and consummate politician who was seriously underestimated by the British. Mossadegh first set out his vision in parliament at the end of 1944 that Iran should not allow itself to be manipulated and terrorized by an outside power. The Knox D’Arcy concession was only an example of how Iran had been taken advantage of and used as a pawn by rival interests that brought little benefit to the country’s people. It was simply wrong that choices should be made as to whom Iran should do business with. He wanted to negotiate with every state which wishes to buy oil and have no favorites.
What Mossadegh was saying was what many people had long felt that the fruits lying under the Irani soil brought limited benefits for Iran and it was hard to argue with the logic. It was not just about the money and resources but also about the country’s degradation and loss of dignity. Momentum was building behind reformers like Mossadegh. The age of the European empire had started to erode. The mood in Iran caught on to other countries subjected to domination and heavy influence from abroad to take control of their own destinies. This was evident in Iraq when Gertrude Bell was reminded that independence was not Britain’s gift to give but Iraq’s right to take. A pattern started to clearly emerge and Britain became an empire literally in retreat.
It was a similar story elsewhere as Britain faced one crisis after another. The way the British were handling it was awful. It was clear that the British would stop at nothing to maintain its interests abroad and think nothing of others in the process. Things were bad in the Malaya peninsula as the British retreated and Japan advanced to take over. Thousands fell back to Singapore. The decision to pull out of India was finally made and initial plans to make a phased withdrawal from India were rejected by London as too costly and too lengthy. That triggered the largest mass migrations in human history. 11 million people moved across the borders of the Punjab and Bengal. Things were slightly better in Iraq where prime minister Salih Jabr agreed to extend the use of airbases in the country for another 25 years.
The fate of the world hung in balance and Iran happened to be at the fulcrum. Soviets wanted it because of its oil, its naval bases, and its location in the middle of a web of international air routes. Iran’s political and strategic importance now propelled it to the forefront of the US foreign policy as it set up the first Voice of America Farsi radio station for the local population. Financial aid began to pour in and these were the first stages of building an American client state in the middle east.
Mossadegh seized the moment and put forward the proposal that at the end of 1950 the proceeds should not be shared with Anglo Iranian or with anyone else but rather that the oil industry of Iran be declared nationalized throughout all the regions of the country without exception.
Within days, Mossadegh was chosen as the new prime minister by the Majlis in the spring of 1951. He at once passed a law nationalizing Anglo-Iranian with immediate effect. The British defense minister declared that if Iran was allowed to get away with it, the next thing could be an attempt to nationalize the Suez canal.
OPERATION AJAX
Mossadegh gave British employees of Anglo-Iranian a week to pack to get out of Iran in September 1951. Britain became a byword for all that was wrong in Iran and this rhetoric made him wildly popular at home and also made him famous abroad. In 1952 he was on the cover of Time magazine as its Man of the Year.
Officials in the US responded favorably to British overtures. The CIA station in Tehran was anxious about Mossadegh and advised Washington separately that the US should prefer a successor government in Iran. Planners quickly concluded that the Shah had to be brought into the plot to provide unity and calm so that the removal of the Prime Minister could be made to appear legal or quasi-legal.
Shah, a nervous and vain man was cajoled and bullied to join the plan. Keywords were dropped into BB broadcasts from London to reassure him that the operation had been sanctioned at the very highest level.
In order to ensure that public opinion is fanned to a fever pitch as a prelude to removing Mossadegh, funds were sent from Washington to cultivate key individuals and turn them against the prime minister.
Roosevelt cultivated leading members of the Majlis, almost certainly by bribing them to persuade them to withdraw their support of Mossadegh.
Money was spent liberally. Some of these funds were spent paying for crowds to march on the streets of the capital, organized by the CIA’s two main local operatives. There were other notable recipients – above all mullahs like Ayatollah Kashani. Muslim scholars suddenly concluded that communism was against the tenets of Islam.
A plan was hence devised personally approved by Winston Churchill, the British prime minister at the start of July and then by president Eisenhour a few days later for a smooth regime change.
Things actually went splendidly wrong and the Shah escaped and made his way to exile in Italy, Rome. However, Rumors spread that Mossadegh was himself eying to claim the throne for himself and the tide turned. And in a matter of days and against all odds, Shah was on his way home. Returning in splendor and glory, he presented himself not as a coward who had fled in fear but as a hero coming back to take control of the situation. Mossadegh was arrested, tried, and sentenced to solitary confinement. This was followed by a lengthy period of exile until his death in 1967.
CONCLUSIONS
Mossadegh paid a heavy price for articulating a vision for the Middle East in which the influence of the west was not just watered down but removed altogether. This made him a trouble-maker of the first order in Iran and enough for British and American policymakers to formulate plans to remove him from the stage altogether. His loud protestations emboldened others as Egypt moved to nationalize Suez.
Although the precise circumstances of his demise were kept hidden for decades by the intelligence agencies who stayed alert to the damaging consequences declassification of material would bring, few had any illusions that the removal of Mossadegh had been orchestrated by western powers for their own ends.
Psychologically, the coup was a pivotal moment and had far-reaching unintended consequences:
1. Mossadegh became the spiritual father of a long line of heirs across this region such as Ayatollah Khomeini, Saddam Hossein, etc. who were driven by the core tenet that the west was duplicitous and liberation for the local population could only be achieved by liberating them from outside influences,
2. The Shah drew all the wrong conclusions and convinced himself that the people of Iran adored him. This would later result in the Iranian Islamic Revolution,
3. The US decided that the best way to keep Iran was an undemocratic independent Iran which was the exact antithesis of its freedom and democracy. Posturing about democracy while orchestrating regime change meant that in due course there would inevitably be a collapse of credibility.
4. The Americans learned from the British mistakes that a devolved Imperial rule was cheaper from a financial standpoint than full colonial occupation. The colonial occupation resulted in British deaths, rioting, and civil unrest and ultimately cost the British the superpower status. There is no need to physically occupy countries when better results can be achieved through controlling those in power. All that is required is to install rulers who ran the treasury and armed forces – two critical pawns in the imperial rule.
Source: "The Silk Roads, A New History of the World", by Peter Frankopan
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