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1953 US-backed Coup d'etat in Iran

What was the motivation behind US policy with respect to the government-sanctioned overthrow of the democratically-elected government of Iran in 1953?

On August 19, 1953, the United States sanctioned its first, peacetime use of covert action to overthrow the constitutional government of a sovereign nation, successfully orchestrating the overthrow of Iran’s popular Prime Minister, Mohammed Mossadegh, and restoring the Shah to his throne. The question is -- why?

Thesis
This paper will argue that the Marxist framework of international relations -- namely that economic interest determines politics and political structure, and that the goal of economic (and political) activity is the redistribution of wealth and power -- provides the most effective explanation as to the driving force behind the US government’s fateful decision. The paper will reconstruct the information available to the Eisenhower administration up to the planning and execution of Operation Ajax, as th...

Posted by: Gelinde Cobbs

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