1953 Iranian coup d'état

In 1953, there was an Iranian coup d'état to remove the Prime Minister of Iran, Mohammad Mossadeq, from power. The coup d'état was nicknamed Operation Ajax. The coup was planned by the CIA and Britain's MI6 in August 1953.^[1]

Causes

In 1951, Mossaddeq was the chairman of Iran's Oil Committee. He was highly supported by the people of Iran. At that time, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was in power. The Majlis (Iranian Parliament) voted for a law to nationalize (take the company away from the people who owned it and make it owned by the government) the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, an oil company in Iran.

Mossaddeq was elected Prime Minister of Iran in April 1951. His first action as Prime Minister was to put the oil nationalization in place.

The British government had a plan for a coup d'etat to remove Mossadeq from power. They managed to get the United States CIA to help with the coup.^[2] The coup was planned by Monty Woodhouse.^[1] It was carried out by MI6 and the CIA, and led by General Fazlollah Zahedi, who later went into exile.^[3]

Later

Mossaddeq was replaced by Fazlollah Zahedi, but Mossaddeq refused to step down. A military dictatorship was put in place. Shah Pahlavi was put back in power. (Pahlavi was in power before this, but he was forced to put Mossadeq back in power at the time.)^[2] This made the people angry. They would later start the Iranian Revolution in 1979. The revolution put the Ayatollah Khomeini in power.

References

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 Fisk, Robert (2 September 2003). "Unintended Consequences and Unlearned Lessons". The Independent. Archived from the original on 27 September 2003. Retrieved 2008-09-08 – via Arab News.
↑ ^2.0 ^2.1 "Mohammed Mossadegh hero file". Archived from the original on 2007-10-11. Retrieved 2008-09-20.
↑ "History of Iran: Oil Nationalization". Iran Chamber Society, date unknown.

List of modern conflicts in the Middle East
1910s	Italo-Turkish War World War I Middle Eastern theatre Battle of Robat Karim Arab Revolt Armenian genocide Assyrian genocide Mount Lebanon starvation Unification of Saudi Arabia Simko Shikak revolt 1919 Egyptian Revolution Turkish War of Independence Greco-Turkish War Turkish–Armenian War Franco-Turkish War Revolts Mahmud Barzanji revolts
1920s	Franco-Syrian War Iraqi Revolt (1920) Intercommunal conflict in Mandatory Palestine Adwan Rebellion Arab separatism in Khuzestan Great Syrian Revolt Sheikh Said rebellion
1930s	Ararat rebellion Ahmed Barzani revolt Simele massacre Saudi–Yemeni War (1934) Goharshad Mosque rebellion 1935–1936 Iraqi Shia revolts 1935 Yazidi revolt 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine Dersim rebellion
1940s	World War II Italian bombing of Palestine Allied invasion of Iraq Syria–Lebanon campaign Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran 1943 Barzani revolt Alwaziri coup Al-Wathbah uprising Kurdish separatism in Iran Iran crisis of 1946 Arab–Israeli conflict 1948 Arab–Israeli War Suez Crisis 1967 Six-Day War 1973 Yom Kippur War 1982 Lebanon War
1950s	1952 Egyptian Revolution 1953 Iranian coup d'état Jebel Akhdar War Cyprus Emergency Suez Crisis Yemeni–Adenese clan violence 1958 Lebanon crisis 1958 Iraqi revolution 1959 Mosul uprising
1960s	Cyprus crisis of 1963–1964 Iraqi–Kurdish conflict First Iraqi–Kurdish War Second Iraqi–Kurdish War Dhofar Rebellion North Yemen Civil War Feb. 1963 Iraqi coup Mar. 1963 Syrian coup Nov. 1963 Iraqi coup Aden Emergency 1964 Hama riot Israeli–Palestinian conflict 1948 Palestine war First Intifada Second Intifada 1966 Syrian coup d'état
1970s	Black September in Jordan Yemenite War of 1972 Turkish invasion of Cyprus Shatt al-Arab clashes Lebanese Civil War Political violence in Turkey Islamist uprising in Syria 1977 Shia uprising in Iraq NDF Rebellion Yemenite War of 1979 Iranian Revolution Consolidation of the Iranian Revolution 1979 Qatif Uprising Grand Mosque seizure 1979–1980 Shia uprising in Iraq
1980s	Iran–Iraq War 1980 Turkish coup d'état Kurdish–Turkish conflict Turkey–PKK conflict South Yemen Civil War 1986 Egyptian conscripts riot 1986 Damascus bombings 1987 Sharjawi coup d'état attempt Mecca massacre Abu Nidal's executions
1990s	Gulf War (1990–1991) 1991 Iraqi uprisings Terror campaign in Egypt (1990s) Yemeni Civil War (1994) Iraqi Kurdish Civil War Islamic insurgency in Saudi Arabia (2000–present) Operation Desert Fox al-Qaeda insurgency in Yemen 1999 Shia uprising in Iraq
2000s	Iraq War Balochi insurgency in Iran 2004 Qamishli riots Houthi insurgency in Yemen Iran–Israel proxy conflict 2006 Lebanon War Fatah–Hamas conflict South Yemen insurgency
2010s	2011 Bahraini uprising Egyptian Crisis Sinai insurgency Insurgency in Egypt (2013–present) Syrian civil war Turkish involvement in Syria Syrian War spillover in Lebanon Iraqi insurgency (2011–2013) War in Iraq (2013–2017) Islamic State insurgency in Iraq (2017–present) Yemeni crisis Yemeni civil war (2014–present)
2020s	2021 Beirut clashes Israel–Hamas war Israel–Hezbollah conflict (2023–present) Red Sea crisis Iran–Israel war
This list includes World War I and later conflicts (after 1914) of at least 100 fatalities each Prolonged conflicts are listed in the decade when initiated; ongoing conflicts are marked italic, and conflicts with +100,000 killed with bold.