The United States Overthrew Iran’s Last Democratic Leader

by Roham Alvandi and Mark J. Gasiorowski

Despite a campaign of historical revisionism in Washington, the archival record makes clear that the U.S. government was the key actor in the 1953 coup that ousted Mohammad Mosaddeq—not the Iranian clergy.

Iran 1953: US Envoy to Baghdad Suggested to Fleeing Shah He Not Acknowledge Foreign Role in Coup

Document Casts Doubt over Accuracy of US Reports from Tehran -- and Adds to Debate over Responsibility for the Coup.