Before the United States and the United Kingdom orchestrated a plot to remove Mohammad Mossadegh as prime minister of Iran
He served as leader for two years. The two nations' shared interests centered on the lucrative economic potential of the vast petroleum reserves. Under the direction of the prime minister, the Iranian government attempted to audit the books of the British firm Anglo-Iranian, which was in charge of the oil reserves. The company's administration, however, declined to assist the government. The government thought about nationalizing the business and kicking out foreign officials as a result of the refusal. An imminent economic problem was evident, and Britain had to come up with a strategy of protecting their interests by forcing the government of Mohammad Mossadegh to cease the nationalization process. Working together, the United States and the United Kingdom overthrew the prime minister to protect their interests and gains in the country. The ousting of Mohammad Mossadegh was a horrific political move by the United States and the United Kingdom to protect the interests of the two nations by preventing nationalization of the oil reserves which were under the control of the United Kingdom.
Background
In the 19th century, most countries were fighting for supremacy in the global scale. Since oil is a product of interest internationally, many countries targeted the country as a way of exercising dominance. It was the perception that controlling the oil fields would give the state in charge an upper hand over the others. The United Kingdom and Russia had interests in the country making them big enemies. Since the country was a monarchy, United Kingdom enticed the leadership of the country into giving them the rights to the fields. However, the opposition from Russia made it impossible. The leadership of the country bore huge interests for the contending powers because it was instrumental to the economic benefits associated with the petroleum reserves.
In 1901, the king of Persia allowed Willian Knox D’Arcy Company to drill oil on the land and share profit at the rate of 16% (Leonard 52)
Failure to honor the agreement made Mozzafar al-Din Shah Qajar, the king of Persia, to transfer his ownership to the British-owned company by the name Burmah. The company grew slowly and bought a bigger share of the business from Persia during the First World War. The influence of the Britain-based company led to the control of Oil fields in Iran upon discovery. However, the relationship was not beneficial to the country. All the profits generated from the business developed England leaving Iran in a state of poverty. In 1951, the National Front party led by Mohammad Mossadegh captured the government with a majority number in parliament.
The primary objective of the party was oil nationalization for the benefit of the country. Under the leadership of the prime minister, the parliament approved nationalization of the oil reserves after failure by Anglo-Iranian Company to produce documents for auditing. The move was an apparent interference with the economic interests of Britain. The potential wealth harbored by the oil reserves was massive. The removal of the company from the country would cripple result into massive losses for the company prompting the British government to oust the president to retain control. The United States, being an ally of the United Kingdom acted in solidarity to overthrow Mosaddegh. Mohammad Mosaddegh aimed at changing the agreement on the oil reserves to allow Iran and Britain split the profits on a 50/50 basis.
Economic Sabotage
Overthrowing the government of Mohammad Mossadegh began with economic sabotage from the United Kingdom by ensuring oil reserves did not benefit the country. After the nationalization of the oil reserves, the British government decided to cause an economic crisis to destroy the state. Firstly, the technicians working in the companies decided to stop working. Due to lack of qualified professionals in Iraq, the rates of production dropped tremendously. The reduced production led to higher demands for oil, but the country could not meet the request due to the shortage of experienced staff (Favennec 266). However, the small volumes produced generated more money that the state received in the partnership with Anglo-Iranian Company. In 1951, the Abadan production ceased completely rendering the workers jobless and causing demonstrations from the employees who opposed nationalization.
The intention of the British government was in bad faith because their actions made innocent citizens suffer from joblessness. Their plans aimed at destabilizing the government to the point of causing riots for the government to fall. All these efforts were to regain their control over the oil reserves for monetary gains. Iran could not match the production levels that the British company produced. However, production was still active in the fields. The British government had to devise other methods of causing economic havoc in the country. British government blocked all exports from their country to Iran. Iran is a country that depends on imported commodities such as sugar and steel from the United Kingdom. Blocking the export to Iran meant that the consumers of the products would revolt against the government because their businesses would suffer.
British banks froze money saved by the Iranian government from the presumption of selling stolen products. According to the United Kingdom, the oil reserves belonged to their government. The sales made by Iran were illegal. Freezing the accounts made it difficult for the country to conduct business. To cut the financial supply further, the Royal Navy blocked the harbor making sure that the country could not import the oil to any buyers in the international platform. Nationalization of the oil reserves was the primary reason behind the overthrowing of Mohammad Musaddegh (Mikaberidze 103). Apart from blocking the same of oil from the country and any exports from Britain, the British government took the case to the international criminal court in 1951.
However, the court lacked the jurisdiction to rule on the case. Therefore, the United Kingdom capitalized on the economic embargo. Due to the support that the United Kingdom offered the United States in the war in Korea, the United States did not have an option but to support them too. As the economic crisis increased, the government of Mohammad Mosaddegh sought the help of the World Bank and the President of United States but received none. The levels of poverty in the country rose making the government very unstable. Leaders began shifting their allegiance to the prime minister making him more vulnerable. For example, the Shah, who commanded an enormous religious following, turned on Musaddegh under the assumption that he was modifying the state into an Islamic state.
Political Sabotage
Mohammad Musaddegh enjoyed massive political support from the parliament. The elected members endorsed the government making it hard for Britain to weaken him politically. The British government reduced his support by bribing the lawmakers to withdraw their support. It was evident that the more challenges that the prime minister experienced, the easier it would be for him to make a mistake that would anger the people. Bribing the members aimed at increasing the number of people in parliament, who would vote to depose him when the need arises. The bribery caused chaos in 1952 during the election of members of parliament. Mohammad Mosaddegh monitored large cities but paid less attention to the rural area leading to postponing the vote due to chaos. The bribery from the British government was the reason behind the chaos.
It is worth noting that the step to nationalize the oil reserves made the country better economically (Russell 15). However, all the problems that followed meant to anger the people into overthrowing the government, and Britain was behind the woes. Britain was behind the economic sabotage and the political issues all to retain control over the oil reserves. As a result, the situation in the country became fragile as people lost their jobs because of the inability to sell the oil which was the primary source of revenue. The fragility of the state made the situation very unstable since the citizens were struggling with poverty. The United Kingdom could not take the oil fields by force; therefore, they targeted overthrowing the government using the local people for them to get a leader that would overturn the decision to nationalize the oil reserves.
The next political move was creating enmity between the prime minister and the Shah. A political group by the name Communist Tudeh Party was not friendly to the Shah due to an assassination attempt in 1948. The group claimed to support Mosadddegh as a way of tainting his image and creating a divide between him and the Shah. The group attacked people who opposed the prime minister to give the impression that they had an affiliation with him. The attacks ruined his reputation since many people perceived the actions of the group as his. The attacks triggered the supporters of the Shah to form groups to retaliate against the attacks. It was clear that the intention to cause a divide between the Shah and Mohammad Mosaddegh was successful. The divide made Mosaddegh shoulder all the blame for the financial and political crisis. Political clashes became rampant in the country leading to a loss of support from both the locals and the political leaders.
Many people died during the clashes making the chaos bigger. In August 1952, an attempted assassination on one of the ministers prompted the prime minister to jail the political opponents behind the attempt (Durham 261). The public was against the act with claims of being dictatorial being frequent. In 1953, Mosaddegh conducted a referendum to dissolve the parliament and gain powers to make the law after the resignation of members of his party. The actions made the Shah side with the United States from the feeling that Mosaddegh was not democratic. The acceptance of the Shah to support the coup led to the design of letters dismissing Mossadegh and appointing General Fazlollah Zahedi as the prime minister. However, Mohammad Mosaddegh did not accept the message and arrested the officer sent to deliver the letter. That was the first attempt at the coup which failed.
The Shah left the country after appointing General Zahedi as the prime minister. However, he operated in safe houses and avoided arrest with supporters of Mosaddegh demonstrating on the streets because of the letter of dismissal. The United Kingdom together with the United States had managed to create enmity between the two leaders as well as chaos on the streets. On August 19, hired criminals posing as members of Tudeh Party attacked government buildings, making the army under the leadership of General Zahedi fight back. The army took control of the government and arrested Mohammad Mosaddegh, bringing the coup to an end. After his arrest, the Shah returned to the country from Italy and confirmed General Zahedi as the prime minister. The success of the coup eliminated the nationalization policies in the country, giving the United States and the United Kingdom the chance to control the oil reserves.
The Significance
The coup on the Iranian prime minister in 1952 was a political move to secure the economic interests of countries like the United States and the United Kingdom. Most coups seek to eliminate rulers that oppress the lives of the people in the country. In this case, the circumstances were very different. The step by Mohammad Mosaddegh to nationalize the oil reserves aimed at ensuring that the people gained from the resources in their land. The prime minister wanted to increase the income in the government and avoid losing the national wealth to the foreign countries that controlled the reserves. His intentions were noble because he owed allegiance to his homeland. His plans and actions conflicted with those of the United Kingdom who were the beneficiaries and controllers of the reserves. The British investors together with their government sabotaged the economy and political stability of the country.
The unrest led to the loss of lives and destruction of property in the chaos that led to the coup (Campbell 283). The United States and the United Kingdom facilitated the coup for their selfish gains economically. They promoted the embargo of oil from the country and blocked the ports to prevent the sale of the oil. Secondly, they financed chaos in the country that led to the loss of lives and destruction of property as a way of overthrowing the prime minister. In the end, they fulfilled the objectives of their efforts, which were to gain control of the oil reserves and gain financially from the investment. The two countries did not consider the well-being of the citizens or their wishes in the nationalization issue. Instead, they exposed the citizens to poverty due to the financial control they had over the country. The driving force for the coup was the real economic interests the United States and the United Kingdom had in Iran. In the end, they supported a leader that was easy to manipulate and regained control over the fields.
Conclusion
In the mid-twentieth century, many countries fought for dominance by controlling strategic resources all over the world. Oil reserves were an important part of a dominant position. The biggest contesters were Russia and the United Kingdom, which were on opposing sides. Iran was an area of interest because of the rich oil fields in the country. The reign of Mohammad Mosaddegh conflicted with the interests of the United Kingdom by nationalizing the oil fields which were under the control of the United Kingdom. As such, the collaboration of the United States and the United Kingdom led to political and economic sabotage that saw the ousting of the prime minister. The coup caused the deaths of many people and destruction of property to regain control of the oil fields. The two countries did not consider the will of the people in nationalizing the oil fields. Instead, they considered their individual gains, causing massive chaos in the country. Therefore, it is safe to conclude that the coup aimed at restoring the economic benefits of the two countries through an elimination of a leader that supported nationalization. Ousting the prime minister was not in the interests of the citizens who suffered in the process. The coup prevented the local people from benefiting from the oil reserves, which was the intention of the ousted Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh.
Works Cited
Campbell, Colin J. Campbell's Atlas of Oil and Gas Depletion. Springer Science & Business Media, 2013. Print.
Durham, Robert B. False Flags, Covert Operations, & Propaganda. Milton Keynes: Lightning Source, 2014. Print.
Favennec, Jean-Pierre. The Geopolitics of Energy. Editions OPHRYS, 2011. Print.
Leonard, Thomas M. Encyclopedia of the developing world. New York: Routledge, 2006. Print.
Mikaberidze, Alexander. Conflict and conquest in the Islamic world : a historical encyclopedia. Santa Barbara, Calif: ABC-CLIO, 2011. Print.
Russell, Malcolm B. The Middle East & South Asia. Lanham, Md: Stryker Post Publications, 2014. Print.
