CIA-Backed Coup Overthrows Iran's Prime Minister Mossadegh

The CIA and British MI6 orchestrate Operation TPAJAX, toppling Iran's democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh and reinstating Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.

In 1951, Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh nationalized Iran's oil industry, which had been controlled by the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (later BP), threatening British and Western economic interests. Britain, unable to act alone, convinced the Eisenhower administration to co-sponsor a coup. The first attempt failed and the Shah briefly fled, but a second CIA-funded operation on August 19 succeeded. Mossadegh was arrested and placed under house arrest, and the Shah was restored to absolute power. The Shah would rule for 26 years with American backing, using the secret police (SAVAK) to suppress dissent. For Iranians, this event became the foundational grievance against American interference — a wound that has never fully healed and that directly shaped the revolution of 1979.