The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power

by Daniel Yergin

At last, Anglo-Iranian came forward to offer its own fifty-fifty deal. It was no longer enough. The entire opposition in Iran now focused on the infamous Anglo-Iranian. The leader was an elderly firebrand, Mohammed Mossadegh, who was chairman of the oil committee in the Parliament. “The source of all the misfortunes of this tortured nation is only the oil company,” Mossadegh declared. Another deputy thundered that it would be better for the Iranian oil industry to be destroyed by an atomic bomb than remain in the hands of Anglo-Iranian. All were calling for nationalization of the industry and the ouster of Anglo-Iranian. Prime Minister Razmara did not know what to do. Finally, in a speech to Parliament in March 1951, he came out against nationalization. Four days later, as he was about to enter Tehran’s central mosque, he was assassinated by a young carpenter, who had been entrusted by Islamic terrorists with the “sacred mission” of killing the “British stooge.”