West Asia At War: Repression, Resistance and Great Power Games

by Talmiz Ahmad

The passing of the Oil Nationalization Bill by the majlis on 28 April 1951 suffused the country with nationalistic fervour, but the nationalization programme was firmly resisted by the British government, the majority shareholder in the AIOC. Britain declared the nationalization illegal and initiated a global boycott of Iranian oil, while Mosaddeq projected it as a ‘historic struggle’ and a ‘holy struggle’ to liberate the East from Western tutelage.3 The British worked on the Americans against Mosaddeq’s powerful messages by playing on their concern relating to communist influence, fusing this with safeguarding Western commercial interests. British efforts in Washington were successful – a joint plan was developed by their intelligence agencies to overthrow Mosaddeq. In fact, all details of the plan were finalized nearly a year before it was operationalized on 19 August 1953.4 It was implemented with the help of Iranian army officers, sections of the clergy, and the (reluctant) support of the shah. Clerics were upset with the government giving women the right to vote and lifting the ban on alcohol. Ayatollah Abol Qassem Kashani, earlier a supporter of Mosaddeq, left the National Front, and set up a separate Islamic grouping in the majlis.5 This overthrow of a democratically elected government by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) continues to poison the Iranian view of the US’s role in Iranian affairs. Though the event is little-remembered by later US leaders, ‘it remai...