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Operation Ajax

Operation Ajax was a secret operation led by the United Kingdom and the United States in 1953, aimed at overthrowing the Prime Minister of Iran, Mohammad Mossadegh, to replace him with General Fazlollah Zahedi. The plan was approved by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill on an unspecified date, and by United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower on another unspecified date.

The operation was supported by many collaborators, including prominent members of the clergy, the majority of members of the Iranian Parliament, and the Shah himself, who supported the Iranian army. However, the course of events as well as the intentions of each other are not yet fully clear, although the archives of the US secret services were opened on the subject in August 2013.

The operation was part of a broader effort to strengthen the Shah's authority, and it ultimately succeeded in removing Mossadegh from power. The coup strengthened the Shah's position, allowing him to rule Iran for the next 26 years as a pro-Western monarch until he was overthrown in the Iranian Revolution in 1979.

The operation was motivated by several factors, including the desire to regain control over Iranian oil deposits and to prevent Soviet penetration in the Middle East during the Korean War. The United Kingdom sought to strengthen Mohammad Reza Pahlavi's personal power, while the United States feared that Iran's economic and political crisis could lead to instability in the region.

The operation involved a range of tactics, including staging pro-shah riots and using gangsters hired by the CIA to create chaos. Mossadegh was arrested, tried, and convicted of treason by the Shah's military court, and he was sentenced to three years in prison before being placed under house arrest for the remainder of his life.

The operation has been widely criticized as a covert act of regime change, with some arguing that it was a key factor in the rise of authoritarianism in Iran. In 2023, a CIA declassified document acknowledged the agency's role in the coup, stating that "propaganda, propaganda, propaganda" were central to the operation.

Background and Context

The idea of Operation Ajax had been discussed as early as 1952, when Mossadegh, who was also premier of the Democratic Republic of Congo at the time, began to seek greater control over Iranian oil reserves. The British government, which controlled the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (AIOC), saw this as a threat to its