Saviour to Satan: The seeds of Iran-US hostility

India Today

23-06-2025

Tehran, November 4, 1979. The winter air burnt with rage, a smouldering fire of angry chants and angry fists pounding the sky. 'Death to America!' roared the crowd. 'Destroy the Big Satan,' fumed Iran's spiritual leader.Amid the chaos, a tidal wave of students crashed against the iron gates of the US Embassy. Inside, a young attache, hands trembling, clutched a phone, desperately trying to reach Washington: 'They're coming over the walls,' his voice frayed.advertisementUnable to control the rising tide, the gates buckled. The mob surged forward, and a revolutionary flood engulfed the compound. For 444 days, 52 Americans would become pawns in a game of vengeance, their captivity a wound that would scar the souls of two nations, leading to almost five decades of animus.
This is a story of two friends becoming bitter foes. A tale of the US turning from the saviour to the 'Big Satan.' To understand this rupture, we return to the post-World War II era, when oil and Cold War rivalries sowed discord.1949-1952: The Oil ConspiracyDuring the second great war, Iran was an ally of the Allied powers, its sovereignty guaranteed by the English, Americans and Soviets. In the aftermath of World War II, Iran's vast oil reserves had made it a pawn in a global chess game. By 1949, the great rivals of the Cold War, pro-Western and pro-Soviet, circled like vultures, each craving control.advertisementThe young Shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, sat uneasily on his Peacock Throne, his rule already scarred by violence. The battle for Iran's oil started with a winter of intrigues and betrayal.Tehran, February 5, 1949The faint echo of Pahlavi's footsteps on the ancient stones of Tehran was shattered by the sound of gunshots. Pahlavi escaped unhurt in the attempted assassination near Tehran University. According to The New York Times, the bid on the Shah's life, allegedly orchestrated by the Tudeh Party (Communists), was a stark warning: Iran was a battleground for pro-Soviet and pro-Western forces, each vying for control of its black gold.In June 1950, General Ali Razmara became Prime Minister in the midst of rising demands for wresting control of Iran's oil fields from the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (AIOC), later British Petroleum, which had long siphoned wealth to British coffers. Before Razmara could act, he was silenced on March 7, 1951, when an assassin's bullet felled him in a Tehran mosque.Into the breach stepped Mohammed Mossadegh, a nationalist, known for his ascetic life and emotional outbursts. 'The Iranian people will no longer be slaves to foreign interests,' Mossadegh declared. On April 28, 1951, he nationalised AIOC, igniting the ire of the British.advertisementFriction between Mossadegh and the Shah over oil policy reached a breaking point. On July 17, 1952, Mossadegh resigned, and Ahmed Ghavam was sworn in as PM. Tehran erupted. For three days, rioting tore apart the city. Within five days, the Shah, under relentless pressure, bowed to the will of the people and reinstated Mossadegh. The nationalist leader returned, stronger than ever. The stage was set for more bloodbath, and anarchy.1953: The Sinister PlotAcross the seas, in the smoke-filled halls of Washington and London, a different plan was taking shape. MI6 agent Christopher Montague Woodhouse, a key player in the Iran saga, laid out the stakes. 'Mossadegh's nationalisation of Anglo-Iranian Oil is a direct threat to Britain's economy,' he argued. 'If he aligns with Moscow, we lose the Persian Gulf.' (All the Shah's Men: Stephen Kinzer, 2003).By March 1953, the CIA drafted a scheme to topple Mossadegh and install a government more pliable to Western interests. On April 16, a detailed study titled 'Factors Involved in the Overthrow of Mossadegh' concluded that a coup was feasible. In Nicosia, Cyprus, on May 13, CIA and British intelligence officers huddled in secret, sketching the outlines of a plot that would reshape Iran. By June 10, in Beirut, the final coup plan was reviewed, and on June 19, it was submitted to the US State Department and the British Foreign Office. (Based on a timeline published by The New York Times)advertisementCIA Director Allen Dulles approved the plan, codenamed TPAJAX, with a budget of $1 million—peanuts for a nation's fate and its vast reserves. 'We had to act,' Dulles wrote in a CIA memo, declassified in 2013, 'to secure Iran's oil and block communist inroads.' On July 1, Britain's Prime Minister gave his approval, followed by President Eisenhower on July 11. The die was cast.Operation AjaxThe plan was intricate: bribe politicians, sway clerics, organise thugs for street protests, and unleash propaganda. The CIA spent $100,000, buying 'loyalty in parliament, press, and streets,' according to one account. Newspapers, paid by the CIA, vilified Mossadegh as a Soviet stooge. Radio broadcasts, scripted by operatives, warned of godless communism. The West's propaganda machinery churned out lies and rumours, creating a facade of anarchy and anger.On July 25, Princess Ashraf, the Shah's twin sister, arrived in Tehran from France, tasked by the CIA with convincing the monarch to sign a decree dismissing Mossadegh and naming General Fazlollah Zahedi, a lifelong royalist, as premier. It came with a chilling warning from the CIA, revealed later in declassified documents: 'Should the Shah fail to go along Zahedi would be informed that the United States would be ready to go ahead without the Shah's active cooperation.'advertisementMossadegh, sensing the gathering storm, moved decisively. On August 4, he held a referendum to dissolve Parliament, consolidating power amid suspicions of British and American plotting. On August 13, the Shah, under intense CIA pressure, signed the decrees dismissing Mossadegh and appointing Zahedi.A Failed CoupTehran, August 15, 1953. Inside a CIA safehouse, Kermit Roosevelt Jr, the grandson of US President Theodore Roosevelt, and mastermind of Op Ajax, chain-smoked nervously, waiting for the radio to crackle. Disguised as a businessman in sharp linen suits, he had entered Iran a few days ago to oversee the plot to topple Mossadegh. 'We're on the edge of history,' he'd later recall, 'and it could all collapse in a heartbeat.'Colonel Nematollah Nassiri, a Shah loyalist, gripped a royal firman, ordering Mossadegh's dismissal, in his trembling hands. As his jeep halted near the PM's humble residence, a surprise was waiting. Tipped off in advance, Mossadegh had alerted his troops, who immediately arrested Nassiri. The Shah, nervous and indecisive, fled to Baghdad, leaving Tehran to burn. Zahedi also disappeared into a safehouse in the mountains on the border.advertisement'Shah Flees Iran After Move to Dismiss Mossadegh Fails,' The New York Times screamed on August 17. 'The attempt to remove the Premier was made at midnight. The 72-year-old Premier was clearly master of the situationThe Government-authorised story is that alert Army officers foiled a palace guard coup after the plotters had been betrayed by Colonel Muntaz.'But Roosevelt wasn't ready to give up. Ignoring orders to abort the mission, he shot back: 'I'm still in the game.' Within a few days, Roosevelt would roll the dice again.(Next: The Game Begins)