Four Days in August

Summary

Throughline – "Four Days in August"

Episode Date: February 7, 2019
Hosts: Rund Abdelfattah & Ramtin Arablouei

Overview:

The inaugural episode of NPR’s Throughline revisits the seismic events surrounding the 1953 Iranian coup d’état, orchestrated in large part by the CIA and MI6. The episode transports listeners to Tehran in August 1953, uncovering the backstory behind the coup that ousted Iran’s democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh and reinstated the Shah. Through narration, interviews with historians and eyewitnesses, and vivid archival reports, the hosts illuminate how this pivotal moment set the stage for decades of fraught US-Iran relations and shaped the geopolitics of the Middle East.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Setting the Stage: Tehran, August 1953

• Opening Sequence: The tension in Tehran on the eve of a coup as Mossadegh awaits his fate.
  • “Elected Prime Minister of Iran, Mohammad Mosadegh was sitting at home waiting. He knew something was coming and he had no idea if he’d still be Prime Minister by morning.” – Rund Abdelfattah (00:31)
• First Coup Attempt Fails
  • Details of the initial failed military operation to oust Mossadegh.
  • Mossadegh’s forces outmaneuver coup plotters by receiving an early warning (01:07).
  • “When the soldiers arrived at Mossadegh’s house to arrest him, other soldiers jumped out of the woods and arrested those guys.” – Narrator (01:29)
• Significance: Sets up the broader theme – this was just the beginning of foreign intervention and subterfuge that would alter Iran’s destiny (01:42).

2. Unpacking the CIA Coup Plan

• Introduction to Kermit Roosevelt (CIA Chief orchestrating the coup)
  • Well-connected, Ivy League, grandson of Theodore Roosevelt (07:10–07:35).
• Covert Steps to Destabilization (08:25–11:20)
  1. Seizing the Press:
     • Bribery and anti-Mossadegh propaganda.
     • CIA not only paid Iranian journalists, but even wrote fake stories themselves.
       • “I would write an article about how Mossadegh was an atheist and he hated God… a couple of days later, a guy from the analysis division would run over… holding up an Iranian newspaper and saying, 'Wow, you won’t believe how the newspapers in Iran are denouncing Mossadegh.' Look what this article. And I couldn’t tell him I wrote that article.” – Narrator (09:13)
  2. Recruiting the Clergy:
     • CIA payments to mullahs to denounce Mossadegh as irreligious from the pulpit (09:59).
  3. Getting the Shah on Board:
     • Coercion, bribery, and clandestine meetings.
     • The Shah initially resists; methods escalate to bribing his sister (includes a fur coat) (10:41).
     • Roosevelt’s persistence finally induces the Shah’s cooperation: “Roosevelt managed to convince the Shah that Mossadegh was a threat. And so the Shah agreed to the coup.” (10:53–11:10)
  4. Arrest Plan:
     • Attempt to arrest Mossadegh in the night and consolidate power for the Shah – ultimately, this first attempt fails (11:20).

3. The Roots: Oil, Colonial Influence, and Nationalization

• British-Iranian Oil Arrangement:
  • Iran discovered oil in 1908; British interests quickly dominated (12:01).
  • One-sided contracts: Britain took 80%+ of the profits, Iran just about 10% (12:21).
    • “Great Britain was taking well over 80% of the revenues, while Iran was receiving about 10 to 12%...”
  • Iran’s corrupt Qajar dynasty desperately sold off national assets to survive (12:42–12:59).
  • The Anglo-Persian Oil Company (precursor to BP) becomes a central antagonist (13:25).
• Mossadegh’s Push for Oil Nationalization:
  • Broke off with Britain, emboldened oil nationalism, leading to his election as Prime Minister (13:40–14:16).

4. US Involvement and Cold War Context

• Britain Calls for Help:
  • Truman administration resists, but Eisenhower administration gives a green light amid Cold War anxieties (14:36–15:25).
  • Proximity to the USSR and internal leftist parties in Iran raise US fears of communism (15:25–15:45).
  • “All these factors... eventually convince the US to get on board with Britain’s plan... to stage a coup and overthrow Iran's Prime Minister, Mohammad Mossadegh.” – Narrator (16:09–16:16)

5. Second Coup Attempt: Chaos, Mob Tactics, and Success

• Plan B in Action (28:39–31:38):
  • On August 19, 1953, Roosevelt stirs up street violence, hiring criminals and gangs to masquerade as both Mossadegh supporters and detractors, inciting chaos (29:03–29:44).
    • “Roosevelt actually paid criminals and gang members… yelling, we love Mossadegh. We love Communism. And then he hired a second mob to attack the first mob... everyone involved was being paid by the same source, the CIA.” – Narrator (29:27–29:46)
  • Mossadegh’s naive trust in peaceful demonstrations leaves him unguarded (30:05–30:16).
  • The showdown at Mossadegh’s house: Military leaders (bribed by the CIA) attack, Mossadegh barely escapes but surrenders, and Zahedi is installed as the interim leader. The Shah returns to power (31:17–31:46).
  • Mossadegh becomes a “taboo figure,” erased from public life, but cements his status as a symbol of lost Iranian potential (32:27).

6. Aftermath: Long-Term Impact on Iran & US-Iran Relations

• The Shah’s Rule:
  • Dictatorial regime, western alignment, suppression of Mossadegh’s legacy (31:46–32:09).
• Consequences for Mossadegh and Supporters:
  • Mossadegh sentenced to house arrest, close advisors executed, purge of military dissidents (32:40–33:11).
• Resulting Grievances and the 1979 Revolution:
  • Growing resentment and rise of religious fundamentalism.
  • The 1979 Islamic Revolution and US Embassy hostage crisis trace their roots directly to this coup (34:15–35:05).

7. Rethinking the Narrative: Responsibility and Irony

• Role of Iran’s Clergy:
  • Historian and writer Roya Hakakian challenges the dominant Western narrative, noting the clergy’s instrumental, self-serving role in both 1953 and 1979 (36:12–37:30).
    • “The piece that’s missing... is the fact that Kermit Roosevelt decides very wisely, obviously, to go pay a visit to the Grand Ayatollah. And you know, history changes course after he does that.” – Roya Hakakian (36:40)
  • The clergy opposed democracy, benefitted from foreign intervention, and then appropriated Mossadegh’s legacy to justify later power grabs (37:30).
• Dueling Narratives:
  • Iranians see 1953 as the “original sin,” while Americans focus on the 1979 hostage crisis (38:28–39:15).
  • “U.S.-Iran relations begin and end with the hostage crisis. That’s the moment… From the Iranian perspective, things are very different... like parallel train tracks that just keep running parallel. They never coincide.” – Narrator (38:35–39:15)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Press Manipulation:
  • “I would write an article about how Mossadegh was an atheist and he hated God. And then a couple of days later, a guy from the analysis division would run over… holding up an Iranian newspaper and saying, ‘Wow, you won’t believe how the newspapers in Iran are denouncing Mossadegh. Look what this article…’ And I couldn’t tell him I wrote that article.” – Narrator (09:13)
• On Iranian Oil Politics:
  • “Great Britain was taking well over 80% of the revenues, while Iran was receiving about 10 to 12% of the revenues from its own natural resource.” – Sonam Bakil (12:21)
• On Mossadegh:
  • “You get the feeling that this is a kind, fatherly person who cares about the people… for the first time that an Iranian politician would address them as ‘dear fellow citizen.’” – Dr. Ibrahim Norouzi (20:12)
• On American Missionaries:
  • “Just because I was born in America, that doesn’t mean I’m better than them. I’m like them, I’m gonna fight for them, for their cause. And this is a good cause.” – Dr. Norouzi, quoting Howard Baskerville (25:16)
• On Mob Tactics:
  • “Everybody involved... was being paid to be there. But what they didn’t know was they were being paid by the same source, the CIA.” – Narrator (29:44)
• On Lingering Trauma:
  • “You can still make the argument that the original sin of the U.S.-Iran relationship was what happened in August 1953 and that that set the tone for everything to follow.” – Ramtin Arablouei (38:19)
• On Diverging Perspectives:
  • “Iranian and American perceptions, they’re like parallel train tracks that just keep running parallel. They never coincide.” – Narrator (39:15)

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Key Timestamps

• 00:23: Tehran, eve of coup—setting the stakes
• 07:10: Introduction of Kermit Roosevelt
• 08:25–11:20: Covert steps of the CIA plan
• 12:01–13:25: The roots of Britain’s oil interests in Iran
• 14:16: Mossadegh’s oil nationalization, British outrage
• 15:25: Cold War and rise of US involvement
• 28:39–31:38: Second coup attempt, street chaos, Mossadegh’s arrest
• 32:40: Mossadegh’s fate; fallout
• 35:05–37:30: 1979 Revolution, hostage crisis rationale, the enduring power of Mossadegh’s legacy
• 38:35: US and Iranian diverging historical memories

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Conclusion

"Four Days in August" masterfully reconstructs the 1953 Iranian coup, highlighting the complexity of foreign intervention, the seductive power of oil, and the unintended consequences that echo through Iranian and global history. The show complicates the standard narrative, revealing layers of intrigue, resistance, and betrayal—while igniting empathy and curiosity about the origins of today’s US-Iranian tensions.

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The episode is essential listening for anyone interested in US foreign policy, Middle Eastern history, and the power of historical memory to shape contemporary politics.

Transcript

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[Rund Abdelfattah]

to warbyparker.com August 15, 1953.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

Shortly before midnight in Tehran, Iran's capital city, the air was thick with anticipation. Something big was about to happen.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

Elected Prime Minister of Iran, Mohammad Mosadel was sitting at home waiting. He knew something was coming and he

[Ramtin Arablouei]

had no idea if he'd still be Prime Minister by morning.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

So with each tick, tick, tick of the clock, he knew that the future of Iran was at stake.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

One truckload of presidential guard soldiers were going to Mosaddegh's house at midnight.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

Their mission was simple.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

Go to Mosaddegh's house in the middle

[Ramtin Arablouei]

of the night, knock on the door,

[Rund Abdelfattah]

tell him he's fired.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

Mosaddegh would then protest, undoubtedly, and say, you can't fire me. I'm elected.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

And at that point you would arrest him.

[Sonam Bakil]

That failed because Mossadegh found out about the arrest.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

News of it leaked out.

[Sonam Bakil]

Then there was a bit of panic among the army that was supposed to come out and support the arrest of Mosaddegh. The phone lines were supposed to be cut. They were not cut. So there were a number of missteps that took place.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

And when the soldiers arrived at Mosaddegh's house to arrest him, other soldiers jumped out of the woods and arrested those guys.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

Mossadegh's forces had foiled the coup attempt. He would stay Prime Minister.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

But little did he know that night was just the beginning of a much bigger battle to come. And it would change the future of Iran and America.

[Archival News Reporter]

Iran's British hating Premier Mossadegh arrives in Cairo. Former Premier Mossadegh's Bruin counts his mute testimony to three days of bloody rioting.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

That show is rolled 1953 coup. You're listening to Throughline, where we go back in time to understand the present.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

Hey, I'm Ramtin arablouei.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

I'm Rund Abdelfattah.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

And welcome to the first episode of Throughline.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

I'm not gonna lie, I'm still a little bit shocked that they give us a show.

[Archival News Reporter]

I know.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

I can't believe we're here, but we're

[Rund Abdelfattah]

really excited and really glad that you decided to join us for this ride because Rantin and I have been talking this for a while. Like a lot of you, we're news Junkies. And we were just pretty frustrated with the lack of historical context around a lot of the headlines we were reading.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

And we would end up in these Wikipedia wormholes trying to figure out the history behind things. So we wanted to create a show where you, the listeners and us, could go on this journey every single week and become better informed about the world around us.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

And do it in a way that wasn't boring.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

Yes, exactly.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

So in this first episode, we're going to take you to Iran and the story of Four Days in 1953. All right, Ramtin, you were born in Iran and you've spent a bunch of time there. So I'm curious, how much had you heard about this American coup growing up?

[Ramtin Arablouei]

I definitely heard stuff about it, especially from my father, who would remind me all the time, like, the only reason we're here in the US is because what the US did to our democracy in 1953. Right. And I would always just kind of like brush it off, like, whatever. That couldn't have happened. It's just like Iranian conspiracy theory stuff. Right. But as I grew up, I realized the US actually did interfere in Iran's politics in 1953.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

I'm gonna be honest, like, I didn't have much of an idea about this going into the episode. And it's like a really big shocking thing to not have much of an idea about. Because I always thought that 1979 was the real pivotal moment. Right. That the Iranian revolution that happened that year and the hostage crisis at the American Embassy, those were the things that really set the tone for, like, this very 10 relationship between the US and Iran.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

Yeah, I mean, that makes sense. Like, why would you or any other American think differently? Right. Because 1979 was such an important year, but 1953 is really when it all goes down.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

Doesn't it suck that your dad was right?

[Ramtin Arablouei]

Yeah, it really does. It does.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

Okay, I want to get into it. It's a great story. So we're going to take you back to that pivotal moment more than 65 years ago to understand what happened during

[Ramtin Arablouei]

the coup, why the US Made that

[Rund Abdelfattah]

decision, and how this event redefined the U. S. Iran relationship and changed the world.

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[Archival News Reporter]

they call you Lady

[Rund Abdelfattah]

Luck August 16, 1953

[Archival News Reporter]

at times, you have a very unladylike way of running out.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

In the early morning of August 16, 1953, American agents were hiding out in a safe house at a secret location in Tehran, listening to this song, Luck Be a Lady Tonight.

[Archival News Reporter]

Luck be a lady tonight.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

They were waiting to hear whether the coup they had engineered had worked. And the mood was electric. Music blasting, booze flowing, everyone celebrating a job well done.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

Now remember, this is 1953, so there were no breaking news alerts, no email, no good way to deliver information fast.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

So as far as these guys knew, the coup had gone off without a hitch.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

And there was one guy who was especially happy. Kermit Roosevelt.

[Sonam Bakil]

So Kermit Roosevelt was chief of the CIA's Near east and Africa division.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

Like many of the figures in the early CIA, he had been born into privilege, gone to Ivy League schools. His grandfather had been Theodore Roosevelt, distant

[Sonam Bakil]

relative of FDR as well. He was called in to help facilitate this transition.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

So on July 19, 1953, Kermit Roosevelt crossed over into Iran.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

This is Stephen Kinzer. He wrote a groundbreaking book on this

[Ramtin Arablouei]

coup called all the Shah's Men and Sanambakki.

[Sonam Bakil]

Oh, okay, now you can hear me. Hello.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

A research fellow at Chatham House in London, where she leads the Iran Forum Project. And they were our guides through this story.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

Okay, so Kermit Roosevelt entered Iran on July 19 with a pretty big mission ahead of him. Stage a coup to get rid of Iran's Prime Minister, Mohammad Mossadegh.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

And we'll explain why in a bit.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

But the first question Roosevelt had to

[Narrator/Storyteller]

answer I've asked myself this question was, how so you're sent into a foreign country and your assignment is overthrow the government. What do you do? Like, what do you do on the first day, nine o', clock, you get to the office. How do you start?

[Rund Abdelfattah]

Even though the CIA had devised a plan for Roosevelt, no one was sure it would actually work. It was suddenly up to Roosevelt to destabilize a whole country.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

Step one, seize control of the Iranian press.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

Basically buy them off with bribes.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

Turned out that the press was quite

[Ramtin Arablouei]

corrupt, and soon enough, Roosevelt had columnists, editors and reporters from most of Iran's newspapers on his payroll. Then anti Mossadegh propaganda began printing everywhere.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

Mossadegh was a Jew, a homosexual, a British agent, anything that they thought would outrage people.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

There was such an appetite for these stories that Iranian journalists just couldn't keep up. So Roosevelt had to recruit CIA agents back in Washington to write some of the articles for the Iranian press.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

In fact, one of them later wrote a memoir, and he talked about how bizarre it was at the CIA. You had the people plotting the Iran coup and then you had analysts on the other side who weren't aware of the COVID action. And he said, I would write an article about how Mossadegh was an atheist and he hated God. And then a couple of days later, a guy from the other side of the hall in the analysis division would run over to my office, holding up an Iranian newspaper and saying, wow, you won't believe how the newspapers in Iran are denouncing Mossadegh. Look what this article. And I couldn't tell him I wrote that article.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

Step two, recruit allies on the ground. Most importantly, the Islamic clergy or mullahs, who held a lot of power in Iran.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

Kermit Roosevelt made strategic payments to a number of important mullahs in exchange for them delivering sermons, denouncing Mossadegh from the pulpit as against God and irreligious.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

Step three, get Iran's king, the Shah, on board.

[Sonam Bakil]

And convince the Iranian shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, that Mossadegh was a threat.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

This part took some persuading, though.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

Yeah, because in theory at least, the Shah and the Prime Minister were meant to work together.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

But there was a lot of tension between them because for decades, Iran's parliament and Shah had a tough time sharing power. It would be a big deal for the Shah to help overthrow the Prime Minister. But Roosevelt saw an opening to turn them against each other.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

That included bribing the Shah's sister and in exchange for her help, convincing the Shah to sign on. And there are reports that a fur coat was even part of the deal. But that tactic failed.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

Eventually, Roosevelt took matters into his own hands and began meeting with the Shah almost every day at midnight in a taxi cab, always in a different location. During these late night meetings, Roosevelt managed to convince the Shah that Mossadegh was a threat. And so the Shah agreed to the couple.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

And finally, step four, go to Mossadegh's house in the middle of the night, arrest him, and consolidate power in the hands of the Shah, who was more friendly towards the west than Mossadegh.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

But remember, the coup attempt failed.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

At this point, you're probably wondering why the US went to all this trouble. Sending Roosevelt to Iran, having him stir up chaos in the country and ultimately trying to carry out a coup. Why were they so hell bent on getting Mossadegh out of power?

[Ramtin Arablouei]

Well, the truth is the US was dragged into the situation by Great Britain all because of one thing.

[Archival News Reporter]

A fifth of the world's oil supply was cut off. And nationalist feeling ran high against Britain and the Western democracies.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

We sometimes say that countries are blessed with resources, but sometimes resources can be a curse, particularly if you're a country that's weak, because there are always strong countries that want to come and take what you have.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

And Iran was cursed with a lot of oil. Oil was discovered there in 1908, and almost immediately Great Britain took an interest. And at that time, Britain was the world's biggest superpower. So they decided to strike a deal with the Iranian Shah and they needed a lot of oil.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

This deal between the British and Iran was completely one sided.

[Sonam Bakil]

Great Britain was taking well over 80% of the revenues, while Iran was receiving about 10 to 12% of the revenues from its natural resource.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

Wait, wait. A deal like that makes no sense though. Why did Iran agree to that?

[Ramtin Arablouei]

Well, yeah, it makes no sense unless you're in desperate need of money. And Iran's government in the early 20th century was desperate.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

Iran during the early part of the 20th century was still ruled by the old Qajar royal dynasty. This was a very corrupt dynasty and it supported itself by selling off anything of value in Iran.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

They sold off the transportation industry, the tobacco industry, the caviar fisheries. They even sold off the country's treasury and banking industries. It was basically a free for all. And the British were first in line. Oil was by far their most valuable acquisition. And here's a fun fact. The company that controlled all of that oil was originally called the Anglo Persian Oil Company, which would later become Every day BP supplies the fuel of lubricants

[Narrator/Storyteller]

that start the engine.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

Oh, Bridge Petroleum. So this was obviously very lucrative for them.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

Very lucrative. And During World War I and 2, Iranian oil pumped life into the British war effort. So it was absolutely essential to Britain's future.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

Okay, this all really helps explain the next part of the story, Right? Because before he's even Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh got to work lobbying against this unfair oil deal, hoping to get a better deal for Iran.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

He tried to negotiate a new deal with the British that would allow Iran to keep a bigger share of the

[Rund Abdelfattah]

profits, which I'm sure freaked out the British.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

And when negotiations broke down, the British imposed a worldwide embargo on Iranian oil. Eventually, in 1951, Mossadegh convinced the Iranian parliament to nationalize Iran's oil. And a month later, he was elected Prime Minister, which really sent the British through the roof.

[Archival News Reporter]

Premier Mossadegh, spearhead of the oil nationalization program, took his case to the United nations, where he remained adamant in his.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

So the British decided that the only solution was to get rid of Mossadegh and put in a more favorable government. And Mossadegh, sensing the British were up to something, shut down their embassy in Iran.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

And here's where I'm assuming the US Enters the picture. Right?

[Ramtin Arablouei]

Right.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

So they called the Americans for help, and President Truman said, no, not going to do it. He actually sent a mediator to Iran. He had Mossadegh come to Washington to try to persuade him, but when nothing worked, he essentially told the British, there's nothing you can do. You're gonna have to swallow this. Like we had to swallow Mexico nationalizing its oil industry in the 30s. We didn't like it. You're just gonna have to live with this.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

But the following year, Dwight Eisenhower became president, and his thinking was a little different.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

Suddenly, you don't have an American president who forbids military action. But on the contrary, you have a new team that's eager to show. Show that it's going to roll back threats to the United States. And that played right into the British hands.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

Plus, this was right around the time when the Cold War was heating up and Iran happened to share a border with the Soviet Union.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

So what can he do to show that he's fighting Communism? Well, he can't bomb Moscow. He's not going to invade China. You can't go after the real enemy. It's not possible. So you have to go after somebody else.

[Sonam Bakil]

Iran, also in this period, and I think it's important to mention, there was a Communist Party known as the Tudeh that was active in Parliament, was supporting Mossadegh.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

And even though, by all accounts, Mossadegh was not a communist himself, the US Was still on high alert. So all these factors a the British want us to eventually convince the US

[Narrator/Storyteller]

battle Mossadegh is threatening the world economic

[Ramtin Arablouei]

get on board with Britain's plan.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

See, we're desperate for a victory to

[Ramtin Arablouei]

stage a coup and overthrow Iran's Prime Minister, Mohammad Mossadegh.

[Archival News Reporter]

And yet, before this evening is over, you might give me the brush.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

At 6am the morning after the coup attempt, Roosevelt and his men, tired from a night of partying, tuned into the radio. But all they heard was silence,

[Roya Hakakian]

and

[Rund Abdelfattah]

Roosevelt knew something had gone wrong. Then suddenly, the radio crackled on, military music started playing, and Mossadegh announced victory over an attempted coup. He noticed that the Shah was nowhere to be found and immediately suspected that the Shah was behind the coup attempt. Meanwhile, the Shah knew this might happen and fearing Mossadegh would come after him, hopped on his private plane and flew to Baghdad.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

And from there, he went on to Rome, where he told reporters, I'm probably going to have to look for work now because I'm obviously never going to be able to go back to Iran.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

So to recap, at the end of day two, the Shah had left Iran, Mossadegh was still in power, with no idea that the US Was behind the coup attempt, and Roosevelt had failed. But even though his bosses back in Washington told him he could go home

[Narrator/Storyteller]

after the coup failed, Kermit Roosevelt was not willing to give up that easily. I think it came a little bit from the old CIA can do mentality. I think he also sensed how weak the Iranian political establishment was. He thought he still had assets that he hadn't used.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

Mossadegh wasn't out of the woods just yet.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

Kermit Roosevelt had not given up and was actually was having a plan B.

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Support for npr. And the following message come from Warby Parker. The one stop shop for all your vision needs. They offer expertly crafted prescription eyewear plus contacts, eye exams and more for everything you need to see. Visit your nearest Warby Parker store or head to warbyparker.com this message comes from NPR sponsor Carvana. Carvana believes selling your car should be refreshingly simple. Enter your license plate or vin, get a real offer down to the penny and schedule a pickup on your time. No surprises. Sell your car [e-mail] pickup fees may apply. This message comes from Granger. This is the story of the 1. As a procurement manager for a hospital system, she keeps every facility in her network stocked and ready. That's why she counts on Grainger to be her single source for thousands of products, from disinfectants to lighting, air filters, and more. And with fast, dependable delivery, Granger helps her keep every facility stocked, safe, and running smoothly. Call 1-800-granger. Click granger.com or just stop by Granger for the ones who get it done.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

August 17, 1953.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

A couple days after the failed coup attempt, crowds of supporters packed the streets chanting the words Mossadegh has won and victory to the nation. It seemed like the worst was behind Mossadegh. He survived a coup attempt and lived to tell the tale. But this was the calm before the storm. Backroom dealings were happening out of sight, and the threat to Mossadegh was still very real. And we'll get to that.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

But during this momentary calm, we want to give you some insight into the man who was at the center of this whole thing. The man the US and Britain were terrified of, Mohammad Mossadegh.

[Dr. Ibrahim Norouzi]

You get the feeling that this is a kind, fatherly person who cares about the people, and he's very respectful of people. He talks to people with respect. For the first time that an Iranian politician would address them as dear fellow citizen.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

This is Dr. Ibrahim Nooruzi.

[Dr. Ibrahim Norouzi]

I'm a retired physician.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

Dr. Norouzi was born in 1942 in a town in Iran called Qasvin, and he's a Mossadegh superfan. He even created a website to honor him. Dr. Nowruzi became very interested in politics from a young age.

[Dr. Ibrahim Norouzi]

I have no idea exactly why, because we didn't even have radio in our house when I was a kid. When I was in elementary school, maybe, I was very tiny and I was bullied a lot, maybe. So I wanted some sort of justice in the world.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

Dr. Norouzi, like a lot of Iranians, sees Mossadegh as kind of a national hero, a sort of Gandhi for Iran. He's really become a mythical figure. But to really understand Mossadegh, we have to find the man behind the myth.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

So Mohammad Mosaddegh was an Iranian aristocrat again, Stephen Kinzer. His father had been Finance Minister for decades under the Qajar regime. His mother was a princess.

[Sonam Bakil]

He held various positions. That's Sonam Bakil, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Finance, elected twice to the Iranian Parliament.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

He went off to be educated in Europe. He came home and began campaigning against the agreement by which the British were trying to subjugate Iran and became quite outraged at the injustices he saw around him.

[Sonam Bakil]

And Mossadegh was Known to be very dramatic. These anecdotes where he used to receive visitors in his bed, in his pajamas, for example.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

Mossadegh was a pretty eccentric guy, prone to outbursts and dramatic speeches where he would cry, even pass out. And the US And Britain saw him as kind of erratic and unreliable, difficult to negotiate with, even if he was a fan of democratic ideas.

[Sonam Bakil]

Very much believed in the democratic ideals, unchecks and balances that were necessary to curtail monarchical power at the time. And he came of age during a time where these changes also influenced the political system.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

The biggest political change he witnessed happened when Mossadegh was in his twenties. Between 1905 and 1911, Iran went through a constitutional revolution.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

This was a remarkable moment in Middle Eastern history and in the history of the developing world. Iran developed a constitution in 1906. There are countries in the Middle east that don't even have a constitution today.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

The revolution sought to make Iran more democratic with things like a parliament, a constitution, and a free press.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

See, for centuries, the country had been ruled by shahs or kings, with power passing from fathers to sons. But by the turn of the 20th

[Rund Abdelfattah]

century, by the turn of the 20th century, the corrupt, irresponsible business dealings of the shahs were driving the Iranian economy straight into the ground, which made the shahs really unpopular among the people.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

And this wasn't like normal corruption. We're talking crazy, excessive spending.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

Yeah. Like, one shah had a harem of 1600 people.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

1600.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

1600. And he and his many, many sons would use the national treasury as their personal piggy bank, taking money out whenever, you know, they wanted to travel around Europe.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

He also demanded that people call him one of the following names. Shah of Shahs, Asylum of the Universe, Subduer of Climate, Guardian of the Flock, or Shadow of God on Earth.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

I could see you wanting to be called Guardian of the Flock, or would you prefer Shadow of God on Earth?

[Ramtin Arablouei]

I personally like Subduer of Climate. That just feels. I don't know, but it just feels like we need a Subduer of Climate. Actually, we do need one right now. You're right.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

Anyway, point is, the shahs were out of control, and the constitutional revolution united people across Iran against the Shah in favor of a more representative government, a

[Sonam Bakil]

coalition, if you will, of intellectuals, people from the bazaar, the clergy.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

When that coalition stood up to the monarchy, violence broke out.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

And one of the most interesting stories that I came across, Ramtin, that I don't think I've told you about yet, was the story of this American guy who Actually fought in Iran's constitutional revolution.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

What? Really?

[Rund Abdelfattah]

Yeah. His name was Howard Baskerville.

[Dr. Ibrahim Norouzi]

Howard Baskerville, who was a graduate of Princeton University Seminary School.

[Sonam Bakil]

Baskerville was an American missionary. And in this period, there was a lot of missionary activity coming from the United States. They would support education in various countries throughout the Middle East.

[Dr. Ibrahim Norouzi]

He came to Iran and he identified with their plight and basketball. Wanted to go and fight on the

[Rund Abdelfattah]

side of the constitutionalists.

[Dr. Ibrahim Norouzi]

Exactly.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

But the U.S. representative in Iran begged Baskerville not to join the fight.

[Dr. Ibrahim Norouzi]

He came to him and yelled at him, no, you can't do that. You know, you shouldn't get involved in civil war of other countries. You came here to help, you know? But he wouldn't listen. And then he threatened him that if you go and involve yourself in the war, I take away your passport. He said, okay, this is my passport. He threw it at him. He said, no. Just because I was born in America, that doesn't mean I'm better than them. I'm like them. I'm gonna fight for them, for their cause. And this is a good cause. Unfortunately, he dies just the first hour of a battle. And by the way, Basketville, his sculpture was installed in Constitutional hall in Tabriz. And his tomb is like a worship place. So Iranians extrapolated these missionaries action to America as a government. So what I'm saying is that Americans left a very good impression in Iran. Iranians loved it.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

I had never heard of this guy Howard Baskerville.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

Neither had I before this. I mean, it's really wild to think that this guy would have laid down his life for Iran's constitutional revolution. Like, think about it. How many Americans at that time even knew where Iran was, let alone go over there and fight?

[Rund Abdelfattah]

Right? And it's interesting because at that time, Britain and the Shah were the bad guys, but America was kind of an ally in their fight.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

Yeah, exactly. Until they got involved. In the days after the coup attempt, however, all that seemed to matter was that Mossadegh was a man of the people and that he was still in power but out of sight. A new plot against Mossadegh was brewing.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

Kermit Roosevelt's plan B.

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[Rund Abdelfattah]

August 19, 1953.

[Archival News Reporter]

Attention is focused once again on the Middle east, where events in Iran have

[Narrator/Storyteller]

taken a dramatic double twist.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

During the three days after the Shah fled and Roosevelt's coup attempt failed, Roosevelt

[Rund Abdelfattah]

set the stage for his second coup attempt. And on August 19th, it began.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

Hundreds and hundreds of rioters filled the streets of Tehran. And in a word, it was chaos.

[Archival News Reporter]

300 killed and hundreds wounded is a conservative estimate.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

And his plan was this. First of all, higher gangs of Iranians, through people who controlled criminal protection rackets and pay them to go out on the street and cause chaos.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

So Roosevelt actually paid criminals and gang members to storm into the city, beat

[Ramtin Arablouei]

up people in the streets, break shop

[Narrator/Storyteller]

windows, shoot your guns into mosques, and while doing all that, yell, we love Mossadegh. We love Communism. And then he hired a second mob to attack the first mob, which led

[Ramtin Arablouei]

to bloody, violent clashes between the two mobs.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

And the really trippy thing was that

[Narrator/Storyteller]

everybody involved, everybody involved in the battles was being paid to be there. But what they didn't know was they were being paid by the same source, the CIA.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

And all of this was designed to create confusion and to signal that Mossadegh was the source of the violence in the country, that he was losing control, which was becoming more and more true.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

Mossadegh refused to send the police out because he said, well, they're peaceful demonstrators. People should be allowed to say what they want. He truly was too naive to grasp what was happening.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

And this brings us to the final part of Roosevelt's plan to get rid of Mossadegh once and for all. Roosevelt ordered both mobs to head to

[Narrator/Storyteller]

Mossadegh's house So a giant crowd surrounded

[Rund Abdelfattah]

Mossadegh's house, shouting insults and thrown stones.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

Then who should show up? But several police and military commanders, including a couple with tanks. People who Kermit Roosevelt had bribed to participate.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

Those officers began opening fire on Mossadegh's house. While inside, Mossadegh and a few of his closest advisors huddled together.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

Tells them, I want to die here in the house. But somehow they managed to drag him out a back window. They got him over a fence, he fled, the house was looted, and immediately thereafter, Kermit Roosevelt went to get his savior General, who he'd been hiding in a safe house, brought the guy to a radio station, and the guy proclaimed himself as the new leader of Iran.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

So this guy, General Zahedi, was put in tower as a placeholder until the Shah, who remember, had fled to Rome, could return. Mossadegh eventually turned himself in. And just like that, with a couple of chess moves, Kermit Roosevelt's plan ushered Iran into a new era.

[Archival News Reporter]

The Shah, who had fled to Rome, comes home, backed by General Zahedi, military strongman who engineered his return to power.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

Everything Mossadegh was, the Shah was not.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

Which isn't really surprising given the corruption of the Shahs.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

The Shah then ruled over Iran like a dictator for 25 years. And the Western powers, including the US, didn't really care because it gave them easy access to Iran's oil.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

During that time, the Shah did everything in his power to get rid of any trace of the Mossadegh era.

[Dr. Ibrahim Norouzi]

Mossadegh's name was banned again.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

Dr. Nowruzi, you don't hear anything about

[Dr. Ibrahim Norouzi]

Mosaddegh after the coup. And that was the time I was actually in high school. I don't remember anything, you know, much.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

Mossadegh, the coup, they were off limits. Things that the Iranian government wanted people to forget.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

Under these conditions, Mossadegh became a sort of legend, a symbol of Iran's lost potential.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

The CIA only officially acknowledged its role in the coup in 2013. Sixty years later, in case you're wondering

[Narrator/Storyteller]

what happened to Mossadegh, so he turned himself in.

[Archival News Reporter]

In the quick shift of power, Mossadegh was finally apprehended and awaits trial and

[Narrator/Storyteller]

was placed on trial, was convicted of treason and sentenced to a prison term followed by life under house arrest. A couple of his closest advisors were executed. There were hundreds of other executions of people who were suspected to be disloyal in the military. And Mossadegh remained almost a taboo figure almost for the rest of his life.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

As for Kermit, Roosevelt.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

Kermit Roosevelt stayed in Tehran to wait for the Shah to come back from Rome, and then arranged a farewell meeting with the Shah before leaving Iran. The Shah greeted him with a toast and he said, I owe my throne to God, my people, and you. He was right, although it might not be the right order. So Kermit Roosevelt went home and of course, he was welcomed jubilantly back in Washington as a kind of a conquering hero. He went on to more years at the CIA, then later left, became an oil consultant.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

Oh, and speaking of oil, the holy grail of resources that started this whole thing, as you might expect, Iranians still ended up with a pretty bad deal. After the coup was said and done,

[Archival News Reporter]

Iranian oil may again flow westward.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

Okay, so given all this, fundamentalism took hold. Resentment built up against the Shah.

[Archival News Reporter]

The Shah declared martial law in most of Iran.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

And in 1979, Iranians reached a breaking point and revolted against the Shah.

[Archival News Reporter]

The crowd shouted, death to the Shah.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

The Shah fled Iran and the clergy assumed control of the country. That same year, a hostage crisis unfolded at the American Embassy. CBS News.

[Archival News Reporter]

Young Iranians, described as students acting with the blessing of Ayatollah Khomeini, have occupied the American Embassy in Tehran. After 30 days of unsuccessfully trying to get the American hostages out of Tehran, the government of the United States is now trying to get the deposed Shah of Iran out of this country. And there is no sign tonight that either problem is likely to be solved soon.

[Roya Hakakian]

In 1979, the 1953 couple was invoked as justification for seizing the American Embassy. The argument was at the time that these diplomats, these American diplomats inside the embassy, were about to do what Americans had done in Iran, overthrowing Mossadegh and restoring the Shah. And they were about to do the same thing. And therefore they justified to the public why they needed to shut the embassy down.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

This is Roya Hakakian. She writes a lot about this time in Iran's history. And the subject is deeply personal for

[Roya Hakakian]

her as someone who was born and raised in Iran during the tumultuous years of the Iranian revolution and its aftermath.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

And Roya challenged everything we thought we knew about this story because up until now, we thought the basic story was pre1953. US and Iran are pretty chill, Britain is the bad guy. 1953 coup happens, the US installs a dictator in Iran, and eventually the people respond with a revolution and hostage crisis, and the US and Iran become mortal enemies.

[Roya Hakakian]

So that is the narrative that was presented at the time. It was wrong for the US to intervene. But at the same time, this isn't the whole story and it tells only a very small part of what why Iran has been stuck in this place for so long.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

Roya says that narrative lets one group off the hook way too easily. Iran's clergy.

[Roya Hakakian]

A piece that's missing from the way this narrative has been told is the fact that Kermit Roosevelt decides very wisely, obviously, to go pay a visit to the Grand Ayatollah. And you know, history changes course after he does that.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

So remember when Roosevelt got help from the mullahs to carry out his plan B after that first coup attempt failed? Well, Roya thinks that moment was the real game changer. She says Iran's clergy has been conspiring behind the scenes for a long time to oppose democracy in Iran.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

She says they saw a chance to undermine democracy in 1953. And then in 1979 when it seemed like democracy would be the result of the revolution, they saw another opportunity to take power. And they did this all while invoking Mossadegh's name.

[Roya Hakakian]

Yes, yes, it's really, truly ironic because by 1979 Mossadegh is long dead, but his legacy is not. So while he himself was completely axed by the clerical powers at the time, his narrative, his legacy became very useful to the regime.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

In other words, it's a mistake to put all the blame for Iran's problems on the US intervention in 1953, that the Iranian clergy have played a part too.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

I hear what Roya's saying. Iran's mullahs have definitely done a number on the country and there's plenty of blame to go around between the US and Iran, especially since 1979.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

There's a long list of back and forth grievances that have added to and fueled the tension.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

But you can still make the argument that the original sin of the U. S. Iran relationship was what happened in

[Rund Abdelfattah]

August 1953 and that that set the tone for everything to follow

[Narrator/Storyteller]

in the United States. U. S. Iran relations begin and end with the hostage crisis. That's the moment that is the key turning point and the source of everything. From the Iranian perspective, things are very different. Iranian and American perceptions, they're like parallel train tracks that just keep running parallel. They never coincide.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

That's it for our first episode. I'm Ramtin Arablouei. I'm Rund Abdelfattah and you've been listening to Throughline.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

Our show was produced by me and Ramtin.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

Our team includes Jamie York, Jordana Hochman, Lawrence Wu.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

Yo yo.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

It's Michelle Lance, Grace Nigeria Eaton. Thank you also to Larry Kaplo for his editing help and Greta Pittinger for her help fact checking.

[Rund Abdelfattah]

Our music was composed by Drop Electric

[Ramtin Arablouei]

and special thanks to Anya Grundmann, Chris

[Rund Abdelfattah]

Turpin, Mathilde Piard and Steve Nelson for

[Ramtin Arablouei]

working so hard to make this show

[Rund Abdelfattah]

a reality and nodded Arab Louis Prompting's dad who helped us out with some translations.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

Finally, a big huge massive shout out to Guy Raz, Jeff Rogers, Neva Grant, Sanaz Meshkinpour and the whole TED Radio Hour and how I built this team

[Rund Abdelfattah]

for teaching us how to make radio. If you like the show, please leave us a review on itunes and tell

[Ramtin Arablouei]

your friends to subscribe. And let's keep the conversation going. If you have an idea or thoughts on the episode, hit us up on Twitterlinempr or send us an email to throughlinepr.org thanks for listening.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

Foreign.

[Sponsor/Announcer]

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