Absolutely, positively true. In 1953, when the democratically elected Prime Minister wanted to nationalize Iran's oil resources (it was controlled by Britain), MI6 recruited the CIA - all you had to do at the time, was cry: he's a communist - to conduct a coup. The had to drag the Shah back in, kicking and screaming, cancelled democracy and kicked off the cycle of oppression that brought the Ayatollahs to power.
In his Cairo University speech, during his foreign trip, President Obama did a mea culpa, extended our hand in peace, but instead of doing the smart thing, the Ayatollahs spent on the hand extended out to them, and proceeded down a path of destruction. The offer was made to them back when Biden took office, and it again was spat on.
That made it the Ayatollahs problem, not ours and they're now sitting on a pile of rubble, under Netanyahu's thumb.
And when the revolution kicked off the CIA supported the people who would become the current theocracy of Iran because like everywhere else a theocracy was better than anyone left of Pinochet....literally.
This is also why until the US consistently can get people to the left of Bernie elected any progressive sentiments about Iran and many other countries will always be nothing but virtue signals that help the likes of John Bolton because the people with progressive ideas have zero input.
@PicturesOfABetterTomorrow I'm not shocked, I kind of expected something like this but I didn't know how all that happened. I always just assumed the middle east was a theocracy cos I'm used to seeing it.
I mean i know the cia and some others have been doing dirty things for awhile. I know about el Salvador and the murder of those nuns. Also the board of the nra working with right winged death squads. I know all of that but didn't know about Iran.
@SatanBurger A couple of things worked in the favor of Khomeini. Part of why the religious extremists were able to organize so effectively was because one of the only moral red lines the Shah had was apparently not bugging mosques.
Americans should make note of that.
The left was also relatively well organized but were not able to keep secrets as well. But when the Shah fell all hell broke loose for awhile. The CIA when they realized their puppet was done backed Khomeini and company.
And in American fashion this was only declassified after anyone who could be held accountable died of old age.
The British were aware they were losing imperial control across the world. This was British company, and they wanted compensation for discovering the oil and building the refineries and loss of future profits, which Mosaddegh called “theoretical profits.”
@emiliya Well the easiest solution is not to overthrow good leaders and install right wing dictatorships maybe? Also you act like losing imperalist control is a bad thing, why does that need a solution lol.
It’s true. Iran used to be a very modern and forward thinking country. It wasn’t until we secretly backed a revolution that they became what it is now. During the chaos after the revolution terrorists using religion as an excuse to fight for control. But since they were hostile to the russians instead of wiping them out we armed them and trained them to fight them. When the cold war ended they turned on us.
@Captainjackass I'm glad I learned something new that I didn't know before. No one talks about it even if I'm sad that it happened that way. So without anything like that happening, Iran would be more forward thinking and innovative.
It's sad to know that an entire culture was crushed and subjugated, it breaks my heart.
