The 1953 CIA- and MI6-backed coup that overthrew Mohammad Mosaddegh is one of the few bits of Middle Eastern history that actually gets overemphasized in the popular consciousness, mostly because relations between the US and Iran are what they are. It’s also not an easy fit in this “today in history” series because, believe it or not, I try to keep current politics mostly out of these pieces and in this case that’s very hard to do. People either want to blame the 1953 coup for everything that’s happened between the US and Iran since, which overstates things, or they want to pretend the US didn’t have anything to do with it, which is a lie, and in both cases it’s inherently tied up with current Middle Eastern realities.
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The Foreign Exchanges Companion 