Abbas Amanat

came to the picture, including the To The Party of Iran, which is Communist Party of Iran.

This Communist Party of Iran is probably the biggest Communist Party of the whole of the Middle East, and one of the biggest in the world, actually.

At that time.

Did the Soviet Union have a significant influence on the... Of course.

They were basically following orders from the Soviets.

Although they denied it, but in reality, that's the case.

But what happened, they were seen by the Americans during the Cold War as if...

as a threat and Iran was going through a period of demanding nationalization of its oil resources.

That's a very important episode with Mossadegh, whom you might have heard about his name.

Dr. Mohammad Mossadegh was the prime minister and the national charismatic leader from 1951 to 1953.

Prior to that, he was a famous parliamentarian.

But this period, he was the prime minister of Iran.

And he nationalized the Iranian oil industry.

And the British didn't like it at all.

And eventually resulted in a famous coup

which at least partly was supported by the funding and by the moral support of the British and the Americans, particularly by the Americans.

It was always seen as one of the earliest and the most successful CIA operations during the Cold War.

So CIA had something to do with it?

Yes, of course.

CIA, this is the time at the post-war era.