Abbas Amanat

In the 50s.

In the 50s, 40s and 50s.

The British Empire, which was really the major superpower of the region after the collapse of the Tsarist Empire.

gradually took the second seat to the Americans, who were the newcomers and the great power and the victors of the Second World War.

And the Americans viewed Iran as an important country, since it has the largest common borders with the Soviet Union.

And it did the South

was the Persian Gulf, which at the time was the greatest supplier of oil to the outside world.

And therefore, the Americans had a particular interest in Iran.

And in the earlier stages, their interest was in the interest of the Iranian government, because they wanted to get rid of both

the Soviet Union, which made a return in the post-war era, and of course the British that were gradually withdrawing from Iran.

But they had a full control over the Anglo-Iranian oil company.

They changed the name to Anglo-Iranian Oil Company.

When the name of the country officially changed from Persia to Iran in the West, the name of the company changed.

And they got into a huge dispute with the Mossadegh government that eventually led to the coup of 1953, which eventually created a very, very distressful memory in the minds of many of the Iranian nationalists.

that this was the betrayal of the great powers, the British and Americans.

Yes, CIA played a part because CIA feared, contrary to the British, that they were afraid of their own oil in Iran, the CIA was afraid of the Soviet penetration in the South, and particularly because there was a very powerful communist party to the party of Iran.

So they...

gradually shifted between the Truman administration and Eisenhower administration.

These are early days of the CIA.

And then they actually did participate to send their agents.