Iran in 1953 - Rear Vision

ABC's Rear Vision has dedicated two consecutive programs to Iran because of the unrest that is currently going on. The first was just yesterday with the history of the 1953 coup, which deposed prime minister Mossadegh and made the Shah a puppet of the West.

The program describes in detail how British oil interests were established in Iran. The terms under which the British could dispose of Iran's oil were advantageous to the ridiculous and when Mossadegh was about to nationalize Iran's oil, the Brits came into action. They needed the assistance of the CIA eventually to push Mossadegh out of power, which was not given by Truman at first. Eisenhower became the next president and did approve of the action.

Rear Vision also attempts make clear what came of the success of this coup, making a connection with the revolution in 1979 and the unrest of today. The bottom-line is that the action was a success from the start and backfired in the end. The worst result of it being that the moderate, pro-western stream in Iranian politics was compromised and left the spectrum to be battled between extreme forces such as the Islamists and the communists and possibly also causing the polarization of today.

More Rear Vision:
Coffee,
Fiji.