America's Splendid Little Wars - Chapter Four

AMERICA’S SPLENDID LITTLE WARS
by Jack Ragsdale © 1986
Chapter Four
REVOLUTION ON THE CHEAP: IRAN, 1953

In 1979, at the time of the fall of Iran, Kermit Roosevelt, President Theodore Roosevelt’s grandson, wrote of the CIA's 1953 "countercoup," or covert revolution in Iran: "We were all heroes. Now I must say sadly, that it is no longer true."

He praised the great economic advances Iran had made under the Shah. Loyal to the ideals of the CIA of which he was once a major secret operative in the Middle East, he excused the CIA's client monarch for having failed to take into account "the growth of political ambitions" in his country, which, he implied, had caused his downfall. Such a simple, self-serving explanation of the American role in recent Iranian history does not begin to address the implications of the event.
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The oil reserves of Iran are among the greatest in the world, and millions of tons have been taken out since early in the twentieth century, but to little benefit of the Iranian people. Most of them have remained impoverished while the Shah, his family and his friends amassed vast fortunes, squandering even more on arms and personal indulgences.

FOREIGN INFLUENCE IN IRAN
Foreign domination of Iran was not a new occurrence in 1953; it was indeed an ancient problem against which many of its governments had struggled. In 1907 Russia and Great Britain settled the antagonisms between them in Iran by dividing the country into two spheres of influence. When the czarist government collapsed in 1919, Britain took advantage of the opportunity to beat out the Russians and dominate the entire country. Lord Curzon's Anglo-Persian Agreement then made Iran virtually a protectorate of Great Britain. "To bring the agreement to a conclusion the British had to resort to bribery on a large scale[1]." The Shah, the prime minister, and two cabinet ministers were paid an amount popularly thought to be 131,000 British pounds. This agreement was immensely unpopular in Iran. In spite of the government’s disposition to deal harshly with dissenters, most newspapers and private individuals loudly voiced their opposition.

World War I heralded the end of the era of coal-fueled ships, and Great Britain, without its own oil, determined to secure Iran's great reserves for itself. The British sought to accomplish that feat by the agreement aforementioned, but for it to become valid it had to be approved by the Iranian parliament.

REZA SHAH
Patriots opposed to the pact planned a coup and called on Reza Khan, commander of a Cossack brigade north of the capital, to take over the city. He undertook that mission with great enthusiasm, and having consulted a popular influential young journalist, members of the gendarmerie, and the British military mission, he marched his three thousand men into Teheran, where he arrested the major government officials. At his request the Shah then named the young journalist, Sayyid Ziya Tabatabai, prime minister. In its first act, the new government canceled the oil agreement with the British.

A year later Reza Khan deposed Sayyid Ziya, and from his position as army commander he became, in succession, war minister and prime minister. In several year’s fighting to consolidate his power, Reza Khan overcame rebellions of the gendarmerie, defeated religious guerrillas and tribal fighters. In 1925 as Reza Pahlavi, he established himself as the head of a new dynasty. The new Shah was a man of great energy: nationalistic, forceful and violent. His aim was to bring the country into the modern age and his methods for doing so were often brutal.

In January, 1925, he addressed the Majles [lower house of parliament]:
“Before I took office, not only were all questions settled in principle by foreigners but even the minor details of internal affairs were dealt with by them according to their inclinations. Even minor clerks in ministries and departments could only be employed on their recommendation and intervention[2]."

His military victories, however, illustrate only one of the new Shah's many talents. According to historian Ervand Abrahamian, Reza skillfully arranged alliances with a broad spectrum of political organizations while maintaining substantial civilian support.

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