All language subtitles for Coup.53.2019.720p1080p.WEBRip.x264.AAC-[YTS.MX]-English

I began making this film
back home in Iran in 2009

And have since traveled thousands off miles

in search of witnesses and archive material

in 2012 I gave a TED talk

in which I spoke publicly
for the first time about making this film

Coup 53

I am going to be telling
the story of this man

doctor Mohamed Mossadegh

He was our first
democratically elected prime minister

And the closest Iran came
to having its own Mahatma Gandhi

My film has taken so long to finish

that some of the people
I have interviewed have since died

In 1952 Time magazine
named him man of the year

because he had nationalized Iranian
oil and pissed off Winston Churchill

and the company that controlled our oil

you now know it as PB

so in August 1953 Eisenhower and Churchill

staged a coup and overthrew Mossadegh

In 1953
the United States together with Britain

have participated in

supporting a coup in Iran

that got rid off Mossadegh
who was a left leaning leader of Iran

and restored the Shah to the power in Iran

I grew up in pre-revolution Iran
under the rule of the Shah

went to the school and most
of the teachers were political activists

frequently arrested by
SAVAK: the secret police

My life under the
Shah came to an end in 1975

when I was sent to England for school.

Suddenly at 15 whole new culture,
new environment, new language

, and a new tribe to observe: the British

But unlike the Americans,

the British government
has never officially

acknowledged its role in the coup.

I must insist that I do not think
at any time we really planned a coup.

Mossadegh was potentially
the father of a future democratic Iran

An Iran in which a young
12-year-old boy would

not have had to have his teachers
arrested or be scared of reading a book

Nothing in my 30-year
career as a documentary maker

has prepared me
for the remarkable

discovery I am about
to make on this journey

Evidence that has the potential
to turn a dark chapter in history

inside out

I am the deputy
director and research

director at the
national security archive

which is a non-governmental organization
based at George Washington University

so I oversee a lot of our research
projects looking at declassified documents

from US and other archives

and then I have a couple of my own projects

The main one that I work on
is on US-Iran relations

and I spend a lot of time
looking at that historical issue.

So, these are the papers
that I have been waiting

to see; you have seen
them over and over again?

Yes.
what have you got?

Well,all kinds of stuff from
the whole period of post war of

US-Iran relations so we have
been collecting over the years

So among other things I have got
a small collection of CIA materials.

They are probably

I would guess maybe 200: 300 pages
of CIA records that have been released

officially released
over time over the years

200:300?
Something like that, yeah

They’re at least three internal histories
that the CIA has produced

In probably the late 1970s,
one of these items was produced

Is this when you write
to them asking for information?

This is the response
letter to me saying

"we are enclosing this
document that you requested"

and then here is the document
itself called the battle for Iran

The battle for Iran!
Which is still going on!

This is what is new
about this release: covert action

In earlier versions which you will see,
this is all plotted out

- keep that out
- so, we can take this one out

There is still a lot there. I like the
fact that there is still lot of blank pages

They are supposed to show
you what was there. Right

And what came out that was new?
I was in Tehran

On the sixtieth anniversary of the coup

August 19, 2013, I was in Tehran

what was new was essentially this page

the military coup that overthrew
Modsadegh and his national front cabinet

was carried out under CIA direction

They had never to my knowledge
officially acknowledged their role

- Right!
- in the coup

And you see here
the first part of that sentence there

As an act of US foreign policy

conceived and approved
at the highest levels of government

It was not an aggressively simplistic
solution, clandestinely arrived at

but was instead an official admission by
both the United States and United Kingdom

that normal rational methods
of international communication

and commerce had failed

i.e., Mossadegh was in the way

-And even acknowledged the British role
-Right

So, this is the CIA outing the British

who have not yet confessed to it

Right
Do you know what, Malcom? um

I am standing

in front of the filing cabinet

of a drawer full of documents

that essentially
changed the fate of my country

and changed my fate: what happened to me,
what happened to my family,my my..

It was like how your lives,
your fate, your destiny is

- encapsulated
- Yeah, in half a file drawer

This is it.This changed Iran

This box of papers

You had a million dollars
in cash that will run the coup, right?

That is right, and we used about sixty
thousand dollars of it. That was all

- Are you saying that sixty
thousand dollars was all it took? -Yep

I do not know where the money went

and I did not ask
because it was so damn little,that uh

that no one was
going to ask me any questions

All they asked me was how the dickens
did you get away with spending so little

For those among you
who know anything about the coup

Kermit Roosevelt's name has
become synonymous with the events of 1953

His version of the story,
the stuff of books and TV documentaries

has been the received wisdom for decades

But what we are about to
discover in the making of this film

will reveal the suppressed history of what
really happened and who was responsible.

This is the most important
document our film has discovered

in its nine-year history of production

This has gone on fifty or sixty years

With the United States has been
involved in overthrowing governments

Mossadegh back in 1953.
No body knows who Mossadeq was

Democratically elected
prime minister of Iran

He was overthrown by
British and American interest

because he threatened
oil interest of the British

And as result of that,
the Shah of Iran came in: terrible dictator

Result of that
you had the Iranian revolution coming in

and that's where we are today

Good evening!

on day thirty-seven
of the seizure of the American embassy

and the kidnapping of the hostages

the United States has now
moved the crisis toward a showdown stage

For most Americans , the Iran story
begins in 1979 and the hostage crisis

that gripped the world for 444 days
and cost Jimmy carter his presidency

But for us Iranians,
the story goes back to 1953

and the CIA/MI6 coup
that crushed democracy in our homeland

Three hundred killed and
hundreds wounded as a conservative estimate

Mossadegh and his government were swept
from power in favour of general Zahedi

the man appointed
by the Shah in the first place

The thoughts of Britain
instinctively turned to Abadan

that monument of
British enterprise and engineering skill

The force to abandon
what we had created in the wilderness

Is it to much to hope

that we shall see
once more the tankers of Britain at Abadan

maybe sanity will yet prevail

and Iran and Britain go forward in harmony.

You know I was here earlier
looking through the titles on these boxes

Iran–Contra

CIA Family Jewels

Iran-US relations

Nest of spies, documents from Iran
,Chile Chile

Behavioral study,Mind control.
and there is incoming FOIA

- that means new stuff coming in
- Right we get stuff everyday

Because we have been filing
requests for years and years

It's like a freight train
or it just keeps coming and keeps coming

Are you okay for me to
spend some time just going through these ?

Absolutely,
this is the idea yep help yourself

Thank you very much.
I don't know where to start

-Alright -Maybe, I will one day
win the battle for Iran.

If I can read enough of those

- Happy reading!
- Thank you so much, Malcolm.

The battle for Iran!

It is an entire CIA profile of Mossadegh

Mossadegh's power rose
from his consummate ability

to appeal to national
aspirations and emotions

The above fact is too little to explain
his often bizarre behaviour as a politician

We would call him doughty in some respects

but he was not impersonal.
Some of the very moderate person parliament

Parliamentarians would weep when he spoke

even though they knew perfectly well
that it was ruinous for their country

and impractical

His way of living and general
appearance did not stike one as being

the sort of person
you would think of as a prime minister

and I do not mean that
because he did not wear stripe trousers

In fact, he always wore pajamas

and that was a rather odd

figure for the future prime minister to cut

My uncle was someone
who did not go in for formalities as such

He was who he was

And because of his dress

they didn't think
they are prepared to make the difference

Of course, it was the first time
that heads of state or politicians

came to a bed side of a prime minister
to discuss politics with him

So, it was quite strange in western eyes

Mossadegh was truly a remarkable figure

his father had been
finance minister of Iran for decades

his mother had been a princess
coming out of the Qajar dynasty

While he was still a teenager,

he became the chief
tax collector for his home province

And he greatly impressed people

with his honesty
and his seriousness and his efficiency.

He went on to become highly educated.
He was the first Iranian

to receive a doctorate
in laws from a European university

He was probably the most
highly educated Iranian of his generation

I do not think that
there has been in the last 50 years

anybody more prestigious than Mossadegh
in the history of the country. Why?

For one thing: Mossadegh was incorruptible

The second thing was:
he was against the power

always stood up to the power.

End of Empire was a major
fourteen-part television series

that chronicled the unwinding
of the British empire country by country.

Even though, Iran was technically
not part of the empire

it had been dominated
for so long by British commercial interest

that it had to be included
as one of the featured programs.

Alison Rooper!!

Look at this!

A bag full of stuff

from a basement in Paris

What you see here are the researched
notes and transcripts and interview notes

made by the production
team of End of Empire

British diplomats who were involved
in the coup, foreign office officials

possibly MI6, I see a CIA name here.

who knows what combing
through these papers will throw out for us

These words of these people have not been
heard or seen for over thirty-four years.

These look like actual
working copies of transcripts

interview transcripts

Pretty old school. The cut
and paste school of structuring a film

They have cut the bits they liked

to edit into the film.

Darbyshire tapes

And you have come across
the name of Norman Darbyshire?

Sure, yeah.
He is named in the Wilber history

and he is the one
who works with Wilber in Nicosia

-to put the plan together.
-Okay.

So, he is high level MI6?

Right, and someone with Iran expertise.

This is amazing!

They have used quite a bit of him
because there is so many

chunks that have been cut out.

But I do not recall watching End of Empire

and seeing a Darbyshire in it

Excellent! If we want the coup in detail
and even if not

Why did they select
bits of interview from him

cut it out, paste it into a script

probably edit it into the film

but he did not make the final cut?!

he is not in the finished film.

In a remarkable stroke of luck

we have discovered that
the British film institute archive

hold the unused footage
from the End of Empire Iran episode

After years of intense negotiation,we break
through the red tape and financial barriers

and finally get access.

Thirty-six cans of film

five hundred and twenty minutes
of interview

among which we hope
to find Norman Darbyshire

and it is recording. Great!

We have Digitized the entire collection
of End of Empire given to us by the BFI

We did not find Norman Darbyshire.

This is End of Empires' cast list

and number one is Darbyshire

gets a tick and an asterisk.

Darbyshire features here

plan conceived by Darbyshire and Woodhouse

Darbyshire was the undercover man

Samuel Falle worked under Darbyshire

British embassy staff photograph,
Tehran, class of 1952

an this is Norman Darbyshire

looking very much the cool undercover spy

Darbyshire would have been twenty-nine,
when this photograph was taken

He was born on the first of October 1924.

And he died on the seventeenth of June 1993

His CIA counterpart was Stephen Meade.

We found his can of film

even though he too
was cut out of the finished film

Stephen Meade on Iran

This is what End of Empire
production team thought of Stephen Meade

A young 69,hatchet-faced

like a bit part player in B movie thriller.

and above all,Good.

This is brilliant!

Wow!

Your British counter part was in fact blank

could you tell me something
about the man,blank

-Your British counter part
was in fact Norman Darbyshire -yes

could you tell me something
about the man,Norman Darbyshire?

Well, I did not know
him at all before I met him

What kind of a man was blank?

What kind of a man was Norman Darbyshire?

Darbyshire has been wiped out

cleaned out

everywhere

But, amazingly

I have not found an identical
Darbyshire interview uncut.

One Norman Darbyshire
original interview cut up.

And then

a Darbyshire interview intact.

So, this Darbyshire interview
which is exactly the same.

Darbyshire Darbyshire

Here Darbyshire has been blanked out.

This has not been cut which means

All the bits that they selected

for the film

and cut out of this one

are in this one

Afshartous was one of the few
generals who was very pro-Mossadegh.

Tough minded guy

so, Mossadegh appointed him chief of police

and for the anti-Mossadegh army officers

he was a bit noir.

Police chief Afshartous
claimed to have a list of Iranian officials

who were conspiring
with the Americans to unseat Mossadegh

and he was going to publicize this.

I know it is so English.

Hello!

Nice to meet you!

Lovely to meet you!

-Thank you so much for coming in ,Alison.
-Pleasure!

Absolutely. I also just wanted to compliment
you on the depth of your research.

which was a great service to us.

And now because we have
gotten all of that material from the BFI

meshing very nicely with our interviews

with the Iranian side of the equation

So, this would give
you an idea of the style of our film

like how we are approaching the story

Look at this!

A bag full of stuff

from a basement in Paris.

What you see here are the researched
notes and transcripts and interview notes

made by the production
team of End of Empire

These look like actual
working copies of transcripts

interview transcripts

The cut and paste
school of structuring a film.

They have cut the bits they liked

to edit into the film.

Darbyshire tapes

Darbyshire tape one

Oh yes

He was the man.

But I do not recall

seeing a Darbyshire in it.

He is not in the finished film.

So, a big mystery as now
evident there is Darbyshire is missing.

-What is the story of Darbyshire?
-OK so

Just remind me
did I interview him sound only

in a pre-interview?

or did I not?

Was it on the phone? I mean what how did we

We did an interview.

You interviewed Darbyshire?

-Not filmed.
-Not filmed him?

That's the whole point.
He never agreed to be filmed.

I do not even remember
whether this was our interview

or somebody else did it.

But Mark may remember.

How are you, Mark? Long time.

I am sitting in a film
cutting room with Taghi Amirani

and he has managed
to persuade the BFI to let him

use all the rushes
from the End of Empire program

and there is one question
I can not answer at all

which concerns Mr.Darbyshire.

-Hello -Yeah, I have just put you
on speaker phone so Taghi can hear that.

Yeah, he had that kind of spy a fake news

you know deniability.

He never came up with anything concrete

We were always after
you know "he said","I said"

uhhm nothing I said cause he
was not ever going to say anything anyway.

You know I really
I can not picture him.

I do not believe he was in the program

But Taghi has found one

one thing which was about the
assassination of the police chief in Tehran

-Well
-He was asked point-blank

were you involved in the assassination
of the chief of police of Tehran?

And he says point-blank Yes.

and that is the one thing
that jumps out in the transcript.

Yeah,okay.
I do not remember that

but if he said he was, he probably was

(Inaudible noise)

Sorry!

We are losing you.

oh reception is gonna (mumbles)

will have to picture it

Yeah,she will text you.

-Lovely fantastic ,Mark.
-Okay.

-we will say goodbye.Thank you very much.
-Okay.

-Bye.
-Thank you so much.

Thank you ,Alison.

Was there ever a version
of the film with Darbyshire in it?

I do not remember that.

Is he remembering wrong?

-We will have to check cause I can
not remember that happening -yeah,right.

I do not think we ever filmed him

and you had not seen
any rushes in there either.

No, but believe
in hope of finding something.

-You never know.
-You never know.

-Thank you so much.
-Thank you.

Hi, is that Humphery?

Hi, this is Taghi Amirani

you have been speaking to my
colleague Evelyn about our documentary

Yes, Alison came in and we spoke to her

and then she also
managed to get him on the phone

and his memory of Darbyshire was hazy.

but I figured the one person
whose memory will not be hazy

because he is a camera man
looking through the view finder.

is Humphery.

Do you remember the location?

Out of all the interviewees

that you have filmed.Darbyshire

he is the most outspoken
and open and blunt about everything.

He does not hold back.

-Can you do a little
old school hand clap for me? -okay.

Excellent !Right.

Did you know that your Sam Falle interview
was the very first interview he did?

One take one

Probably, right because I can remember it.

It was the first time
that I met Alison who was the researcher.

So, that is you are right.

So, what do you
remember of Darbyshire on that day?

Because clearly from what
you said and from his transcript

He was very open.

He was very blunt.

He was memorable.

I got the impression
that he was somebody who felt

that there were things
to be said that had not being said.

I got the feeling that he was somebody who

had had time to reflect

and felt that

there was not any
reason to hide these things

it probably was important
in the public interest.

I am sure Mossadegh's grandson
Matine Daftari

has told me on more than one occasion that

there was a screening of End of Empire
in Golden Square in London

and there was an MI6 man in the audience

who did not like himself being in it
and he asked the producer to take him out

Now, is this tape

the program as it was transmitted?

Which version of the End of Empire is this?

This was the last version.

The final version which went on the screen.

But long before that there was a preview

of the film

before it went on air.

and they invited people for corrections

People who were invited also were us to

make any corrections
if necessary and all that. -right.

And Darbyshire

asked to be taken out of the

whole thing you know.

Both Mark and Alison told me about it.

told me about it

You think Darbyshire
asked to be taken out because

Because the British government
had not allowed him to do it.

I have been Secretary
of State for Foreign Affairs.

I was in charge of MI6.

I know the difficulties of the
task of the governments of today.

all the time when you ask me questions

there is a little thing
back in my head saying be careful

do not cross the line.

You can criticize,
but do not make their life harder

It is hard enough any how
being foreign secretary

and prime minister in this country.

Our star witness.

our star find in our
research in Norman Darbyshire.

What would possess an MI6 agent

to reveal things which
are still kept secret to this day?

-Darbyshire?
-Yeah.

I do not know.
I have not consciously met him

but I may have done in the past.

But I can imagine that he believes

like I believe that

the best thing to deal with
this constant suspicion of Britain

is to be more open.

Reading Darbyshire's interview

you get a sense that he is tying
to restore credit where credit is due.

He is a bit pissed off that the Americans
walked away with the credit for the coup.

But that may be your explanation.

Vanity of vanities,
saith the Preacher,all is vanity.

We all like recognition
for what we have done.

And maybe that was the
reason he blew their gasket.

He was fed up with being
told that this was the Americans.

He walked into a good old British few and
he wanted them to get some credit for it.

That maybe it. I do not know.

That is to say
I do not think I know the man.

He will be another nail in the coffin of a

view of the Official Secrets Acts

that you can just use it
to save you from embarrassment.

There is absolutely no reason whatever

under the sun
why that should not be published.

Norman Darbyshire take one.

What you are about to see here
as the team sets up at the Savoy

is the result of us not being able to find

the Darbyshire can of film.

We hit a brick wall. We hit a wall of
silence and denial about Norman Darbyshire.

so, we have resulted to
bringing his words to life.

Ah there it is. Okay.

Ralph Fiennes is about to speak
Darbyshire's words recorded back in 1983.

Telling us thing the British
did not want anyone to hear.

And these are the bits that the people
who made the original documentary loved

Which is also what we love.

Sorry, I am getting drawn into the

Just imagine how I
felt when I came across it.

It was one late nigh in the office.

-Good morning!
-Good morning!

-Walter correct?
-Fantastic yes.

This is Humphery.

-HI!
-I am today's cameraman.

Good! That is alright.

I can take it easy

As you know filming these windows is

-is a big challenge for the cameraman.
- We had a policy for that whole series.

-Yeah.
-Cause I did about half the End of Empire.

As far as we could, we would
shoot the windows in order to

set authenticity about the background

Have you seen the footage
of the script supervisor?

No, she was the researcher so that

did the producer and they
suddenly get weird and

they do not remember
him and they all go vague.

Well, I was surprised that they did not

it is incendiary what he is saying
and even then you would have

Well, I was surprised
because I have a memory

of being a little bit
astonished at what he was saying.

He was straight up and down
saying the stuff and it was quite

quite amazing.

-Everybody good?
-Yep.

Everyone back in your positions, please.

that looks

-Looks good.
-Yeah.

We are making good..making good time.

That is very good.

Yes, you are right. Yes, great.

Right, okay

so, Mr.Darbyshire is about
to tell us the story of the coup

like it has never been told before.

Right
Everyone good? Okay.

When did you first go out to Iran?

I went out in 43-47 period.
First of all, as an army officer in SOE

and I was there from the
end of 43 to the middle of 47

from late 49 to 52 when
Mossadegh threw us out and

broke off relations.

You got this incredible first-hand witness

-Alright
-Not just any witness he is a..

How did it come to this?

Exactly, it's like

how do we get to having to kill
the chief of police of Tehran

in order to get the coup going?

A member of the British
government is saying in black and white

that he was involved in the
assassination of the chief of police

and he is running the coup
so, he is not just anybody.

So, this is amazing!

The actual running of the coup
from our side was my responsibility.

Uhh let me

hmm let me take you back a little
because it may be of interest to talk about

nationalization.

The Persians were bitterly resentful of the
way they were being treated by the British.

Because the oil company
was run by ex-patriots

who called anyone east of Calais a wog.

And to them the Iranians were wogs.

Did you get the impression that
members of the Anglo-Iranian

British members looked
down on their Persian counterparts

and indeed on Persians generally?

I think the Iranian answer
to that where I an Iranian

would be that the trouble was that they
did not even bother to look down on us.

The impression was rather one of
just taking them very much for granted.

uhm but not really
regarding them as subjects of

even sufficient interest
to be treated as wogs.

At Abadan, you had
a classic colonial enclave

All the British workers were well-dressed,

had nice homes with the classic little
lawns, and the rose bushes.

There were swimming pools,
and movie theaters;

pooling alleys, and athletic fields.

And side by side with the giant refinery

schools and colleges

hospitals and clumps and clinics

all the amenities of
a city of today for work

and living

and leisure.

So, of course the Persians

had the feeling that they were being
screwed and rightly so because uhm well

from 1920 onwards I would say yes.

When oil was discovered in Iran,

Churchill described it as

"A prize from fairyland
beyond our wildest dreams."

Thanks to Winston Churchill
the first lord of the admiralty

he changed the British fleet
from coal-burning to petroleum-based

and this was a life changing moment
for uh for the world.

Because it made petroleum
as important as it is today.

Under the original agreement

only about 16% of the oil revenue
was supposed to be given to Iran

but that 16% was gonna
be calculated by the British.

And no Iranian would
be allowed to look at the books.

We now know also that

the amount was calculated
after the oil company paid its taxes.

Now the oil company was
owned by the British government

so, when it was paying taxes,
it was essentially paying taxes to itself.

We were not handing over files.

We were not handing over
accounts which they asked us for.

I said I had no authority to hand them.

British company is accountless,
I was told from London

So, it was a lot of creative accounting

but in the end it was
clear that almost all of the money

from this tremendous
resource was going into Britain

and almost none
was coming back to Iran.

Well, it became very obvious that
something was going to happen in Abadan

and it was nationalization.

Long-smoldering Iranian nationalists

made clear their intention
to seize the oil industry

and expropriate the British company.

Focal point of Iranian unrest, however,
is the government

headed by seventy-year-old
premier Mohamed Mossadegh

whose single purpose is
oil nationalization.

He was a marvelous politician

and at that time
he had all the people with him.

He had clobbered the imperialist.
He had nationalized the oil company.

Iran was a country again.
It was great stuff. It was very moving.

When the flag of the oil company goes down
and the Iranian flag goes up

this was seen both in England and Iran
as declaration of independence.

Every single heart in Iran throbbed

uhh a few beats faster

at the pleasure of seeing this

what they saw as
a smack in the face to the British.

and I said that if we do not
do anything about this

within five years we shall lose
the Suez Canal on the same principle.

which in fact proved to be
exactly right almost to the day.

The sixteenth independent parachute brigade

stands by to proceed to
a foreign destination.

In occupation of the
first battalion parachute regiment

strengthen rumors that the airborne sharp
shooters might be sent to Persia

to protect British nationals employed
there by the Anglo-Iranian oil company.

We had a date to see Winston
that night at about half past eleven.

uhhh he said Drake

I think he had had a good dinner

and he said "Have you got a pistol ,Drake?"

I said no, Sir.

we are under martial law in Abadan.

"Pity", he said
"You can finish a man with a pistol."

And HMS Mauritius
standing by in the Shatt al-Arab river.

Such pictures tell the story
of the oil crisis pretty clearly.

We had the cruiser out there and she had
her guns open range across the refinery.

And the problem arose were we
or were we not going to take Abadan.

Two members of the delegation going up to
Persia for talks on the oil crisis

Mr. Jackson and Mr. Elkington are seen
about to leave London airport.

Were the negotiations
face saving for the British?

Yes, they had to go through the motions.

They wanted to oust Mossadegh regardless of
whether he signed a favorable agreement.

Our policy was to get rid
off Mossadegh as soon as possible.

We did not think he
would do any good to Iran.

We thought when Mossadegh came in
that it would be relatively easy to

to get rid off him.

Back to report the failure
of his efforts to solve the oil crisis

comes Mr. Richard Stokes.

And just as soon as this obstacle in the
way of providing adequate conditions

The talks collapsed

and the British evacuated Abadan

expecting the refinery to shut down.

Abadan, where the last
group of British oil experts

pass through the customs
on route for Iraq and home.

Right after the last moment Mossadegh did
not want the British employees to leave.

They would receive the
same treatment if not better

as far as salaries of a concern.

And he kept on saying to the British let us
keep your employees as our employees.

They said no.

Many leaving a
lifetime of service behind them

as they see the liquidation
of fifty years magnificent achievement

in the reputable soil of Persia

The return of the refinery's general
manager Mr. Russ made headline news.

In the two years
following the evacuation of Abadan

the British tried everything they could
to destabilize the Mossadegh government.

The refinery itself was sabotaged

to prevent Iranian engineers
from operating the machinery.

There was no question of violent resistance

but it is extraordinary how
pieces of the plant would go wrong

just when they were supposed
to be doing something else, you know?

The British took their case
to the United Nations

The Iranian oil dispute comes to New York.

As Persia's prime
minister Dr. Mossadegh

arrives by air
to put forward his country's case.

and the international court at the Hague.

The present actions and threats
of the Iranian government

may render it impossible
to execute a judgment

in favor of the United Kingdom.

Both judgments went in favor of Iran.

He had a great impact on America

Because do not forget
that the Americans

most of the Americans like
to talk to a man who has charisma.

And Mossadegh had that Charisma.

He had his own convictions

yet in politics, he was an actor.

Truman and Mossadegh
had a good personal relationship.

Truman had told the British

that Iran had sovereign rights
that deserve to be respected

and that the United states had offered
millions and millions of dollars in aid.

Churchill was reelected as a tough warrior

who would sort out Iran
the way he had sorted out the Nazis.

Never shall we lose our faith and courage

and never shall
we fail in exertion in result.

A global blockade was enforced

to prevent Iran from
selling its oil on the world market.

The embargo was always
an important part of our uhm

maneuvers to bring Mossadegh
to reason and assessable settlement.

The Persians think that by nationalizing
oil they are going to get rich.

unfortunately,
the reverse will be the case.

and uhm

as the economic situation worsened,

the better it was for us.

The longer our policy of denying him

his success continued

the more the Persian
people would be disillusioned

and the more the would disillusion with him

like many governments the more
chance there was of his disappearance.

Are you saying that there was
no possibility of him selling this oil

across the counter
because you had sewn up the outlets?

We put advertisements
in most of the newspapers of the world

saying that who bought
Persian oil bought a lawsuit.

Not a very democratic thing to do

I think when you are attacked,
you defend yourself.

You do not think of
democracy and those terms.

To cap it off Time Magazine
named Mossadegh man of the year

beating out Churchill and Eisenhower

who were also up for consideration.

It is a double-edged article.

He is described as actually
the crazy man in the mountain.

They even call him
the British man in Iran and stuff

which is completely false anyway.

Our research has found a
reference to the End of Empire TV program

printed in The Observer newspaper
in May 1985.

So, I am just going through
this page by page to see what we find.

But it is a weird journey
down the time tunnel seeing

wooo

Found it.

How MI6 and CIA
joined forces to plot Iran coup

Nigel Hawkes reveals
the true story of 1953 'Operation Boot.'

Evidence provided by a former MI6 man

has clarified many of the murkier
corners of the coup which ousted Mossadegh.

From a series of interviews
carried out by Granada Television

for its End of Empire series.

The program will broadcast
on channel four tomorrow evening.

-Read this! You will love every word
of this article -Unbelievable!

An article not a TV preview.
A journalist who has seen the program.

The purpose was to boost
the morale of the opposition.

He makes it clear, for example, that
it was agents acting for the British

who kidnapped Mossadegh's
police chief and then shot him dead.

Nigel Hawkes
is he still around?

Yeah,he is alive.
we are trying to find him.

-Oh good.
-Hello Nigel Hawkes.

Nigel hi good afternoon.
It is Taghi Amirani here.

We had an email exchange
a couple of weeks ago.

One of the key questions for me is

did you write that article
based on seeing a preview of the film?

Well, here is the thing

we got hold of a copy
of the film given to us by ITV.

And everything you talk
about this man in your article

is not in the film nor is he.

-Well, that is curious, isn't it?
-Yep.

-That is very curious.
-Yep.

I can't explain that.

I am on my way to see Stephen Dorril

the writer of the book MI6.

A solid thick heavy monster of a book.

So, I did not think that I am going
to end up in a sleepy Yorkshire village

with Stephen Dorril
the writer of the MI6 book.

No, it is a long way from Iran

and fortunately, was quite away from MI6.

I found the uhm

I found the original

What is this?

This is the one I received
from Nigel Hawkes.

-Nigel Hawkes sent you this transcript
-Yes.

-This is the exact transcript that we have.
-Right.

-Now we found in the basement
in Paris of Mossadegh's grandson. -wow!

What is the story of Nigel Hawkes
and this transcript and you?

Uh I have got the cover letter somewhere.

I would love to see that.

He was not the
kind of a specialist in this area

and he said do what
you want with it basically.

And how did Nigel Hawkes get hold of this?

I....He did not tell me but I uhm

I there was

it was from the film makers themselves.

That is the most crazy peculiar thing.

Who leaked the Darbyshire transcript
from End of Empire to Nigel Hawkes

knowing that the program they
have made does not have Darbyshire in it?

One could speculate.
I do not know.

What ...They they obviously knew that, so

they wanted it out.

No journalist

a documentary film maker is just going
to throw their prime interview away.

That could only have happened
if there was an intervention.

-Yeah.
-And that is not so abnormal.

-It happens all the time, still happens
till this day. -Wow!

But this interview is
I think

very important for
number of reasons. One is

MI6 officers do not
give these kind of interviews

about such a sensitive subject.

So, as far as the
British government is concerned

-the coup never happened.
They were not involved. -Yes

And Darbyshire does not exist.

Darbyshire does not exist.

Uhm but obviously he does
and he is the key person.

-Wow!
-Really.

Uhm he was the person recruiting
the people at the highest levels.

On the ground, he knew

key people close the the Shah

and he was probably the main

organizer.

What was your brief?

mmm brief was...

brief was very simple:
go out, do not inform the ambassador

use the intelligence services to provide
you with any money you might need and

secure the overthrow
of Mossadegh by legal or

quasi-legal means.

Members of parliament
were bribed with huge amounts of cash.

vast sums of money were being spent

and we were doing it our way bis..

uhhh biscuit tins With damn great notes.

Well over a million and a half pounds.

My research has brought me to Berlin

to meet a retired naval commander

who has spent 30 years interviewing
Iranian exiles involved in the coup.

I am here hoping he
will let me see his footage.

And here they are.

-1.5 Terabytes.
-Wow!

WD Elements

Dr Ahmadi's private collection.

Incredible archive of
interviews of people long dead.

Never seen before.

These are the real
lefty intellectuals of 1950s Iran.

Writers, actors, poets,

journalists, medical students,

activists, Tudeh members

Tudeh, the communist party was
the first and only real political party

in Iran in the sense that it had members
and it had a coherent ideology.

It had a small group of people
who were educated and committed.

They had some following
and small numbers in the military as well.

But it did not have a mass base.

And Mossadegh tolerated it
because in his view of democracy

Iranian had a right to organize
themselves in any kind of political party

but the fact that a communist party existed

was already seen in some eyes

as a symbol that Mossadegh
must secretly sympathized with it.

Which was actually nonsense
because Mossadegh

was an elderly feudal landlord

who despised all communist,
Marxist, and socialist ideas.

In July 1952,

a power struggle between the Shah
and Mossadegh reached a crisis point

over who should control the military.

Giving the British the opportunity
to install a puppet prime minister.

When Qavam was called in as prime minister,

we naturally had high hopes that

what we had all wanted
to see happen had come about.

This was opposed
not only by Mossadegh supporters

but by Tudeh the communist party in Iran.

Tudeh members joined forces
with Mossadegh supporters

and nationwide protests broke out.

Troops loyal to the Shah fired on the crowd

and 67 people were killed.

Five days later

Mossadegh returned to power
as prime minister.

Telegram from the department of State
to the embassy in the United Kingdom.

Washington July 26, 1952, 6:07 PM.

As a result of the events of the last week

it appears to us that Mossadegh is clearly
in a stronger position vis-à-vis the Shah

, the Majlis and the public now

than at any time since
the nationalization of Iranian oil

in April 1951.

The head court decision
coinciding with Mossadegh return to power

will further strengthen
his public position.

It was a setback. I think one should
probably have known that it would not work.

But obviously it sets us back.

All that flew off the handle.

Uhm did not work at all.

It was never a starter.
Julian Amery failed miserably.

We underestimated the Mossadegh
position and so had the Shah.

It appears that our worst fears as to the
weakness of the Shah had been confirmed.

In the light of this analysis

we believe it would be a great
mistake to reject Mossadegh's overture.

Acheson

Rejecting the advice
of the Truman administration

Britain decided
it was time for a military coup.

there come to the conclusion that
we cannot get rid off him politically.

And therefore,
we need to resort to a military coup

necessarily predicated
on the use of armed force

led by general Fazlollah Zahedi.

It had to be somebody loyal to the Shah

who commanded a certain respect
amongst his fellow officers.

And they look around
and Zahedi becomes the obvious one.

Zahedi was a cashiered officer.

He had had a long history.

He had actually been
imprisoned by the allies

as a Nazi sympathizer
during the second world war

but he was known as anti-Mossadegh.

And he was also known
to have many contacts in the officer core.

Okay, interview with Ardeshir Zahedi
general Zahedi's son.

Still very much in the royalist camp,

Ardeshir Zahedi's loyalty to the Shah

was rewarded by
the highest officers of the State

including the post of ambassador to the US.

-I think we put that one down
-Which one?

You want to go half?
there is both on that they can be

He fled Iran after the revolution

and has been living
in exile for forty years in Switzerland.

-You see, That’s too light too dark for me
-No, I...

Ardeshir is one of the
last remaining coup plotters.

Can I now talk about general Zahedi?

He was described by your own ambassador

as being very implausible
and completely untrustworthy.

One of the worst speculators in the country

who had an illustrated register
of prostitute and was a known German agent.

Why was he considered a suitable
candidate for replacing Mossadegh?

Probably, just for the qualities of
being described by two of my colleagues.

I do not know.

But Mossadegh figured
out what was happening

and he did the only
thing he could have done.

He closed the British embassy.

He expelled all British diplomats.

Among those diplomats
were all the secret agents

that were handing out the money
and were organizing the coup.

When Mossadegh broke off
relations and we all left and

drove across Iraq, I took over running
the Persian station in exile from Cyprus.

This is when
the British really began to panic

because they had no assets left in Iran.

uhh there it is. Okay.

Could the British not have
launched that coup by themselves?

Unfortunately, the head of MI6 at the time

General Sinclair knew
about as much of the middle east as a

as a 10-year-old

and was far more
interested in cricket anyway.

How did you communicate
with general Zahedi from that long?

Uhh I was in basically through his son.

We had a first meeting with the
Americans inviting their cooperation

but after much discussion
that was turned down.

The Truman people said
we are not interested.

We are going to continue the way we are.

They disagreed with
the idea in the first place.

Well, we do not know
how you get rid of prime ministers

President Truman would not have done what

those nations

including our own perhaps
have attempted to do

which is to remove heads of state by

so called dirty tricks.

throughout the early 1950s,

the United States had been
fighting a disastrously hot war in Korea

seriously considering
the use of the atomic bomb.

In this overheated atmosphere

general Dwight Eisenhower
campaigned for the presidency

on the basis that he and he alone

could solve the ongoing
crises in Korea and Iran.

But the 1950s was a dark period

in the United States
and in the world generally.

we had gotten through
the war and that was great

but even before the war ended

there was a series level of concern

among western strategists
and policy makers about

the next crisis that might develop
and the next

Nazi Germany that might rise up

Well, the only candidate
for that was the Soviet Union.

So, the narrative was that the world
was divided between two hostile camps.

One led by the Soviet Union,
one led by the United States.

There was a tide sweeping the world

and the communists were taking
one country after another

until they got to our borders

and then the all possibility
of life would be over.

You had the Red Scare,
you had spy scandals

The Whittaker Chambers and Alger Hiss.

, the Cambridge five.
those all kinds of thing going on

that made the atmosphere right

for someone like
Joseph McCarthy to step in

and make incredible
political hay out of all of this.

even if there only one
communist in the State Department

that would still be one communist too many.

Days after the election in November 1952

Eisenhower appointed the Dulles brothers

as secretary of State

and head of the CIA.

John Foster Dulles and Allen Dulles

were two of the most important
corporate lawyers in the United States.

They work for this
legendary firm called Sullivan & Cromwell

which is the most powerful
law firm in Wall Street.

And really Wall Street firms of that nature

are not simply financial institutions

they are political institutions
because what they are doing as representing

these powerful economic and
financial interests in America abroad.

Allen Dulles brought
the Shah to New York

to address the council
and foreign relations.

It was a way of showing
the American foreign policy elite

this is our friend in Iran.

Before coming here, I had seen and learned

of the friendship
of the United Stated for Iran.

This friendship, the government

and people of Iran

reciprocate with a deep
feeling and emotion.

So, right away there is conflicts there
between the Dulles brothers and this new

force, this democratic force
in Iran represented by Mossadegh.

In fact, they were so determined

to overthrow Mossadegh and essentially
to reverse the policy of Truman

that they did not even wait
for Eisenhower to be inaugurated

before they had their first meeting

with British officers
and started to plan the coup.

In New York,
Mr. Churchill meets John Foster Dulles

soon to be America's secretary of State

in the home of Bernard Baruch.

But neither Mr. Churchill
nor Mr. Eisenhower

will make any statements
on the discussions.

It was my feeling then.
It remains my feeling

that the British understood the extent of

of paranoia in this country
concerning communism

and that the British consciously
played on that fear.

They reframed the terms of this dispute.

Yeah, in cold war terms just as today

these terms are often reframed
as a war on terror against terrorism

and that of course becomes
the magic term that allows anything.

Any type of intervention.

Were you involved
in talks between MI6 and CIA?

Yes. Washington, Cyprus, Rome, London.

We went there to persuade the Americans

that we were not going
to get anywhere with Mossadegh.

And that his remaining in power
was very dangerous to both our interests.

And also to tell them a little bit
about the means we had at our disposal

for changing the government.

In January 1953,

Mossadegh appointed a new chief of police

more loyal to him than the previous.

This new chief was Afshartous.

Police chief Afshartous
claimed to have a list of

Iranian officials who were
conspiring with the Americans to

unseat Mossadegh.

At the beginning of April 1953

CIA director Allen Dulles
approved one million dollars

for operation in Tehran aimed at
bringing about the fall of Mossadegh.

In the early months of 53

we thought we had enough
military units to mount something.

Police chief Afshartous was kidnapped
and murdered in the spring of 53.

And this was uhh
something that was later tied to

Fazlollah Zahedi

Were you involved
in Afshartous assassination?

Were you involved
in Afshartous assassination?

Yes.

But it was never the intention
that Afshartous should be killed.

Something went wrong.

The claim is that he started

swearing at the Shah and one
of the young officers lost his temper

and pulled out his gun and shot him.

Feelings ran very high

Afshartus made derogatory
comments about the Shah and

the young officer
pulled out a gun and shot him.

But his body was very badly tortured, so

it does not look like a spur of the moment
when your body is left

with marks of torture.

Many issues of Bakhtar Emrooz.

Bakhtar Emrooz was uhh

the main newspaper of supporting
the national front and the government.

This is Afshartous by the way.

Oh my god!

ukh ukh ooof

This was also I think part of the CIA, MI6
way of destabilizing the government.

Because not only they

tortured and murdered him
but dumped his body quite visibly,

so it would be publicly known that

the government could not
even protect its tough chief of police.

It was a big event.
It was a kind of a crisis at the time.

It was certainly a bad sign for Mossadegh.

Is Darbyshire's admission to involve him
in the assassination of the chief of police

Is that the biggest
thing in that transcript?

Besides the fact that he has

he has openly admitted
the British involved in the coup

uh Yes.

-Pretty horrific picture to
put on the front page. -this as well.

So, they tied him up,

-strangled him, and shot him
-Yeah.

This was a very
important element in the coup

because Mossadegh never
managed to replace him properly.

He replaced him with people who were

linked to the coup plotters.

Zahedi avoided arrest
and I was involved in protecting him

as he moved from house to house.

The plan for the final stages of the coup

written by
Norman Darbyshire and Donald Wilber

was approved by Eisenhower and Churchill

on July 11th, 1953.

It was code named operation AJAX

after the popular household Cleanser.

225

The first step was for agent
Stephen Meade and Norman Darbyshire

to track down the Shah's sister Ashraf

exiled in Paris.

Apparently, the British ambassador and
the American ambassador had

gone to see the Shah
on several occasions to convince him

to give the okay
to this overthrow of Mossadegh.

Now, whether he did not want to do it

or did not want to upset the apple cart.
I do not know.

But in any event
he had refused up to that point.

Well, the Shah was very
young when he was put on the throne

and he was knocked from pillar to post.

He always listened to the advice

from the last person in
and that was often the advice he took.

someone either British
or American I am not sure

had the idea to get his twin sister Ashraf

with whom he was closer
than anyone else on the world

to convince him to do this

in order to save his life and his country.

Princess Ashraf very astute person,
clever, very intelligent.

People say much more brave
and much intelligent than her twin brother.

The Americans say she wore the pants.

In late June or July,
I was called to locate princess Ashraf

and convince her

to involve herself in the
then upcoming coup.

I went to London and
met with my British counterpart.

Your British counterpart
was in fact Norman Darbyshire

-Yes. -Could you tell us something
about the man Norman Darbyshire?

Norman Darbyshire
was a very competent individual

He was a
had a lot of experience.

He spoke Farsi fluently, French,

and whatever the languages I do not know.

Well, you know the
old wartime habit of using the BBC.

Well, we persuaded them
and gave her the message that

that if you do this, you will notice
a slight variation on the presentation

and that once the Shah heard that

he himself would know that it was official.

we wanted to hammer it home that it was

and therefore we used the BBC.

We made it clear that we would pay expenses

and the moment
I produced a great wad of notes,

her eyes alighted.

At one point in the negotiations

she said "In the event
that this does not go as plan,

who is going to take care of my brother?"

In the matter
to what she has become accustomed

This brought dead silence
into our little group

because as you can imagine

neither Norman nor I
had been briefed on such a question

either in Washington or London.

So, I thought if this is what it takes

to get her to
implicate herself in this thing, then

so be it so, I said yes,

we are prepared to do that.

She had not been
out the room long that day

when Norman turned to me and said,

"now look, old buddy."

says, "You have not committed
her majesty's government to this."

And I said no, I am
I realize that.

And he said, "Do you really
have the authority to do this?"

and I said I have no idea.

And he said, "Well if I did that,
I would probably be sacked."

and I said
well, Norman I just might be.

Well, she was quite a flighty woman

and Steve, who fancied anything,

fancied her.

eventually we said

here is your first-class ticket and you
are booked for the day after tomorrow

and this time I did let her get her hands
on the money.

Ashraf flew to Tehran
from Paris and delivered the letter

which was a request for
the Shah's signature authorizing the coup

and appointing Zahedi
as the new prime minister.

Six days ahead of Ashraf

Kermit Roosevelt
the CIA's Middle East chief

was on his way to Tehran.

Kermit Roosevelt was Harvard educated,

came out of the American elite

interestingly enough
his grandfather had been Theodor Roosevelt

which is in some ways
a wonderful historical quirk

since it was Theodor Roosevelt
who led the United States

into the regime change era.

Roosevelt of course knew nothing
about Iran, did not know Persian.

He was more like uhh

adventurist who was sent
to work on the ground.

A lot of this was done by MI6. The coup

they did not actually
carry it out on the ground in the end

but the actual ideas, planning,

the recruitment of agents, etc.,
was largely the work of MI6.

The actual running of the coup
from our side was my responsibility.

Perhaps, one of the reasons why
Darbyshire actually

did this interview
revealed it was because they were

not happy with the Americans taking
credit for everything cause Roosevelt

did rewrite a note history afterwards
where he takes credit for a lot of this.

Roosevelt crossed the
border from Iraq as James Lockridge

using a forged passport
and carrying suitcases full of cash.

It is actually an interesting project
because you ask yourself

how do you do this?!
So, suppose you are assigned

overthrow the government
of the country you just arrived in.

What do you do on Monday morning
9 o’clock first day? How do you start?

Well, Kermit Roosevelt started by

buying off newspaper editors
and columnists and journalists.

And he had remarkable success.

They were running articles
against Mossadegh day after day.

Mossadegh was a Jew, a communist,

homosexual, he was a British agent,

anything bad you could say about him.
In fact,

they needed so much anti-Mossadegh copy,
they could not even produce it themselves.

And the CIA back in Washington

assigned some of its own officers
to write anti-Mossadegh propaganda.

And any article that I would write.
It gave you something of a sense of power.

would appear almost instantly
the next day in Iranian press

and they were designed to show
Mossadegh as a communist collaborator

and as a fanatic.

The timing of the operation itself

what were you waiting for?

uhm very simple.
Signature of the Shah.

Timing was solely
affected by the signature of the Shah.

The original coup plan was based on

the fact that the Shah
had the ability to dismiss a government.

And therefore, what was
going to take place was that

an officer in the army would take a

Firman, a notice to Mossadegh

and inform him that he had been replaced

and that general Zahedi
would become prime minister.

It was understood that
Mossadegh would resist.

He would say
I do not accept being fired

by some soldiers
coming to me in the middle of the night.

He would then be arrested

and the next day it would be announced
that he had

resisted royal orders

and now there was a new regime in power.

This is Mossa Mehran.

On the day of the coup
he was Mossadegh's head of security.

For most of my Iranian witnesses

the event of 1953
are as fresh as if they happened yesterday.

Timing is always
of the essence and secrecy.

hmm Persians are not very good at either.

With every passing day word got around
and eventually word got to Mossadegh.

He heard it because they had a

junior officer was a Tudeh member

in the Imperial Guard.

We started talking to the Rashidians about

mounting the coup probably
immediately after we had departed.

They were an extraordinary
bunch of brothers because none of them

really spoke English.

They have been brought up believing
the British were very good.

They were late 30s, early 40s
fascinated by the idea of

politics altogether and intrigued by
being in contact with the British

and delighted to take our money
for something they believed in themselves.

we had issued the Rashidians with

radio sets to maintain contact by wireless.

They had a very wide range of contacts

particularly in the Bazaar.

They also had contacts with the Ayatollahs

and a little bit of rent-a-crowd

sort of provided

a strong popular demonstration
against Mossadegh and in favor of the Shah.

These are the tough boys and Ayatollah
Kashani controlled some of them.

You could use them as a street mob
with the blessing of a Kashani and then

the more the merrier.

When it first went wrong,
I heard about it from Roosevelt

and from the radio from the RAshidians.

First thing I heard about the coup
was on the radio there at ford pinning.

There had been an attempted coup in Iran

and it had failed miserably.

And so, I gulped once
and I looked at my wife and I said

how would you like to have
the Shah as a permanent house guest?

She had no idea what
I was talking about, you know.

Here it is.
There you go.

It is from the 16th of August 1953

is the first news
of the attempted coup by Nasiri

Attention is focused
once again on the Middle East

where events in Iran
have taken a dramatic double twist.

Forced to flee his palace in Tehran,

the Shah and his queen arrive in Rome

after an alleged attempt by
the Imperial guard to arrest Dr Mossadegh

and the refusal by the Shah to
dissolve parliament at Mossadegh's request.

There was
I think great contempt

for the Shah within CIA circles

that he
they thought he was a coward.

Of course, he fled his own country
with his wife queen Soraya.

They flee to Rome,

they take shelter
at a very luxurious hotel there

courtesy of the CIA

The hotel Excelsior which was known as the
sort of La Dolce Vita hotel at the time

where Hollywood celebrities
stayed there in the hotel

and so, they were
not exactly suffering in exile.

So, there is great intrigue
going on at Rome

as events in Iran
are quickly spinning out of control.

Once it became clear
that the project had failed

and Mossadegh was triumphed,

the CIA actually
came to a conclusion in a meeting

Mossadegh has won and we are just going
to have to find a way to live with him.

Basically, they decided this is a done deal

we need to pull our forces out of there.

And so, they instruct Kermit Roosevelt

to wrap it all up and get out of there.

We must regret that
we cannot consider going on fighting.

Operations against
Mossadegh should be discontinued.

The Americans were very new to the game

and certainly we would have
hoped to have had more influence.

I think that I am
right in saying that we had a

a little more experience
in Iran than they had.

But at very precise moments

particularly what the call black Sunday

when Roosevelt who
was the key person for the CIA.

He kind of lost his nerve.

It was the MI6 officers in Cyprus
particularly Darbyshire

who kind of said let's go ahead.

And they did so without

the say so of the foreign office.

I said all along that we should
have back up in case something did leak

or go wrong and which it did.

And this is when it was decided
to bring the boys out onto the streets.

It was the Rashidians who provided
people to infiltrate the demonstrations.

I was personally
giving orders and directing.

They were provocatories

but we had more than just provocatories.
We had a lot of Shah troops

who actually acted as if they were
Tudeh people throwing rocks at mosques

and knock over
the statues of the previous regime.

We were anxious to show the world that

that this was a spontaneous
coup against Mossadegh

and that Mossadegh
had then used the initial coup

to use it as a coup against the Shah.

-You actually had held a conference
at the hills of Vanak? -Yes, I did.

What is the message
that you were giving to the press?

The shah has just landed in Rome.

What was the situation?

was he coming back?
wasn't he coming back? Nobody knew.

But all these discussions were going on

until the 19th of August.

And there was not
an instance of imminent danger.

Not until it was too late.

In the morning of the 19th of August

the editorial team were on their way
to the Bakhtar Emrooz offices

to prepare the issue for that day.

They arrive there
and it was a smoldering ruin.

Once you start burning newspaper offices
which are known to be pro-Mossadegh,

the mob starts coming out
and attacks the demonstrators and then

it snowballs which
is what we intended to do.

It was the correct

It was the correct psychological
reading of the Persian mob character.

That mob that came into north Tehran
and was decisive in the overthrow

was a mercenary mob.
They had no ideology.

And that mob was
paid for by American dollars.

As they got nearer,
it was rather frightening.

I was 16 years old

I went a little bit to the right
till the walls of the British embassy

and uhm there

someone had obviously been killed.

We saw tanks coming from

the north end of the road.

They came in and pulled up
outside my uncle's house.

At that time, the gate was shut

and the guards were

were holding back the people and

telling them to move away.

It worked.

With 45 million dollars in American aid

the Shah quickly set about neutralizing
the opposition of Mossadegh supporters

and putting Mossadegh himself on trial.

In the military court at Tehran
on trial for treason

the Persian ex-premier Dr Mossadegh

demonstrates that he knows
how to make an entrance.

With the coat over
the pajamas Mossadegh seem calm

The 17 charges include high treason
and trying to overthrow the Shah's regime.

A strange man up against as it last.

My uncle was very fraid.

Very fraid and very dejected.

He was sure they gonna kill him.

The Shah wanted to kill him.

Was not there an army officer captured
with membership list of the Tudeh party?

Yes, that was when
the great executions took place.

And from there on
the Shah and the CIA

they introduce in the country

one of the worst elements SAVAK.

SAVAK was held up as one of the
most brutal secret services in the world.

It was clear to the coup project leaders

and to Allen Dulles that
a harsh secret service was required

and the Americans began
the process of establishing SAVAK.

I was not allowed to go back immediately
when we picked up relations again

because the Americans were trying
to cash in very quickly

and establish a special
relationship with the Shah.

227

could you tell us what
the president's mission entailed?

The mission that uh for which I was
selected theoretically by the president

was to go to Iran and assist the Shah

after he had regained
power to stay in power.

Can you explain
what that actually would entail?

Well, it was

to help train his
counterintelligence agencies in Iran.

What do that involve?
could you give some detail?

Not really.

-Okay
-uhm yes

Okay.
Yep.

What about SAVAK and all that?

Soon after

just a few years later they handed
it over to Israel and the Mossad.

And that became the force that shaped

SAVAK over a longer period.

Also, security activity
we had security relations with Iran.

We sold them military equipment.

They were interested in common developments.

That developed a great
interest between us and Iran

which were a great strategic impact.

After they changed
their minds from death sentence

then somebody decided on a 3 years.

of solitary confinement
in the military prison.

With Mossadegh behind bars

Anglo-Iranian was
renamed British Petroleum (BP)

and now had to share Iranian oil

with a handful of
American and European companies.

BP did not come out on top

but they got
they came back with a

a major share
in the international consortium

which was subsequently set up.

And I suppose from my
own point of view I would have probably

sat there for another ten years

in that boiling heat instead
of doing some much more interesting jobs

which I was allowed to do later.

Then Dr Mossadegh was moved
from the military prison to Ahmadabad

his place in exile
for the rest of his life.

Without any order.

without any trial.
without any uhm judicial authority

for that move.

It was totally illegal
and under the Shah's orders.

What was his state of mind
when he was on the house arrest?

he was very dejected.
I mean you know this is a great intellect.

uhm in his later life

was nothing.
In total solitude.

At the beginning there
was not even television at the beginning.

To have a doctor
you had to ask the Shah's permission.

Everything. To have a newspaper
you had to have the Shahs permission.

For a man like that to sit only

and stare out into this nothingness

not to have any
communication with his friends

with his world
with his political world.

Suddenly, to be cut off
from all had striven for

for 50 years or more.

It was disaster.

He would just
everyday he said I just want to die.

After the coup was over,
there was a meeting in the white house

at which Kermit Roosevelt
presented an account of what he had done

to the president and
other very senior US government officials.

I think Eisenhower in particular
was astonished and deeply impressed.

President Eisenhower as a general

had had to send
kids off to die by the thousands.

Now, he sees
you can change an entire regime

and only a couple of hundred people die
and none of them are Americans

and it is very cheap.

So, he would have seen
covert action as a peace project.

An internal report
in the CIA about the coup in Iran

later calls it
a day that should never have ended.

Its consequences were
so significant on so many levels.

This had a very negative effect on

on Iran's attempts at building a democracy.

It also had an impact on

the thinking of
US policy makers and US strategists

and particularly
covert operations planners.

Because it was seen as a big success,
this opened the world to them.

So, of course they were emboldened
to do this yet again

just the following year
1954 in Guatemala

when they overthrew the democratically
elected government of Jacobo Arbenz.

And in the spring of 1954,
there was also a big conference

in Geneva to decide the future of Vietnam.

When it became clear
that the Geneva agreement

was going to give Ho Chi Minh
a piece of territory,

Dulles walked out.

As he was flying home, he decided
we are not accepting this

and we are gonna fight.
we are gonna undermine Ho Chi Minh

Of course, the French could not defeat him
they are a decade and old power.

The British are not ambitious enough.

We are going to do it.
We can do what they could not do.

All people thought
we could not get rid of Mossadegh.

People thought we could not
get rid of Arbenz in Guatemala.

We just got rid of those
easily like it swat a fly.

You think we cannot
get rid of Ho Chi Minh.

Just watch.

Soon there after

I was up in my office

and I got a call immediately to go down.

He had just died.

uhh so...

So, they put the corpse in an ambulance.

Released from the burden of Mossadegh
and his dream of democracy for Iran,

the Shah is finally liberated
to be what he always wanted

an all-powerful king

free to reign and rule

and stride the globe.

Do you understand
sometimes the slight dilemma

that some Western leaders
feel about a very close relationship

with your government

when there are some
in America and in Britain too

who feel that your regime is undemocratic.
How do you respond to that?

Well, I respond to that by saying

that your regime
are not more democratic than ours.

Just look how many billionaires you have

and how many poor people you have.

In the old days

you British and others
who had influence here

you could change
the prime ministers as you wished.

Are you sorry for that time

that you have lost?

Do you want the same thing
to manipulate our internal affairs?

We won't let you.

Iran because of
the great leadership of the Shah

is an island of stability

in one of the more
troubled areas of the world.

The legacy of the 1953 coup in Iran

is shaping politics to this day.

We have a government in Iran and
a political system in Iran that probably

never would have emerged.

American Iranian relations
might never have deteriorated this way.

Think of it this way.

Had we not overthrown Mossadegh in 1953

and had allowed democracy to grow

we might have had a flourishing democracy

in the heart of the Muslim Middle East

all these 60 years.

And I can hardly wrap my mind around

how different the Middle East might be

if that were the example we had set.

Instead, we set the opposite example.

Here was the message
we sent to the rising

generation of leaders
throughout the Middle East

the United States does not want democracy

because democracy in a Middle East country

is going to lead to
demands for controlling resources.

What we want is a dictatorial leader

who can repress his people
as much as he wants

and we will help him do that
as long as he gives us free access to oil.

That was the message of the Iran coup

and that was heard all over the Middle East

and it led to the emergence of
all the kinds of regimes in the Middle East

that have created
the crises that we now live with.

So, this was a decisive historic episode.

when you read a history
of the 20th century in many cases,

you would be lucky
to find one line on this coup.

It should be a big chapter.

I wrote the whole thing up from beginning
to end and that is definitely on file.

I think could persuade
them to let me see it.

This is the sort of thing
that you won't find in any book.