The war in Iran did not begin with a missile strike or a declaration. It began in the sweltering August of 1953, in the offices of a CIA operative named Kermit Roosevelt Jr., grandson of a president, architect of a coup d’état. It began when American and British intelligence agencies decided that democracy was too dangerous — that a people’s right to their own oil, their own sovereignty, their own future, was an inconvenience to be extinguished.

Mohammad Mosaddegh was everything the postwar West claimed to want: a secular, democratically elected leader, confirmed by parliament and Shah alike, who believed — naively, fatally — that the law might protect a nation’s right to its own resources. When he nationalized the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company in 1951, he committed the unforgivable sin. He meant it. Winston Churchill, unwilling to accept that the empire had expiration dates, went to Dwight Eisenhower with his hand out. Eisenhower obliged. Operation Ajax was born.

Roosevelt spent over a million dollars dismantling a democracy. He bribed journalists to poison the press. He bought politicians and military officers wholesale. He paid mobs to riot in the streets of Tehran, manufacturing the chaos that would justify the coup. On August 19, 1953, Mosaddegh fell.

Roosevelt spent over a million dollars dismantling a democracy. He bribed journalists to poison the press. He bought politicians and military officers wholesale. He paid mobs to riot in the streets of Tehran, manufacturing the chaos that would justify the coup. On August 19, 1953, Mosaddegh fell.

The Shah — pliable,........

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