Before the Coup Attempt W. Averell Harriman, left, President Harry S. Truman’s personal foreign policy adviser, conferring with Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh of Iran in 1951. An interpreter sits between them.Associated Press
1950 – 1953 Iran — Nationalization in Iran
- Shah of Iran restored to power
More Information and Timeline For Nationalization in Iran
1. 1950 – General Haj-ALi Razmara becomes the Prime Minister of Iran
2. March 1951 – Prime Minister Razmara is assassinated
3. March 1951 – Mohammed Mossadegh presents the idea of nationalization of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company to the Iranian Parliament and it is eventually approved by the Iranian Parliament
4. April 1951 – Mossadegh is elected as Iran’s new Prime Minister
5. May 1951 – Britain imposes an embargo on Iranian oil and bans the exportation of goods to Iran in retaliation. Britain also mobilizes its navy as a show of force
6. June 1951 – The United States, under President Truman, tries to mediate the situation between Iran and Britain diplomatically, while Britain decides to take legal action against Iran in the International Court of Justice
7. July 1951 – The International Court of Justice rules that the conflict could not be resolved by the ICJ because it was a problem between a private company and the Iranian government and not a matter of treaties
8. 1952 – Iran decides to sever diplomatic ties with Great Britain
9. 1953 – A failed coup against Mossadegh forces Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi to flee from Iran
Aug. 20, 1953//Prime Minister Ousted in Coup//The Central Intelligence Agency backs a plan, coordinated with British intelligence, to overthrow the Iranian prime minister, Mohammed Mossadegh. The plan has the approval of President Dwight D. Eisenhower and is conceived because of British concerns over petroleum exports and the relationship of the prime minister with the Soviets. The coup, orchestrated by an American agent, leads to the ouster of Mr. Mossadegh, and the shah, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, becomes an authoritarian monarch.
10. 1953 – A second coup against Mossadegh is successful with the help of the CIA and the Shah returns to power in Iran
Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi ruled as an authoritarian leader until 1979 when he was overthrown during the Iranian Revolution
1979 Iran – Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini
- Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini returns to Tehran, Iran after nearly 15 years of exile and takes over the Iranian law enforcement, courts and government administration and Khomeini seizes power in Iran
- Iran’s government becomes Islamic Republic when the Shah of Persia is forced to leaveJan. 16, 1979 Shah Flees Iran//The shah is overthrown in what becomes known as the Islamic Revolution of 1979. Three days later, R.W. Apple Jr., writing for The New York Times, tells of a “river of humanity” flowing down Tehran’s main street to show support for Ayotollah Ruhollah Khomeini, an exiled cleric. President Carter, speaking at a news conference in the days after the revolution, says of the shah: “He’s now in Egypt, and he will later come to our own country. But we would anticipate, and would certainly hope, that our good relationships with Iran will continue in the future.”
Ayatollah Khomeini and the birth of Theocracy
The Iranian Revolution comes to an end in February of 1979 when Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini returns to power after being in exile for about fifteen years. Khomeini had been exiled for his opposition to the Shah’s land reforms and attempts to modernize and Westernize the country in the 1960s. Khomeini returned not long after Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was forced to flee the country. Shah Reza Pahlavi had been in power since 1941.
February 1979
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini descends from the Air France plane that brought him to Tehran after 15 years in exile.United Press International
Khomeini Returns to Iran
Ayatollah Khomeini, who became a symbol of the Islamic Revolution, arrives in Tehran and immediately calls for the expulsion of all foreigners. “I beg God to cut off the the hands of all evil foreigners and their helpers,” he says. The State Department evacuates 1,350 Americans on the day of the ayatollah’s return. Khomeini would go on to take control of the country in March, installing a quasi theocracy that remains in power.
Khomeini’s first orders were to expel all foreigners from Iran, forcing over 1,000 U.S. State Department workers to leave the country.
He also wanted to return the government’s focus to creating a country that followed the principles of Islam and shunned outside interference and Westernization.