1953 coup against the democratically-elected Iranian PM Mosaddeq none other than for - OIL...no real surprise there

US fomented 1953 coup to control Iran oil: William Beeman
Press TV
Aug 20, 2013

Press TV has conducted an interview with William Beeman, professor at University of Minnesota, about the US Central Intelligence Agency declassifying a document that confirms Washington’s role in the 1953 coup against the democratically-elected Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddeq.



What follows is an approximate transcription of the interview.

Press TV: The released documents say the aim of the CIA operation was to cause the Mosaddeq government to fall. Just why did the CIA want to depose Mosaddeq?

Beeman: There were two reasons. The first reason had to do with the nationalization of oil. The United States and Great Britain were going to lose millions of dollars plus access to oil when the National Iranian Oil Company was nationalized by Mosaddeq.

Though the second reason is, however, for the United States. The United States was afraid and continued to be afraid all the way through the Carter administration that somehow Russia or the Soviet Union was going to invade Iran and push down to the Persian Gulf and gain a warm water port.

So the United States had to look right after World War II to the Soviet attempts to set up puppet states in Kurdistan and Azerbaijan and they were afraid that Mosaddeq was too weak to be able to withstand any kind of Soviet pressure.

So those were the two big reasons. One was control of oil and one was fear of the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

Press TV: Even now, the US government continues to allocate an annual budget for covert operations in Iran. How different are Washington’s aims today?

Beeman: Well they are a little bit different because there is no more Soviet Union. But there is no question that the United States is attempting to try to control politics within the Middle East.

     There is still a faction within Washington that continually want regime change in Iran and        there is also no question that the United States would like very much to have some kind of      control over the petroleum market in Iran.

In this regard, the fear that Iran is somehow a danger to Israel is merely a way of trying to sell US interference in Iran to the rest of the world.

AHK/KA

(video property and courtesy of Press TV)