On this day in 1953, the U.S. and British governments initiated a coup d'état against the democratically elected Prime Minister of Iran, Mohammad Mosaddegh. Mosaddegh had been preparing to nationalize Iran's British-owned oil fields.

Mosaddegh had sought to audit the documents of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (AIOC), later re-named British Petroleum, and to limit the company's control over Iranian oil reserves. When the AIOC refused to cooperate with the Iranian government, the parliament voted to nationalize Iran's oil industry and to expel foreign corporate representatives from the country.

In response, the British began a worldwide boycott of Iranian oil to pressure Iran economically and engaged in subterfuge to undermine Mosaddegh's government.

Judging Mosaddegh to be unreliable and fearing a communist takeover, Winston Churchill and the Eisenhower administration overthrew Iran's government. The coup action was also supported by the Iranian clergy, who opposed Mosaddegh's secularism.

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) hired mobsters to stage pro-Shah riots and paid people to travel to Tehran and take over the streets of the city. Between 200 and 300 people were killed in the ensuing mayhem.

Mosaddegh was arrested, tried, and convicted of treason by the Shah's military court. Many of his supporters were imprisoned, several received the death penalty. Mosaddegh himself lived the rest of his life under house arrest, dying in 1967.

After the coup, the Shah ruled as a monarch for the next 26 years until he was overthrown in the Iranian Revolution in 1979.

CIA Confirms Role in 1953 Iran Coup

The Iranian coup, 1953 libcom

50 Years After the CIA’s First Overthrow of a Democratically Elected Foreign Government We Take a Look at the 1953 US Backed Coup in Iran

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        • Cromalin [she/her]
          ·
          2 years ago

          yeah, but that's not gonna make tv shows! that might have some usage for posters or designing stuff, but it can't be used for animation and it isn't reliable enough to write full length episodes of television either. it might reach the point where it partially replaces online commissions, but its hard to say with the copyright issues.

            • ssjmarx [he/him]
              ·
              2 years ago

              Right now, AI is really uncanny - which means it's really, really good at creating surreal horror imagery.

            • Cromalin [she/her]
              ·
              2 years ago

              it definitely might be a yet, but that yet is still a long ways off. and even for posters it's only so useful. that image is nice looking, but if you're making an ad for a show or a movie or whatever you need kit to be accurate to the source material, and i'm not sure ai is consistent enough to make even that worthwhile yet. but that's a definite yet, as opposed to writing or animating which are maybe yets