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.

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  • magi [null/void]
    ·
    3 months ago

    Was my transiversary today, didn't do anything and have felt pretty flat/low most of the day.. totm I think coincided with it.

    On a plus note I purged windows 11 and did a 10 ltsc iot install, got everything on there and back to how I had 11. screm-pretty

    • commiewithoutorgans [he/him, comrade/them]
      ·
      3 months ago

      Happy Transiversary! I had no idea these exist but now that I know it, it seems super natural to celebrate it. If you don't mind, I do have a few Q's about it to pick your brain and learn. Is it the date that you decided for yourself or the first time you told someone? Or some third thing I didn't think of? Are there any specific things that you do ritually on this day? (like taking a moment to reflect or buying a cake or throwing a party?)

      • magi [null/void]
        ·
        3 months ago

        Thank you!! I only heard of it recently too but I take it from the first day I started hrt and I suppose when I started transition (That was the same day, I went full time the same day)

        I knew I was different as a kid, a little later realised his was me being trans, but this isn"t part of the date. This year is the first time really reflecting on it for more than the usual quick "oh this was when I started" like every other year. I didn't feel up to doing much more with totm kicking my emotions.

        Going forward I may do more, I am a decade into transition and caught in some limbo with it so it"s kind of bittersweet. I will continue to help others in the meantime despite that limbo.