Monday, January 21, 2008

محمد مصدق

Mohammed Mosaddeq

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

(Redirected from Mohammad Mosaddeq)
Jump to: navigation, search
 The neutrality of this article is disputed.
Please see the discussion on the talk page.(December 2007)
Please do not remove this message until the dispute is resolved.
Dr. Mohammad Mossadeq
Dr. Mohammad Mossadeq

Mohammad Mosaddeq (Mossadeq (help·info)) (Persian: محمد مصدق‎ Moḥammad Moṣaddeq, also Mosaddegh or Mossadegh) (19 May 1882 – 5 March 1967) served as the Prime Minister of Iran[1][2] from 1951 to 1953. A prominent parlimentarian when Prime Minister Ali Razmara was assassinated in 1951, he was twice appointed to that office by Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran, after a positive vote of inclination by the parliament.[3] Mossadegh was a nationalist and passionately opposed foreign intervention in Iran. He was also the architect of the nationalization of the Iranian oil industry, which had been under British control through the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (AIOC), today known as British Petroleum (BP).

He was eventually removed from power on August 19, 1953, by military intervention. The coup d'état was supported and funded by the British and U.S. governments and was led by General Fazlollah Zahedi [4]. The American operation to encourage it was run by CIA agent Kermit Roosevelt, Jr.,[5][6] the grandson of U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt, and came to be known as Operation Ajax,[5] after its CIA cryptonym, and as the "28 Mordad 1332" coup, after its date on the Iranian calendar.[7] Dr. Mosaddeq was imprisoned for three years and subsequently put under house arrest until his death. He is, in many countries, considered a symbol of anti-imperialism.[citation needed]

Contents

[hide]

[edit] Early life

Mohammad Mossadegh was born in 1882 in Tehran to an Ashtian Bakhtiari finance minister and a Qajar princess. When his father died in 1892, he was appointed the tax collector of the Khorasan province and was bestowed with the title of "Mossadegh-os-Saltaneh" by Nasser al-Din Shah.[8]

[edit] Early political career

Mossadegh started his career in Iranian politics with the Iranian Constitutional Revolution, when at the age of 24, he was elected from Isfahan to the newly inaugurated Persian Parliament, the Majlis of Iran. In 1920, after being self-exiled to Switzerland in protest of the Anglo-Persian Treaty of 1919, he was invited by the new Persian Prime Minister, Hassan Pirnia (Moshir-ed-Dowleh), to become his "Minister of Justice"; but while enroute to Tehran, he was asked by the people of Shiraz to become Governor of the "Fars" Province. He was later appointed Finance Minister, in the government of Ahmad Ghavam (Ghavam os-Saltaneh) in 1921, and then Foreign Minister, in the government of Moshir-ed-Dowleh in June 1923. He then became Governor of the "Azerbaijan" Province. Later, in 1923, he was re-elected to the Majlis and voted against the selection of the Prime Minister Reza Khan as the new Shah of Persia.

By 1944, Reza Shah Pahlavi had abdicated, and Mossadegh was once again elected to parliament. This time he took the lead of Jebhe Melli (National Front of Iran), an organization he had founded with nineteen others like Dr.Hossein Fatemi, Ahmad Zirakzadeh, Ali Shayegan and Karim Sanjabi, aiming to establish democracy and end the foreign presence in Iranian politics, especially the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company's (AIOC) operations in Iran.

After negotiations for higher oil royalties failed, on 15 March 1951, the Iranian parliament voted to nationalize Iran's oil industry and seized control of the British-owned and operated AIOC. Prime Minister General Haj-Ali Razmara, elected in June 1950, had opposed the nationalization bill on technical grounds. Razmara was assassinated on 7 March 1951, by Khalil Tahmasebi, a member of the militant fundamentalist group Fadayan-e Islam.

[edit] Prime Minister

On 28 April 1951, the Majlis named Mossadegh as new prime minister by a vote of 79-12. Aware of Mossadegh's rising popularity and political power, and with the assassination of Prime Minister Ali Razmara in March, the young Shah appointed Mossadegh to the Premiership. Shortly after coming to office, Mossadegh enforced the Oil Nationalization Act, which involved the nationalization of Iran’s oil, cancellation of the AIOC’s oil concession due to expire in 1993 and expropriation of the AIOC's assets.

Responding to the latter, the British government announced it would not allow Mossadegh's government to export any oil produced in the formerly British-controlled refineries. A de facto blockade by Great Britain, enforced by threat of legal action was established in the Persian Gulf to prevent any attempts by Iran to ship oil out of the country. Furthermore, the AIOC withdrew its British trained technicians when Mossadegh nationalized the oil industry. Thus, many of the refineries lacked properly trained technicians that were needed to continue production. An economic stalemate thus ensued, with Mossadegh's government refusing to allow any British involvement in Iran's oil industry, and Britain refusing to allow any oil to leave Iran.

Since Britain had long been Iran's primary oil-consumer and producer, the stalemate was particularly hard on Iran. While the country had once boasted over a US$100 million a year in exports to Britain, after nationalization, the same oil industry began increasing Iran's debt by nearly US$120 million a year. The Abadan Crisis quickly plunged the country into economic difficulties.

Despite the economic hardships of his policy, Mossadegh remained popular, and in 1952, was approved by parliament for a second term. Sensing the difficulties of a worsening political and economic climate, he announced that he would ask the Shah to grant him emergency powers. Thus, during the royal approval of his new cabinet, Mossadegh insisted on the constitutional prerogative of the prime minister to name a Minister of War and the Chief of Staff. The Shah refused, and Mossadegh announced his resignation.

Ahmad Qavam (also known as Ghavam os-Saltaneh) was appointed as Iran's new prime minister. On the day of his appointment, he announced his intention to resume negotiations with the British to end the oil dispute. This blatant reversal of Mossadegh's plans sparked a massive public outrage. Protesters of all stripes filled the streets, including communists and radical Muslims led by Ayatollah Kashani. Frightened by the unrest, the Shah dismissed Qavam, and re-appointed Mossadegh, granting him the full control of the military he had previously demanded.

Taking advantage of his popularity, Mossadegh convinced the parliament to grant him increased powers and appointed Ayatollah Kashani as house speaker. Kashani's Islamic scholars, as well as the Tudeh Party, proved to be two of Mossadegh's key political allies, although both relationships were often strained. The already precarious alliance between Mossadegh and Kashani was severed in January 1953, when Kashani opposed Mossadegh's demand that his increased powers be extended for a period of one year.

Mossadegh quickly implemented more sociopolitical changes. Iran's centuries-old feudal agriculture sector was abolished and replaced with a system of collective farming and government land ownership. Although Mossadegh has previously been opposed to these policies when implemented unilaterally by the Shah, he saw it as a means of checking the power of the Tudeh Party, which had been agitating for general land reform among the peasants.

[edit] Plot to depose Mossadegh

Soldiers surround the Parliament building in Tehran on 19 August 1953.
Soldiers surround the Parliament building in Tehran on 19 August 1953.

The government of the United Kindgom had grown increasingly distressed over Mossadegh's policies and were especially bitter over the loss of their control of the Iranian oil industry. Repeated attempts to reach a settlement had failed.

Unable to resolve the issue singlehandedly due to its post-World War II problems, Britain looked towards the United States to settle the issue. The United States was led to believe by the British that Mossadegh was increasingly turning towards communism and was moving Iran towards the Soviet sphere at a time of high Cold War fears.[9][10][11][12]

Acting on the opposition to Mossadegh by the British government and fears that he was, or would become, dependent on the pro-Soviet Tudeh Party at a time of expanding Soviet influence,[13] the United States and Britain began to publicly denounce Mossadegh's policies for Iran as harmful to the country.

[edit] Operation Ajax

In October 1952, Mossadegh declared that Britain was "an enemy", and cut all diplomatic relations with the United Kingdom. In November and December 1952, British intelligence officials suggested to American intelligence that the prime minister should be ousted. The new US administration under Dwight D. Eisenhower and the British government under Winston Churchill agreed to work together toward Mossadegh's removal. In March 1953, Secretary of State John Foster Dulles directed the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), which was headed by his younger brother Allen Dulles, to draft plans to overthrow Mossadegh.[14]

On April 4, 1953, CIA director Dulles approved US$1 million to be used "in any way that would bring about the fall of Mossadegh." Soon the CIA's Tehran station started to launch a propaganda campaign against Mossadegh. Finally, according to The New York Times, in early June, American and British intelligence officials met again, this time in Beirut, and put the finishing touches on the strategy. Soon afterward, according to his later published accounts, the chief of the CIA's Near East and Africa division, Kermit Roosevelt, Jr. arrived in Tehran to direct it.[citation needed]

The plot, known as Operation Ajax, centered around convincing Iran's monarch to use his constitutional authority to dismiss Mossadegh from office, as he had attempted some months earlier. But the Shah was uncooperative, and it would take much persuasion and many meetings to successfully execute the plan.

Mossadegh became aware of the plots against him and grew increasingly wary of conspirators acting within his government. Soon Pro-Mossadegh supporters, both socialists and nationalists, threatened Muslim leaders with "savage punishment if they opposed Mossadegh," with impression that Mossadegh was cracking down on dissent, and stirring anti-Mossadegh sentiments within the religious community. Mossadegh then moved to dissolve parliament, in spite of the Constitutional provision which gave the Shah sole authority to dissolve Parliament. After taking the additional step of abolishing the Constitutional guarantee of a “secret ballot”, Mossadegh’s victory in the national plebiscite was assured. The electorate was forced into a non-secret ballot and Mossadegh won 99.93% of the vote. The tactics employed by Mossadegh to remain in power were dictatorial in their result, playing into the hands of those who wished to see him removed.[citation needed] Parliament was suspended indefinitely, and Mossadegh's emergency powers were extended.

Inside Iran, Mossadegh's popularity was eroding as promised reforms failed to materialize and his crackdown engendered resentment from the people. His policy of collective farming had been a disaster, which further increased his unpopularity with the Iranian public. The Tudeh Party abandoned its alliance with Mossadegh, as did the conservative clerical factions.

[edit] Shah's exile

In August 1953, Mossadegh attempted to convince the Shah to leave the country and allow him control over the government. The Shah refused, and formally dismissed the Prime Minister. Mossadegh refused to leave, however, and when it became apparent that he was going to fight to overthrow the monarchy, the Shah, as a precautionary measure, flew to Baghdad and from there to Rome, Italy, after signing two decrees, one dismissing Mossadegh and the other nominating General Fazlollah Zahedi Prime Minister.

Once again, massive protests broke out across the nation. Anti- and pro-monarchy protestors violently clashed in the streets, leaving almost 300 dead. The pro-monarchy forces, led by retired army General and former Minister of Interior in Mossadegh's cabinet, Fazlollah Zahedi, gained the upper hand on 19 August 1953 (28 Mordad). The military intervened as the pro-Shah tank regiments stormed the capital and bombarded the prime minister's official residence. Mossadegh managed to flee from the mob that set in to ransack his house, and, the following day, surrendered to General Zahedi, who had meanwhile established his makeshift headquarters at the Officers' Club. A tearful Dr. Mossadegh was received, in dignity, however and placed under arrest in a comfortable apartment [2][dead link – history] at the Officers' Club and transferred to a military jail shortly after.

Shortly after the return of the Shah, on 22 August 1953, from the brief self-imposed exile in Rome, Mossadegh was tried by a military tribunal for high treason. Zahedi and the Shah were inclined, however, to spare the man's life (the death penalty would have applied according to the laws of the day). Mossadegh received a sentence of 3 years in solitary confinement at a military jail and was exiled to his village not far from Tehran, where he remained under house arrest until his death, on 5 March 1967.

Zahedi's new government soon reached an agreement with foreign oil companies to form a "Consortium" and "restore the flow of Iranian oil to world markets in substantial quantities."[15]

[edit] Legacy

When the Iranian revolution occurred in 1979, the overthrow of Mossadegh was used as a rallying point in anti-US protests. To this day, Mossadegh is one of the most popular figures in Iranian history[citation needed], though he is generally ignored by the government of the Islamic Republic. Despite his stature as a nationalist, he is shunned because of his secularism and western manners.[16]

The extent of the U.S.'s role in Mossadegh's overthrow was not formally acknowledged for many years, although the Eisenhower administration was quite vocal in its opposition to the policies of the ousted Iranian Prime Minister. In his memoirs, Eisenhower writes angrily about Mossadegh, and describes him as impractical and naive, though he stops short of admitting any overt involvement in the coup.

Eventually the CIA's role became well-known, and caused controversy within the organization itself, and within the CIA congressional hearings of the 1970s. CIA supporters maintain that the plot against Mossadegh was strategically necessary, and praise the efficiency of agents in carrying out the plan. Critics say the scheme was paranoid and colonial, as well as immoral.

In March 2000, then-Secretary of State Madeleine Albright stated her regret that Mossadegh was ousted: "The Eisenhower administration believed its actions were justified for strategic reasons. But the coup was clearly a setback for Iran's political development and it is easy to see now why many Iranians continue to resent this intervention by America." In the same year, the New York Times published a detailed report about the coup based on alleged CIA documents.[4]

For his sudden rise in popularity inside and outside of Iran, and for his defiance of the British, Mossadegh was named as Time Magazine's 1951 Man of the Year. Other notables considered for the title that year included Dean Acheson, President Dwight D. Eisenhower and General Douglas MacArthur.[17]

In early 2004, the Egyptian government changed a street name in Cairo from Pahlavi to Mosaddeq, to facilitate closer relations with Iran. He was good friends with Mohammad Mokri until his death.

[edit] Mosaddeq in the media

Mohammad Mosaddeq plays an important role in the 2003 TV production Soraya,[18] which deals with the life of the Shah's second wife and former Queen of Iran, Princess Soraya Esfandiary Bakhtiari. Mosaddeq's role is played by Claude Brasseur.

Preceded by
Hossein Ala'		 Prime Minister of Iran
1951 – 1952 July 16		 Succeeded by
Ghavam os-Saltaneh
Preceded by
Ghavam os-Saltaneh		 Prime Minister of Iran
1952 July 21 – 1953 August 19		 Succeeded by
Fazlollah Zahedi
Preceded by
The American Fighting-Man		 TIME's Man of the Year
1951		 Succeeded by
Queen Elizabeth II

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Mike Thomson (2005-08-22). A Very British Coup, An award winning radio documentary from the BBC revealing "the true extent of Britain's involvement in the coup of 1953 which toppled Iran's democratically elected government and replaced it with the tyranny of the Shah". BBC Radio 4. Retrieved on 2006-11-03.
  2. ^ Leading Article: A counter-productive policy towards Iran. The Independent (2003-06-16). Retrieved on 2007-04-07.
  3. ^ [1]Encyclopedia Iranica
  4. ^ a b James Risen (2000-04-16). Secrets of History: The C.I.A. in Iran. The New York Times. Retrieved on 2006-11-03.
  5. ^ a b Dan De Luce (2003-09-20). The Spectre of Operation Ajax. Guardian Unlimited. Retrieved on 2006-11-03.
  6. ^ Amy Goodman (2003-09-20). 50 Years After the CIA’s First Overthrow of a Democratically Elected Foreign Government. Democracy Now. Retrieved on 2006-11-03.
  7. ^ Mark J. Gasiorowski and Malcolm Byrne (2004-06-22). Mohammad Mosaddeq and the 1953 Coup in Iran. National Security Archive. Retrieved on 2006-11-03.
  8. ^ Key figures, telegaph.co.uk, <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/campaigns/iran/irankey.xml>. Retrieved on [[2007-11-07]]
  9. ^ Mark J. Gasiorowski and Malcolm Byrne Mohammad Mosaddeq and the 1953 Coup in Iran, Syracuse University Press, May 2004. (ISBN 0-8156-3018-2), page 125
  10. ^ James S. Lay, Jr. (November 20, [1952]]), United States policy regarding the cirrent situation in Iran, George Washington University, <http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB126/iran521120.pdf>. Retrieved on [[2007-11-07]] Statement of policy proposed by the National Security Council
  11. ^ Walter B. Smith, Undersecretary (March 20, 1953), First Progress Report on Paragraph 5-1 of NSC 136/1, "U.S. Policy Regarding the Current Situation in Iran", George Washington University, <http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB126/iran530320.pdf>. Retrieved on 2007-11-07]]
  12. ^ (unreadable) Which the United States Government Might Take in Support of a Successor Government to (unreadable), George Washington University, 1953, <http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB126/iran530300.pdf>. Retrieved on 2007-11-07
  13. ^ Review of All the Shah's Men by Jonathan Schanzer
  14. ^ Malcolm Byrne, ed. (November 2, 2000), The Secret CIA History of the Iran Coup, 1953, Geprge Washington University, quoting Natinal security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 28, <http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB28/>. Retrieved on [[2007-11-07]]
  15. ^ Associated Press (August 6, 1954), Statements on Iran Oil Accord, The New York Times, <http://www.nytimes.com/library/world/mideast/080654iran-statements.html>. Retrieved on [[2007-11-07]]
  16. ^ Abrahamian, Khomeinism, (c1993)
  17. ^ Mohammed Mossadegh, Man of the Year. Time Magazine (1951-01-07). Retrieved on 2006-11-19.
  18. ^ Soraya (2003) (TV), Internet Movie Database, <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0348076/>. Retrieved on [[2007-11-07]]

[edit] Further reading

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohammed_Mosaddeq"
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)