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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  • Lenins_Cat_Reincarnated [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    2 months ago

    So apparently having long covid does not make me eligible to get a vaccination booster this fall because although my illness will probably get worse after reinfection it won’t put me in a hospital so it’s not a problem for the state. It’s really cool that my government gives zero fucks about me having a debilitating illness that makes my life miserable and won’t even give me slightest ease of worry by letting me get a fucking vaccin to prevent it from getting even worse.

    I’ll probably be able to get it by working around the rules and making my gp write up some lie about me being in a high risk group but it’s fucked up that people getting long covid really isn’t considered to be a problem that needs to be prevented at all.

    • ashinadash [she/her]@hexbear.net
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      2 months ago

      meow-hug It is utterly fucked, mask off moment for the state not giving a shit about any of its people. Hope you can get that booster sooner rather than later.