In August 1953, the CIA and British intelligence MI6 overthrew Iran’s democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh in a covert operation codenamed Operation Ajax. They did it in four days. They did it for oil. And for seventy years, they denied it.

This is the full story — from the 1901 British oil concession that handed Iran’s resources to a foreign company, to the global embargo that strangled Iran’s economy, to the CIA operative who crossed into Tehran under a false name with a million-dollar budget and a plan to manufacture a revolution.

And it’s a story that didn’t end in 1953. The coup that brought the Shah back to power laid the groundwork for the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the hostage crisis, decades of sanctions, and the Iran-U.S. conflict that continues today.

In this episode we cover: — The Anglo-Iranian Oil Company and 50 years of exploitation — Why Mosaddegh nationalized Iran’s oil — and why the West couldn’t allow it — Operation Ajax: the three-part CIA playbook of press, streets, and army — The first coup attempt that failed — and the three days that changed everything — The Dulles brothers’ conflicts of interest and who really profited — The direct line from 1953 to the Iran we know today.

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