Coup
| Year | Date | Event | Significance |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1953 | Summer | Head of CIA, Allen Dulles, U.S. ambassador to Iran, Loy Henderson, and Princess Ashraf gather in Switzerland. | Meeting of conspirators. |
| 1953 | August 12 | Colonel Nasiri flies to Ramsar on the Caspian Sea to get the Shah's signature on royal decrees dismissing Mosaddeq and appointing Zahedi in his place as prime minister. | A result of much effort by the CIA and allies to persuade the Shah to dismiss Mosaddeq. |
| 1953 | August 15–16 | Failed coup attempt. Late at night "Colonel Nasiri of the Imperial Guards arrives at Mosaddeq's doorstep" with a number of Imperial Guards and "a royal decree replacing Mosaddeq with Zahedi as premier". Tipped off by the Tudeh's military network, a pro-Mosaddeq army contingent surrounds Nasiri and the coup fails. | With the planned coup a failure, CIA's Roosevelt chooses to stay in Iran and improvise another coup, and find another coup leader. |
| 1953 | August 16 | Backlash against the coup attempt. Pro-Mosaddeq army units establish control throughout Tehran, arresting suspected coup participants. Freed from jail, Hossein Fatemi speaks on radio and to a large pro-Mosaddeq demonstration, denouncing the Shah as a traitor. His newspaper announces the Iranian people want the Shah hanged. | |
| 1953 | August 17 | Shah flees Iran, stopping first in Baghdad. On hearing this news, the "National Front sets up a committee to decide the fate of the monarchy, and the Tudeh crowds pour into the streets, destroying royalist statues. In some provincial towns ... the Tudeh take over the municipal buildings." In Tehran, mob attacks are started by "black" mobs, i.e. paid for by the CIA to "loot shops, destroy pictures of the Shah, ransack offices of royalist groups", but include sincere supporters of Mosaddeq that have joined in the rioting. | Hurts Mosaddeq forces as they 1) mistakenly believe the Shah was behind coup, and with him gone, they relax their guard. 2) the disorder led many Iranians to believe Mosaddeq was losing control of the situation. 3) Mosaddeq reacted against calls for a republic as he saw them as going against his constitutional mandate as premier. |
| 1953 | August 18 | Shah arrives in Rome without any money or entourage. In Tehran, riots have intensified and Mosaddeq instructs the army "to clear the streets of all demonstrators" following a (dishonest) promise by the American ambassador of "aid if law and order was reestablished." | Plotter takes advantage of Mosaddeq's trusting nature. |
| 1953 | August 19 | 'Shahban the Brainless' leads a noisy demonstration from the red light district to the bazaar; the gendarmerie transport 800 farm hands from the royal stables in Veramin to central Tehran. "The decisive day", people of the bazaar, led by athletes from gymnastic clubs, zurkhaneh, poured out en masse into the city and, supported by military loyal to the Shah, confronted and dispersed the military elements defending Mosaddeq. Many anti-Mosaddeq demonstrators are killed by military defenders as they attempt to overrun Mosaddeq's house, but in the afternoon General Fazallah Zahedi, commanding 35 Sherman tanks, surrounds the premier's residence. Nine-hour battle finally ends with 300 people dead, Mosaddeq fleeing, and his house burnt. | Counter-coup succeeds. George Lenczowski notes that it "was carried out with a more substantial participation of the Iranians themselves than has generally been acknowledged in the West", in spite of the US role in planning and financing the movement that supported the Shah. |
| 1953 | August 20 | Mosaddeq is arrested and the Shah returns to Iran. | |
| 1953 | November–December | Mosaddeq is tried for treason, defends himself brilliantly and is given a three-year prison sentence. | |
| 1957 | Mosaddeq released from prison and confined to the village of Ahmad Abad, where his country estate is located. He spends the rest of his life running his farm, never leaving his estate compound. |
Read more about this topic: Abadan Crisis Timeline