About this episode

The episode explores America's covert operation to overthrow Iran's Prime Minister in 1953 and its implications for US-Iran relations.

1953 Tehran. An American diplomat called Kermit Roosevely III rides through the city’s streets on his way to see the Shah of Iran. Although he can’t see anything because he’s riding in the boot covered in a Persian carpet. He doesn’t want to be seen because he’s on a top secret mission. A mission from the American government. To overthrow Iran’s popular Prime Minister threatening to nationalise the oil industry — Mohamed Mossadegh. Kermit is organising a coup. This is the story of how America came up with a blueprint of how to fight its communist enemies abroad while still looking like the good guy. How it maintained its role as the virtuous superpower while getting rid of people it didn’t like. They decided to do it in secret, using the ultimate invisible hand - the CIA. It’s a tale of oil, money, power and marks the start of a toxic relationship between Iran and the US that is still playing out to this day. David Dimbleby tells the story of how in the middle of the 20th century one country - America - became a superpower and shaped the world around it. It began with a vision. A vision born out of the ashes of World War Two. A vision of a world shaped not by war but by peace…

People in this episode

Host: David Dimbleby

Topics covered

• American foreign policy
• Operation Ajax
• Iran-US relations
• Cold War
• CIA operations
• oil industry
• superpower dynamics

Keywords

• Operation Ajax
• Kermit Roosevely III
• Mohamed Mossadegh
• CIA
• Iran
• America
• Cold War
• oil
• superpower

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: CIA

Places: Iran, America, Tehran

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