The Causes of Iran's 1953 Coup: A Critique of Darioush Bayandor's Iran and the CIA

This article presents a detailed criticism of Darioush Bayandor's book Iran and the CIA. Bayandor argues that certain Shi'a clerics, rather than the US Central Intelligence Agency, were the main actors responsible for overthrowing Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddeq in August 1953. Ba...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Iranian studies 2012-09, Vol.45 (5), p.669-678
Main Author: Gasiorowski, Mark J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Armed Forces
Ayatollahs
Clergy
Clerics
Conflict
Coups d'Etat
Covert operations
Criminal arrests
Criticism
Intelligence
Intelligence services
Iran
Memoirs
Police
Prime Ministers
Shia
Special Section: 28 Mordad
United States of America
Wealth
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Summary:This article presents a detailed criticism of Darioush Bayandor's book Iran and the CIA. Bayandor argues that certain Shi'a clerics, rather than the US Central Intelligence Agency, were the main actors responsible for overthrowing Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddeq in August 1953. Bayandor presents no major new evidence to support this claim. He gives too much weight to certain statements, draws unwarranted inferences from others, and discounts or disregards a wealth of evidence that conflicts with his account. He overemphasizes the role of civilian crowds in the overthrow of Mosaddeq and underemphasizes the role of Iranian military units organized by the CIA. And he fails to acknowledge the importance of US and especially British efforts to foment opposition to Mosaddeq before the coup.
ISSN:0021-0862
1475-4819
DOI:10.1080/00210862.2012.702555