1953: U.S. overthrows Prime Minister Mossadeq of Iran.
U.S. installs Shah as dictator.

On June 1st, 1953, the CIA and the British SIS submitted their initial plans for the overthrow of Mossadeq, and the installation of the Shah as dictator and General Zahedi as Prime Minister. Both the CIA and the SIS pledged military and logistical aid, and worked through the British ambassador in Tehran to convince the Shah to assume the dictatorship. In presenting this plan to the Shah, the US and the Brits wanted to stress that the primary objective of the coup was "to maintain independence Iran [sic] and keep from Soviet orbit. To do this Mossadeq must be removed." The secondary objective (which they list first) 'as pitched to the Shah" was oil.

On August 19th, 1953, democratically elected Mossadeq was overthrown, and the Shah took control. Read this Memorandum for the President from August 1953, classified as Top Secret. In particular: "The Shah is a new man. For the first time he believes in himself because he feels that he is King by his people's choice. He recognizes now his debt to us and hopes, as he puts it, that we have a realistic understanding of the importance of Iran to us."

The New York Times has an excellent collection of original documents (you need Adobe Acrobat), historic photographs, and an archive of original Times' coverage of the coup. There‚s also a timeline of US-Iran relations, as well as a timeline of the coup itself. More declassified documents on Iran can be found here from the National Security Archive. Many of the original documents, however, were destroyed.

What if the US and the UK had stayed out of Iran?

In 1954, Iran happily announced an oil deal with British, French and American oil companies.

You can read original CIA documents here. Search: Iran AND 1953 AND Shah.

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