Author: Dr. Toomaj Arian*
August 19, 1953, is a day that Mosaddegh’s supporters have turned into a second Ashura, and for 71 years, they have darkened the days of the Iranian nation with it.
In this article, I intend to briefly outline a short history of Mohammad Mosaddegh’s political life.
- Mohammad Mosaddegh al-Saltaneh was a member of the Qajar aristocracy and the nephew of Farmanfarma, a land-grabber and oppressor. He played no role whatsoever in the Constitutional Revolution and did not support it in any way.
Mohammad Mosaddegh supported the bombardment of the parliament by Mohammad Ali Shah and the beginning of the Minor Tyranny. - Mohammad Mosaddegh was a representative of Isfahan in the First National Consultative Assembly, but he was expelled from the parliament due to forging his birth certificate and increasing his age to qualify for membership.
- After returning from his trip to France and Switzerland, Mohammad Mosaddegh disembarked in Bushehr and was immediately appointed as the governor of Fars with the support of the British consul in the south. Two of his most significant actions were directly suppressing the Tangsir warriors and Rais Ali Delvari, who were fighting against British aggression, and requesting British forces to send troops to Bahrain to establish security on the Iranian island—an action that marked the beginning of Bahrain’s separation from Iran.
- Mohammad Mosaddegh was one of the key figures of the Adamiyat Freemasonry Lodge. He himself admitted this in his memoirs, and his name is also mentioned in Esmail Raein’s book as a principal member of Freemasonry in Iran.
Moreover, his claim of obtaining a PhD in Law from Switzerland with a dissertation titled “Inheritance in Islam” has long been disproven. The late Shamshiri traveled to Switzerland, where the university officially stated in writing that no such person had received a doctoral degree from them.
Fundamentally, until 1916, this university did not admit law students at the doctoral level. Mosaddegh, according to his own claim, graduated from this university in 1914… - Mohammad Mosaddegh’s disruptive efforts in the 4th and 5th parliaments aimed to obstruct the government of Sardar Sepah (Reza Shah). He opposed the government’s bills, the declaration of a republic by Sardar Sepah, and the change of the Qajar dynasty.
- In 1950, Major General Ali Razmara made an agreement with the British Oil Company to increase Iran’s revenue from oil by fifty percent, which at the time was considered a very good agreement.
Suddenly, in December 1950, Razmara was assassinated by the Fadaiyan-e Islam. Mossadegh and his allies immediately brought the Nationalization of the Oil Industry law to the parliament, where it was approved, and Mohammad Mossadegh was selected as the Prime Minister.
Three months later, with the proposal of Mohammad Mossadegh’s government and the approval of the parliament, the assassins of Razmara are pardoned. (Please find the orange seller.) - The dissolution of the Iran and British Oil Company and its nationalization dealt the biggest blow to Iran at that time. About twenty percent of the company’s activities were in Iran, and it had major projects all over the world.
With the dissolution of this company, Iran was deprived of the benefits from all of the company’s projects outside of Iran, and the biggest profit from this dissolution went to England.
In the two years that followed, Iran neither extracted nor exported much oil because it was under global sanctions. The country’s economy was on the brink of collapse, and inflation was rampant. In 1953, the country was effectively bankrupt, and the people were very dissatisfied and angry with Mohammad Mossadegh’s government. - In August 1953, Mohammad Mossadegh dissolved the National Assembly and the Senate, claiming that this parliament did not align with the will of the people.
However, the elections for these two parliaments had been conducted by Mossadegh’s government itself. In the absence of the two parliaments, the Shah, according to the constitution, could dismiss the prime minister and appoint a new one.
Given the country’s critical situation, the Shah dismissed Mohammad Mossadegh and appointed Fazlollah Zahedi as prime minister until the formation of the National Assembly.
Mohammad Mossadegh received the dismissal letter and accepted it, but under pressure from Hossein Fatemi, he opposed the decision.
At night, he arrested the messenger and put the army and police on standby. The next day, groups from the Tudeh Party and others began taking down statues of the Shah and burning pro-monarchy newspapers.
Most of the photos later published regarding August 28th actually depict the events of August 26th and 27th, as well as the violence carried out by Mossadegh’s supporters. - On August 28th, supporters of Ayatollah Kashani, along with the people and eventually some military personnel, were able to take control of the situation. In the evening of August 28th, Mohammad Mossadegh officially resigned and submitted his resignation to Ardeshir Zahedi. He even fell at Zahedi’s feet, blaming all the faults on Hossein Fatemi and the Tudeh Party.
But in court, he began to shift the blame and fainted several times. From here, the “Ashura of August 28th” was initiated by Mohammad Mossadegh and continued by his supporters.
Result:
History is always written by the victors, but there is one exception, and that is in Iran and the events of August 28. Contrary to this, the defeated party wrote history falsely. The losers shaped the event in public memory, portraying Mohammad Mossadegh’s government as an ideal, democratic, and efficient government. They claimed that if this government had not been overthrown, all of Iran’s problems would have been solved, and Iran would have reached the peak of democracy in the world.
This illusion grew larger in the following years, with more embellishment, and led to the revolution of 1979. In reality, the ideas of Mossadegh and his followers can be seen in the 1979 revolution.
This revolution was a perfect mirror of Mohammad Mossadegh and his companions. Mohammad Mossadegh’s legacy was nothing but a mirage and illusion, and this mirage and illusion, carried out by his loyal companions such as Karim Sanjabi, Mehdi Bazargan, Yadollah Sahabi, Ibrahim Yazdi, Sadegh Khattabzadeh, and others, came down upon the Iranian people like a devastating wave, destroying everything.
*PhD in Political Science. Writer and Political Analyst.