Reporting by France Bognon
On July 13th 2017, ICAN’s Sanam Naraghi Anderlini joined Bruce Riedel of The Intelligence Project at Brookings Institution, Malcolm Byrne of the National Security Archive, and the Atlantic Council’s Barbara Slavin at an event titled: Regime Change in Iran: From the 1953 Coup to the Trump Policy Review. The Future of Iran Initiative at the Atlantic Council hosted the event to discuss the recent release of more than 1000 pages of US government documents related to the 1953 CIA-backed coup that ousted Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh and reinstalled Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. The panelists analyzed the impact of the coup and its ramifications on the current political climate in Washington, and the presence of arguments from both political parties that seem to encourage further involvement in Iran.
The release of these documents has sparked new discussion on the role of the US in the coup, including perceptions of Americans in the 50’s up to now. It seems that in both countries, history was rewritten and the new text had little acknowledgement of the role of the CIA in Tehran at that time. Offering first-hand insight, Ms Anderlini spoke of the impact of the coup on the Iranian people. Having been raised in Iran, she didn’t learn about the name Mossadegh until after she’d left Iran and moved to the UK. His name had been erased from Iranian history, during what was paramount to a quasi-colonization of Iran by the US.
Mr. Byrne, author of Iran-Contra: Reagan’s Scandal and the Unchecked Abuse of Presidential Power and Deputy Director and Director of Research at the National Security Archive, commenced the event with an introduction to the release by the State Department of the 1,000 pages related to the anti-Mosaddeq coup. The National Security Archive has been calling for the release of these documents since 2013 when the CIA declassified approximately 200 pages of documents relating to the controversial role of the US in the ouster of Mosaddeq. Mr. Reidel, a CIA veteran and a Middle East advisor to several US presidents, shared information gained from his reading of the 1000 page document, including Document #307, which revealed how closely involved the US was in the coup. Worth noting is that US involvement was acknowledged for the first time in 2000 in a speech by Madeline Albright, in which she noted regret for the activities. He said that successive US administrations have “talked about regime change on and off since 1979” but not really pursued it. He warned the Trump administration, however, not to “flirt” with this notion and not “sublet our foreign policy to the Saudis” and others who blame Iran for all the troubles in the Middle East.
There seemed to be a general consensus that despite recent rhetoric on Capitol Hill, the only successful way to achieve legitimate governmental change is through democratic movement – not an overthrow. “What is needed is a critical mass with a democratic mindset of people who will carry forward this view”, Sanam Anderlini. Change may be slow, but it will come from within, and therefore not only be legitimate, but also long lasting.
