1953 Iranian Coup

You realize that US removed the democratically elected government in 1953 in CIA-led coup that overthrew the democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh. Then the US government kept the Shah in power. He repressed the population and led to the 1979 revolution.Who's the one evil again?Those countries in the middle east that US considers an ally are not democratically elected either and they enforce religious laws like not allowing woman to drive. They do not respect min

I think you're confused about Iranian history and US-Iranian relations.I'm certainly no expert on the matter, but in broad strokes...The US supported(propped up) that "free" regime of the Shah prior to 1979. They did that for cozy relations and cheap oil. That regime was actually quite brutal in its repression of dissidents (islamists mostly) and while it might look all pretty and western and "more like us" it was a brutal police state not unlike Egypt under Mubarak - which was also supp

Their analysis, which is typical of someone quoting Chomsky, also pretends as if Iran would be a secular democracy today if the US/UK merely had not meddled. The fact is, the mullahs and the ultra-religious were already on the rise in Iran since at least the 1920s, and while they initially supported Mossadegh, by the time of the coup, they were actively moving against him. It seems likely they would have overthrown whoever was in their way - whether it was Mossadegh or the Shah.

For those who are not familiar with the story, it starts with the Iranians democratically electing a president, Mohammad Mosaddegh. But he was too friendly with the Soviet Union and threatening to nationalize the oil industry, so the intelligence agencies of the US and the UK helped sponsor a coup to overthrow him and install the Shah as dictator. But the Shah was cruel and oppressive, and was eventually overthrown in the 1979 revolution and replaced with the present Islamist government.Not s

Iran had a somewhat democratic government until the US overthrew it and replaced it with a monarch in the 50s. Iran subsequently had another revolution with a total purge of foreign influence in 1979. Subsequently a huge number of Iranians were killed in the Iran-Iraq war, where the US supported Iraq.Modernization can happen, but only if it's not visibly pro US.

The US and UK overthrew Iran's democratically elected secular government, installing the Shah. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1953_Iranian_coup_d%C3%A9tat)Us Anglo-Americans are in no moral position to judge Iranians (or anyone else really), since our governments are the cause of so many of their misfortunes. (Imagine if China one day did similar to the US; how far would we regress in terms of hard-won civil

You really have to take the long view to understand Iran. For 500 years, Iran had a monarchy, until after WW2 when the "Shah of Iran" took over. In order to modernize his country, he formed a parliament like England, which appointed Mossadegh as PM. Unfortunately, Mossadegh exiled the Shah, nationalized the oil industry, and suspended elections. The British were the main oil industry, there, so they fought back with the help of the US. The US gave opposition groups money since we

The Shah of Iran was a dictator who only came to power because of an American/British orchestrated coup. He was overthrown against American wishes, and the government that came to exist in Iran is reactionary and hostile to the West as a direct result.This is a case of a homegrown movement to overthrow a dictator. The resultant government is not necessarily what the West would prefer, but that is a consequence of being (rightly) seen as the funders and supporters of both the previous dictator

Iran had democracy in 1953. The democratically elected prime minister was overthrown in a coup that was orchestrated by the CIA in order to protect the profits of BP. This isn't a conspiracy, this information has since been declassified. Look it up on Wikipedia. If there's any truth to your statement that the middle east "can't handle democracy" it's in no small part due to our interference.

But then Khomeini came along, the Shah was overthrown, and today, Iran supports the Syrian government, rebels in Yemen, Hezbollah, and Hamas. Plus, the US and Israeli governments have been a making a lot of noise about possible Iranian plans to build nuclear weapons. These days, I think, it would be very convenient for the USA, if Iran still was a secular democracy they could be on friendly terms with.Certainly there are people who consider the coup against Mossadegh a worthwhile investment.