Why I’m writing about the 1953 coup in Iran

Writing back to oppressors

For over a year, I have been closely watching the brutal onslaught in the Middle East and have felt so many things: grief, despair, anger.

Something that has become abundantly clear to me is how important storytelling is. Stories play a central part in what we normalise.

Of course western politicians and the mainstream media know this. It has been hugely frustrating to watch how they frame stories about the Middle East: what is left out or softened to justify the colonial expansionist project. For instance, mainstream news outlets won’t call what’s happening in the West Bank, Lebanon or Syria a ‘land grab’ or an ‘illegal occupation’. They’ll say that the Israeli government is expanding its ‘buffer zone’.

Following the news, you would also believe that the conflict began with the abhorrent attack in October 2023. Or you would simply think, ‘Oh yes, it’s the Middle East, of course there is war and killing.’

How did we get here?

A neighbour friend of mine asked this question six months ago with genuine interest. Why does the Middle East look the way it does today? Of course, there isn’t just one answer. But there is an important event that is not getting enough attention: the 1953 western-led coup in Iran. Many scholars agree that the 1979 Islamic Revolution would likely not have happened without the coup. And it’s the Islamic regime in Iran which funds Hamas and Hezbollah–so you can see why it’s important to look back at 1953 to understand what’s going on in the region today. In truth, western politicians don’t want us to look too closely at the coup because they don’t come off well.

Here is a topline summary about the coup:

For years, Britain controlled Iran’s oil supply, returning only a tiny percentage of its profits to the Iranian elites while the country was largely impoverished. The democratically elected leader, Mohammed Mossadegh wanted to nationalise the country’s oil in 1951. Why should the British keep benefiting from Iran’s natural resources? This was a question on the minds of many Iranians and they voted in favour of taking back control from foreign powers. As you can imagine, Britain didn’t like the idea of nationalisation very much. They tried at every turn to make sure that it never happened. When embargos and threats didn’t make the Iranian Prime minister budge, MI6 brought the CIA onboard and with the help of Iranian agents and the Shah, they succeeded in overthrowing Mossadegh’s government.

How the US and Britain orchestrated the 1953 coup

If you’re wondering why there’s so much anti-American and anti-British sentiment in Iran, this betrayal (among others) lies at the heart of it. By spreading misinformation, the CIA and MI6 painted Mossadegh as a Communist in national papers. The same man who had been Times Magazine’s ‘Man of the Year’ in 1951, heralded as a hero who was fighting against the injustices of imperialism, was now being secretly sabotaged by the Americans. How to account for this shift in opinion? The threat of Communism was at the forefront of the American psyche, and the British, instead of carrying on with their complaints about how the Iranian oil was rightfully theirs (which was not particularly inspiring), changed strategy and instead presented Mossadegh as a Communist threat. With the Soviet Union eying Iran’s oil too, America soon joined the British in their sabotaging efforts to overthrow Mossadegh’s government.

In Tehran, the CIA and MI6 staged riots, paid protestors and bribed politicians—a model which the US would later replicate to overthrow other regimes abroad. Britain continues to deny its involvement in the 1953 coup, even as the CIA has de-classified files, even as memoirs have been written showing Britain’s central part in the coup.

Why (and how) I’m telling the story of the western-led coup

Most commentary on the coup to date has been fairly surface level. The story has been told largely by men who think it is a fascinating tale of espionage. In an article written by The Guardian, Norman Derbyshire, the British agent, is framed as a suave James Bond figure. In the very first episode of the new podcast, ‘The Rest is Classified’, a former CIA analyst (turned spy novelist) and veteran security correspondent tell their version. They cover details like how the CIA operative Kermit Roosevelt was getting drunk and singing along to ‘Luck Be a Lady Tonight’ in his villa on the night of the first coup attempt. The commentators snicker as they recount such details. Haha!

Listening to their snickering while describing how Iranians were duped reaffirmed why I want to tell this story, as an Iranian woman who has lived in the country, who has family in Abadan where the oil was drilled and taken. There are voices missing. The voices of women—both the elites and subaltern, the voices of those who were exploited and forced to live in enclaves while the British refinery workers had all the comforts at their disposal in lush gated communities. And there is compassion missing too. A country was sabotaged and there have been major devastating consequences as a result, which Iranians, and others around the world (including Israelis) are still living with today.

A satirical re-telling of Jekyll and Hyde

‘Coo’, my gothic satire, re-imagines ‘The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde’, in the context of the Iranian coup. I am writing about this western interference with all of its present-day consequences, so that it can no longer be swept under the rug. The duplicity of Jekyll and Hyde, the question of ‘regression’ vs ‘progress’, the imperialist undertones of the Victorian novella, and the subversive qualities of gothic fiction, are just a few reasons why I’ve chosen to do a re-telling of the book (more on this in a future post).

Writing back to oppressors

We must hold the west to account for how it has shaped (and continues to shape) Middle Eastern geopolitics, for the way its weapons are devastating the region and more broadly, the planet. ‘Writing back’ questions the status quo and challenges imbalances in power. I am also interested in exploring how stories can be in conversation with each other across time and space and how such exchanges can give us fresh insights on the world we’re living in today. If this sounds like something you’re interested in too, stick around and bring some friends along.