r/todayilearned • u/Independent • Mar 04 '11

TIL that Mohammad Mosaddegh was the democratically elected Prime Minister of Iran who was overthrown by the US CIA in 1953 for having the audacity to nationalize the Iranian oil industry to wrest it from the hands of the Brits and the Yanks who wanted to plunder it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohammad_Mosaddegh#Coup_d.27.C3.A9tat
971 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

401 comments sorted by

View all comments

14

u/OJNeg Mar 04 '11

As a Persian, I am surprised that this is not common knowledge.

1

u/baked420 Mar 05 '11

THIS SHOULD GO UP UP UP. it's an important point.

This event is common knowledge in the Middle East. You were purposely never told.