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CASE #C01K2Z · 3 entities · 6 connections
Operation Ajax
The CIA secretly overthrew a foreign country's democratically elected government in 1953 — and the agency's own declassified documents now confirm every detail.
In 1953, the CIA and British intelligence orchestrated a coup that overthrew Iran's democratically elected Prime Minister, Mohammad Mossadegh, after he nationalized the country's oil industry. This was denied for decades, until the CIA formally declassified documents confirming its central role.
✓documented
Quick facts
- →Mossadegh was overthrown after nationalizing the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, threatening British and later American oil interests.
- →The coup was led on the ground by CIA officer Kermit Roosevelt Jr., grandson of President Theodore Roosevelt.
- →Roughly 300 people died in street fighting in Tehran during the coup.
- →In 2013, on the coup's 60th anniversary, the CIA officially and publicly acknowledged its role for the first time in declassified documents.
Entities on file
CIA (organization)
Central Intelligence Agency; alleged by some theories to have had a role in the assassination, without documentary proof.
Also appears in: Operation CHAOS, The October Surprise Theory, JFK assassination, MKUltra, The Iraq War WMD Claims
→ possibly connected to death of → John F. Kennedy~speculative
→ employed to run MKUltra → Sidney Gottlieb✓documented
→ employed the officer who led → Kermit Roosevelt Jr.✓documented
→ ran, despite its own charter barring domestic operations → Operation CHAOS✓documented
→ produced the central intelligence assessments behind → Iraq War WMD claims✓documented

Mohammad Mossadegh (person)
Democratically elected Iranian Prime Minister overthrown in the 1953 CIA-orchestrated coup after nationalizing the oil industry.
No outgoing connections on file.
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Kermit Roosevelt Jr. (person)
CIA officer who led Operation Ajax on the ground in Tehran; grandson of President Theodore Roosevelt.
→ led the CIA operation that overthrew → Mohammad Mossadegh✓documented
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