[cryptome] Fw: "The Battle for Iran," 1953: Re-Release of CIA Internal History Spotlights New Details about anti-Mosaddeq Coup

  • From: Neal Lamb <nl1816a@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: "cryptome@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <cryptome@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Fri, 27 Jun 2014 12:21:29 -0700




On Friday, June 27, 2014 2:06 PM, National Security Archive <archive@xxxxxxx> 
wrote:
 


"The Battle for Iran," 1953: Re-Release of CIA Internal History Spotlights New 
Details about anti-Mosaddeq Coup

U.S. Ambassador Loy Henderson and Some CIA Officials Initially Disagreed with 
Certain Premises of Coup Planners

Declassified History Implies British Ties to the Operation, Criticizes London's 
Policies in Period Leading up to the Overthrow

National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 476

Posted on June 27, 2014

Edited by Malcolm Byrne

For more information contact:
202 / 994-7043 or nsarchiv@xxxxxxx

Washington, D.C., June 27, 2014 -- During early planning for the 1953 Iran 
coup, U.S. Ambassador Loy Henderson warned not only that the Shah would not 
support the United States' chosen replacement for Prime Minister Mohammad 
Mosaddeq but that the Army would not play its hoped-for leading role without 
the Shah's active cooperation, according to a newly released version of an 
internal CIA history of the operation posted today by the National Security 
Archive.

The Archive, based at The George Washington University, obtained the latest 
release of this history -- "The Battle for Iran," written in the mid-1970s -- 
in response to a Mandatory Declassification Review request.  (Today's posting 
includes all previously released versions of the document as well, for purposes 
of comparison.)

The document goes on to say that members of the CIA's station in Tehran and 
certain officials at agency headquarters sided with Henderson against some of 
the assumptions of American coup planners, who were working under "closely 
held" conditions in Washington during Spring and Summer 1953.

Mainly through interviews with coup participants, scholars have known generally 
that disagreements existed (and eventually Henderson went along with Mosaddeq's 
overthrow), but freshly declassified portions of the document posted today 
provide a few more specifics about the nature of the differences and who held 
to which views.

The history also offers the most explicit declassified references to-date to 
British participation in the operation.  London's role -- undoubtedly the 
worst-kept secret in Britain's relationship with Iran over the past 60 years -- 
has never been formally acknowledged by either British or U.S. authorities.

"The Battle for Iran" is one of three agency histories of the coup that are 
known to exist.  All three have been posted at various times on the National 
Security Archive's Web site.


Check out today's posting at the National Security Archive's website - 
http://www2.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB476/

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Unredacted, the Archive blog - http://nsarchive.wordpress.com/

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