CIA Documents

The present work translates and analyzes a portion of CIA documents regarding the coup of August 19, 1953, and the overthrow of Dr. Mohammad Mossadegh’s government. The book begins with the publisher’s preface about the fate of the oil issue in Iran, as well as an introduction by the author and compiler on how they became aware of the release of these documents. Following that, two introductions about the CIA documents, the documents of the present collection, the Cold War crisis, and a report and analysis of the coup incident, written by ‘Dr. Gholamreza Vatandoust’ and ‘Dr. Mohammad Ali Homayoun Katouzian,’ are included. The text of the documents, titled “CIA Documents: The Overthrow of Mossadegh, Prime Minister of Iran,” consists of three parts: (a) “Chronological Notes,” (b) “Document Summary,” and (c) “Operational Report,” which itself includes ten phases or topics: 1. Preparatory Actions, 2. Drafting the Plan, 3. Strengthening the Operational Plan, 4. Decision-Making: Launching the Operation, 5. Increasing Pressure on the Shah, 6. Initial Efforts and Activity, 7. Apparent Failure, 8. The Shah is Victorious, 9. Report to London, 10. Lessons Learned from the Operation. Additionally, the book contains five appendices: 1. The preliminary operational plan for TP-AJAX, which was telegraphed from Nicosia to the command center on June 1, 1953 (Khordad 1, 1332), 2. The preliminary London plan for the TP-AJAX operational program, 3. A memorandum from the British Foreign Office dated July 23, 1953 (Mordad 1, 1332), from Makins, the British ambassador, to Smith, the U.S. Deputy Secretary of State, 4. A report on the military aspects of the TP-AJAX operation, 5. A military critique: Lessons learned from TP-AJAX regarding the military dimensions of coup planning. The book’s final sections include a bibliography of Dr. Mossadegh, an index, images of the August 19, 1953, coup, English-language prefaces, and samples of published documents.