The First American Secret War: Assessing the Origins and Consequences of Operation AJAX in Iran *

Abstract

This paper analyzes the origins and consequences of “Operation AJAX” - the code name of the first American covert action to overthrow Mossadeq regime in Iran in the early 1950s. The case study of Operation AJAX suggests that the public opinion against the overt policy of overthrowing Mossadeq regime in both Britain and the U.S. was an important factor contributing to the American elites' decision to resort to covert action instead of open military engagement. This Anglo-American collaboration of 1953 clandestinely toppled the legitimate and popular nationalist government of Iran and established and consolidated the heinous dictatorship of the Shah, hence sowed the seeds of the caustic anti-American sentiments widely held in Arab nations in the contemporary era. The U.S. policy toward Iran in the early days of Cold War eventually led to the fundamentalist backlash headed by Ayatollah Khomeini in 1976. The Islamic revolution in Iran in 1979 was an important event for the Islamic fundamentalists to rally back. The case study suggests that the radical Islamic fundamentalism and the rampant anti-American sentiment in the region could not have found such overwhelming popular support in the region without the American covert action, Operation AJAX and subsequent American support for the dictatorship.