Iranian court holds first hearing on US-orchestrated 1953 coup

An Iranian court has begun trial against the US government and its agents for the 1953 coup against the democratically elected government of Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh.

The first session of the trial took place on Sunday, on the occasion of the 71st anniversary of the coup, in the 55th Branch of the International Affairs Court in Tehran's Imam Khomeini Court Complex.

The court will hear a lawsuit filed by some 402,000 Iranians against six American individuals and entities accused of their role in overthrowing Mossadegh, who consolidated the rule of the pro-Western monarch Mohammad Reza Pahlavi until the Islamic Revolution in 1979.

Lawyer Shami Aghdam, who represents the defendants, said documents showed that the US secret service CIA, with the help of its British counterpart MI6, planned the coup against the legitimate government of Iran on August 19, 1953, using internal and external agents.

Washington and London, it continued, “planned the military coup by violating international principles and rules and interfering in Iran's internal affairs with the intention of maintaining their influence and power in the government, securing their interests and plundering the country's property.”

It was further reported that the coup was carried out by thugs as well as military personnel and politicians with links to the US and British governments.

“In fact, the coup marked the beginning of complete US domination of Iran, making it more dependent than before and preventing its independence and progress. The rule lasted more than 25 years and inflicted costs and material and spiritual damage on the country and the nation.”

“The 1953 coup will always remain a disgrace for the US and Britain”

Also on Sunday, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kan'ani said in an X-post that the overthrow of the Mossadegh government and the political, security and military support of the tyranny would always remain a disgrace for the regimes in the US and Britain.

“Slavery, colonialism, coups and military interventions in other countries are just part of the dark and shameful history of US and British interference in world affairs,” he said.

“With such a miserable record, the two countries today support the false and racist Israeli regime and the genocide in the Gaza Strip, although they consider themselves the standard-bearers of democracy and human rights!”

The 1953 coup sparked a series of events, including riots on the streets of the Iranian capital Tehran, which led to the overthrow and arrest of Mossadegh. Mossadegh was popular in Iran because he nationalized the country's oil industry and freed it from largely British control.

It also enabled the return of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi from exile, who remained in power until the victory of the Islamic Revolution under Imam Khomeini.

Mossadegh, who was convicted of treason by a military court after the coup, spent three years in solitary confinement and finally died in exile under house arrest in 1967.

In 2013, the United States officially admitted its role in the coup by releasing intelligence documents.