Coup of 1953 · Kudeta-ye Bist-o-Hasht-e Mordad

Culture of origin: Iranian · Historical

Holiday sources: Iran · Qashqai

Britain's MI6 (Operation Boot) and the CIA (Operation Ajax) planned the coup after Mosaddegh's government nationalized the oil industry in 1951. A first attempt on 15 August failed and the Shah fled to Italy; on 19 August crowds, some of them mobsters paid by the CIA, and army units seized Tehran. Between 200 and 300 people were killed. Mosaddegh was tried by the Shah's military court and kept under house arrest until his death in 1967.