34 Facts About Mohammad Mosaddegh

Mohammad Mosaddegh was an Iranian politician, author, and lawyer who served as the 35th Prime Minister of Iran from 1951 to 1953, after appointment by the 16th Majlis.

Mohammad Mosaddegh was a member of the Iranian parliament from 1923, and served through a contentious 1952 election into the 17th Iranian Majlis, until his government was overthrown in the 1953 Iranian coup d'etat aided by the intelligence agencies of the United Kingdom and the United States, led by Kermit Roosevelt Jr.

Mohammad Mosaddegh was imprisoned for three years, then put under house arrest until his death and was buried in his own home so as to prevent a political furor.

Mohammad Mosaddegh was born to a prominent Persian family of high officials in Tehran on 16 June 1882; his father, Mirza Hideyatu'llah Ashtiani, was the finance minister under the Qajar dynasty, and his mother, Princess Malek Taj Najm-es-Saltaneh, was the granddaughter of the reformist Qajar prince Abbas Mirza, and a great-granddaughter of Fath-Ali Shah Qajar.

When Mohammad Mosaddegh's father died in 1892, his uncle was appointed the tax collector of the Khorasan province and was bestowed with the title of Mohammad Mosaddegh-os-Saltaneh by Nasser al-Din Shah.

In 1901, Mohammad Mosaddegh married Zahra Emami, a granddaughter of Nasser al-Din Shah through her mother Zi'a es-Saltaneh.

In 1909, Mohammad Mosaddegh pursued education abroad in Paris, France where he studied at the Institut d'etudes politiques de Paris.

Mohammad Mosaddegh studied there for two years, returning to Iran because of illness in 1911.

In June 1913, Mohammad Mosaddegh received his doctorate and in doing so became the first Iranian to receive a PhD in Law from a European university.

Mohammad Mosaddegh taught at the Tehran School of Political Science at the start of World War I before beginning his political career.

Mohammad Mosaddegh was later appointed finance minister, in the government of Ahmad Qavam in 1921, and then foreign minister in the government of Moshir-ed-Dowleh in June 1923.

Mohammad Mosaddegh gave a speech in the Majlis, praising Reza Khan's achievements as prime minister while encouraging him to respect the constitution and stay as the prime minister.

Mohammad Mosaddegh then retired from politics, due to disagreements with the new regime.

The Shah was aware of Mohammad Mosaddegh's rising popularity and political power, after a period of assassinations by Fada'iyan-e Islam and political unrest by the National Front.

On 1 May, Mohammad Mosaddegh nationalised the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, canceling its oil concession, which was otherwise set to expire in 1993, and expropriating its assets.

Mohammad Mosaddegh should do nothing else but return its property to the rightful owners.

The confrontation between Iran and Britain escalated as Mohammad Mosaddegh's government refused to allow the British any involvement in their former enterprise, and Britain made sure Iran could sell no oil, which it considered stolen.

Still enormously popular in late 1951, Mohammad Mosaddegh called elections, and introduced a modified version of his 1944 electoral reform bill.

Mohammad Mosaddegh's government came under scrutiny for ending the 1952 election before rural votes could be fully counted.

On 16 July 1952, during the royal approval of his new cabinet, Mohammad Mosaddegh insisted on the constitutional prerogative of the Prime Minister to name a Minister of War and the Chief of Staff, something the Shah had done up to that point.

The Shah refused, seeing it as a means for Mohammad Mosaddegh to consolidate his power over the government at the expense of the monarchy.

However, six months proved not long enough, and Mohammad Mosaddegh asked for an extension in January 1953, successfully pressing Parliament to extend his emergency powers for another 12 months.

Mohammad Mosaddegh attempted to abolish Iran's centuries-old feudal agriculture sector by replacing it with a system of collective farming and government land ownership, which centralized power in his government.

Ann Lambton indicates that Mohammad Mosaddegh saw this as a means of checking the power of the Tudeh Party, which had been agitating the peasants by criticizing his lack of land reform.

Partly through the efforts of Iranians sympathizing with the British, and partly in fear of the growing dictatorial powers of the Prime Minister, several former members of Mohammad Mosaddegh's coalition turned against him, fearing arrest.

The reason for difference of opinion among Makki and Mohammad Mosaddegh was the sharp response of Mohammad Mosaddegh to Kashani, who was an inoffensive scholar who attracted public support.

On 28 February 1953, rumours spread by British-backed Iranians that Mohammad Mosaddegh was trying to exile the Shah from the country gave the Eisenhower administration the impetus to join the plan.

Mohammad Mosaddegh became aware of the plots against him and grew increasingly wary of conspirators acting within his government.

Zahedi announced an order for his arrest on the radio, and Mohammad Mosaddegh was transferred to a military jail shortly after.

Mohammad Mosaddegh actually signed two decrees, one dismissing Mosaddegh and the other nominating the CIA's choice, General Zahedi, as Prime Minister.

Mohammad Mosaddegh was denied a funeral and was buried in his living room, despite his request to be buried in the public graveyard, beside the victims of the political violence on 30 Tir 1331.

Some argue that while many elements of Mohammad Mosaddegh's coalition abandoned him, it was the loss of support from Ayatollah Abol-Ghasem Kashani and another cleric that was fatal to his cause, reflective of the dominance of the Ulema in Iranian society and a portent of the Islamic Revolution to come.

The US role in Mohammad Mosaddegh's overthrow was not formally acknowledged for many years, although the Eisenhower administration vehemently opposed Mossadegh's policies.

Mohammad Mosaddegh's overthrow had a direct relationship with the creation of an Islamic revolution and the collapse of the Pahlavi government.