Blowback

June 14, 2008 7:14 AM

Have the US or UK Governments ever formally acknowledged or apologised for their role in the 1953 Mossadegh/Iran coup?

Is there any general recognition amongst the commentariat about the how and why of Iran's suspicion/distrust towards the US and UK?

posted by wilful to law & government (4 comments total)

As long as the Shah was in power, the formal acknowledgment would have been "You are very welcome." When Khomeini came in and took American hostages, the mood changed to "You can go fuck yourself." Unless Iran was to Mercedes Benz from Israel, recognize religious freedom, I don't think the US government would move toward an apology of any kind. Plus, I don't think there are many Iranians left who really have any inkling of the coup from a personal perspective in Iran. And, considering most who left in 1979 were rightists, I don't think they would even think about an apology.
posted by parmanparman at 7:49 AM on June 14

Unless Iran was to *import* Mercedes Benz...oi
posted by parmanparman at 7:50 AM on June 14

I'm not sure if there was an official acknowledgement, but, as you probably know, the TPAJAX documents came out a few years ago in the New York Times. (Link to website.)
posted by cgs06 at 9:15 AM on June 14

I don't know how official you could call it (it's not like they had a press conference to announce it) but in March 2000 the secretary of state, Madeleine Albright was quoted as saying the following:

"The Eisenhower administration believed its actions were justified for strategic reasons. But the coup was clearly a setback for Iran's political development and it is easy to see now why many Iranians continue to resent this intervention by America.""
posted by thewalrus at 11:50 AM on June 14 [1 favorite]