A brief timeline for me to get my head around Iranian history (instigated by a video I watched, below)
1800-1850
Iran (Persia) caught between Empires (Russia, Britain, France)
Persia (Iran) run by Qajar Dynasty. Russian Empire expanding their empire through Georgia/Caucasus (North), British & France Empires are securing the sea routes to India (South-East). Persia caught in the middle.
As a direct result to losing these wars, the former Iranian territories remained under Russian, and later Soviet, control for approximately 180 years.
The loss of these territories fuels a century of Persian humiliation and distrust of foreign powers. That distrust shapes the 1906 Constitutional Revolution, the 1953 coup, and the 1979 Revolution. (04) (05) (06) (07)
Left image 1800-1949 (skipping) | Right image 1950-1976 (this post)
Image source: my personal database
I just want to mention that since then (and before) there is so much information that gives massive context as to why Iran feels the way they do about foreign powers. There’s been wars, a Coup d’etat with British support, broken treaties, starvation after WWII, assassination attempts, oil disputes, and many invasions (Russia, Britain), and all of it matters (see image above from my database to see how much I left out of this post!). (08) (09) (10) (11) (12) (13) (14) (15) (16)
But also Iranians have been constantly betrayed by their own leaders. (17) (18) (19)
But I don’t want this post to be a complete Encyclopaedia of Iranian history, I’m trying to summarize and get a basic timeline to understand the situation “today”, so I’m fast forwarding to the Oil Nationalization first because that cannot be skipped past.
This timeline is inspired by watching this video but is a separate timeline, focusing on my own points of interests and following my own trails.
9 Mar 2026 YouTube | Rumble-Mirror | Telegram
1951
Iran takes back it’s Oil. Britain/Big Oil, not happy.
1951: Oil Nationalization. Fuelled by decades of resentment over foreign control of Iran’s oil, popular support sweeps the nationalist leader Mohammad Mossadegh into the Prime Ministership. His mission was to end foreign control of Iran’s most valuable resource: its oil. (20)
For decades, Iran’s oil had been controlled by the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (AIOC) – now known as BP – a British corporation that was effectively a state within a state. The terms were staggeringly unfair. Iran received a tiny fraction of the profits, while Britain reaped billions. British managers lived in luxury while Iranian workers lived in poverty. (21)
People at a APOC (BP) refinery in the 1950s (Wikimedia Commons) (22)
With overwhelming public support, Mossadegh’s government did the unthinkable: Iran took control of its own oil. This was an act of immense courage and a direct challenge to the British Empire. (23)
1951-Now
Quick Summary of Sanctions / Economic Blockade on Iran
Britain responds with a global economic blockade and military threats.
(The 1951 blockade never really ended. It was paused during the Shah’s era, then resumed with greater force after 1979, and has steadily expanded ever since into the most complex and comprehensive sanctions ever imposed on a single country.)
- 1951-1953 British-led oil embargo (crippling, led to coup)
- 1953-1979 No sanctions (Western-allied Shah in power)
- 1979-1981 First US sanctions (hostage crisis)
- 1984-1995 Terrorism designation, expanding restrictions
- 1995-2005 Total US trade embargo
- 2006-2015 UN multilateral sanctions (nuclear program)
- 2016-2018 Sanctions removed (until Trump reinstated)
- 2018-2025 Maximum pressure (unilateral US sanctions)
- 2025-2026 US maximum pressure + EU measures
(Economic warfare, that we don’t hear about much in the general public, important to grasp when trying to understand Iran’s point of view and suffering.)
1952-1953
Big Oil’s Fury.
Britain & U.S. economically fucks-over Iran.
Britain & U.S. boycott. Iran’s economy worsens under the British “embargo” (Britain organized a worldwide boycott of Iranian oil, froze their assets, made it impossible for Iran to do any international trade, banned British goods including essentials being exported, sent the Navy to intimidate any other country from docking at their ports, and persuaded other countries – including the US – to join them). (24)
Mossadegh’s government, facing internal opposition from royalists and clerics, becomes more authoritarian. The U.S., now under the Eisenhower administration, fears that the popular Mossadegh and the growing influence of the communist Tudeh Party will lead to a Soviet-aligned Iran, concluding he must be removed. (25)
Yeah ok… sure. Nothing whatsoever to do with oil. Righhhht.
1953
CIA/MI6 coup d’état
Joint CIA-MI6 covert operation (Operation TPAJAX, Operation AJAX, Operation Boot, TP-AJAX Project). (26)
US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) overthrows Iran’s democratically elected Prime Minister, Mossadegh, and forced installed Iran’s existing, but previously powerless, Shah. (27) Instigated by Britain. Carried out by CIA. (28)
After the coup, the CIA restored his Monarchy, and gave him back control over the military and police. The U.S. provided $45 million in economic assistance, and in exchange, Iran was to provide the oil and expected to be an United States ally.
The Shah (King) had existed as a ceremonial figure for years (he was previously put on the throne as a 21-year-old during WWII after his father was deposed – who, btw, was also installed by BP, I mean, Big Oil, I mean, British interests, but that also doesn’t mean the Shah’s were “Team America, Team Britain, or Team Israel”… it’s “complicated” (as I’ve grown to realize after first assuming CIA-puppet; deeper you go, the more you know) it seems to be very similar to how all ‘allies’ to these Big Oil corporations, I mean, countries in the West need to behave when we’re invaded; we’re all kind of at the mercy of these vicious and mighty empires (who are also propaganda experts), but that doesn’t mean we’re “on their team”, or aligned with their agendas, it’s “complicated”. (29) (30) (31) (32)
1953 (August): The CIA and British intelligence organize and fund a coup to overthrow Mossadegh. The plot temporarily fails, and the Shah flees the country. However, after days of unrest, a CIA team led by Kermit Roosevelt, ignored a direct order to abort and decided to continue the operation, leading to the successful overthrowing of Mossadegh on August 19, 1953. (33) (34) (35) (36)
Ex-PM Mosaddegh was arrested, tried, and convicted of treason. Sentenced to death, his sentence was commuted to three years in solitary confinement, followed by house arrest until his death in 1967. (37)
The documentary Coup 53 revealed that MI6 officer Norman Darbyshire was a central figure, stating his brief was to use the intelligence service to secure the overthrow of Mossadegh by “legal or quasi-legal means” and that he spent “vast sums of money, well over a million-and-a-half pounds” directing the street uprising. Coup 53 now makes a clear case that the British were orchestrating an uprising, going as far as kidnapping, torturing and paying for protesters to go out on to the streets of Tehran. (38)
COUP 53 Cinema Trailer 2023 YouTube | Coup53.com
1954
AIOC becomes BP
“On this day in 1954: Workmen change the plaque at the company headquarters at Britannic House in London as the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company formally becomes The British Petroleum Company.” Image: BPMiddleEast (41)
1954
Major shift in oil dominance from Britain to the U.S.
Following its major involvement in the coup, the U.S. successfully demanded that American oil companies secure a significant stake in the restructured Iranian oil industry, breaking the former British monopoly. Britain, heavily reliant on US support, was forced to accept this restructuring, which involved forming a new consortium.
In August 1954, the new international oil consortium was formed. British Petroleum (formerly AIOC) retained a 40% share, but the five major US oil companies (Standard Oil of New Jersey, Socony, Socal, Texas, and Gulf) collectively received another 40% share.(42) (43)
The Shah (King) signs a new agreement with a consortium of eight Western oil companies (British, U.S., Dutch, and French). While Iranian oil is nominally nationalized, the oil companies control production and pricing for 25 years, effectively reversing Mossadegh’s nationalization and re-integrating Iran’s oil into the Western corporate system. The U.S. immediately provides tens of millions of dollars in emergency aid to cement the new Shah’s regime.(44)
1955
Iran joined the Baghdad Pact (later CENTO).
Big Oil “secures the Oil Fields & Oil Pipelines”
US/Big Oil initiates Iraq & Turkey to form a pact to “contain Soviet expansion into the Middle East to prevent communist influence” from reaching the region’s Oil Fields. Iran, Pakistan, and UK also join. Soviet Union furious. U.S. pact was to replace Britain as dominant oil power in the Gulf.
On February 24, 1955, the Baghdad Pact was signed by Iraq and Turkey as a mutual defence agreement aimed at containing Soviet expansion into the Middle East, forming what the U.S. called the “Northern Tier” of anti-communist alliances. (45)
The pact was modelled on NATO and was the culmination of U.S. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles’s strategy following his 1953 tour of the Middle East. Iran formally joined the pact on November 3, 1955, after parliamentary approval, becoming the fourth member alongside Iraq, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and Pakistan. (46)
The United States was never a formal member, though it was the primary architect and financial backer of the alliance. The U.S. participated as an observer and provided military and economic aid to member states.
The Soviet Union strongly protested Iran’s accession, warning it would “bear the full consequences” of joining, while the U.S. supported the alliance as a cornerstone of its Cold War strategy in the region. The pact faced fierce opposition from Arab states led by Egypt, who viewed it as a Western colonial tool designed to divide the Arab world. (47)
The pact’s members were not chosen at random. They were the countries that sat astride the oil infrastructure of the Middle East:
| Country | Oil Significance |
|---|---|
| Iraq | Home to the vast oil fields of Kirkuk and Mosul, controlled by the Iraq Petroleum Company (a British, French, Dutch, and U.S. consortium) |
| Iran | Host to the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (BP), the very oil industry Mossadegh had nationalized in 1951 and which was returned to Western control after the 1953 coup |
| Pakistan | Provided a land route to the Indian Ocean and proximity to the Gulf |
| Turkey | Controlled the overland pipelines from Iraq and the strategic Bosphorus straits |
| United Kingdom | The colonial power that had designed the region’s oil infrastructure |
1957
U.S. instigates Nuclear deal in Iran under “Atoms for Peace”
Ironically, the foundations for Iran’s nuclear enrichment were laid in the wake of the coup. At the instigation of Washington, the Shah signed a civil nuclear cooperation agreement with the US in 1957 and made further plans in the 1970s for the construction of 20 nuclear power stations. (48)
Iran signs a civilian nuclear cooperation agreement with the United States under President Eisenhower’s “Atoms for Peace” program, marking the official start of its nuclear efforts. (49)
A nuclear power plant is a facility designed to generate electricity by sustaining a controlled nuclear chain reaction. It is a piece of infrastructure. It uses low-enriched uranium (typically 3-5% U-235), which cannot be used in a nuclear weapon. Weapons require highly enriched uranium (90%+ U-235) or plutonium.
1957
SAVAK (CIA/Mossad secret police)
With guidance and support from the CIA and Israel’s Mossad, the Shah creates SAVAK, a brutal and omnipresent secret police force. SAVAK’s mission is to monitor dissent, suppress all political opposition, and ensure the Shah’s autocratic rule for the next two decades. The Shah governed as an absolute monarch, with all power concentrated in his hands, and SAVAK was the brutal tool he used to crush anyone who dared to challenge that arrangement. (50)
The SAVAK secret police, 200,000 strong, were “expertly trained by the Israeli-Secret Service, the CIA, and Agency for International Development agents (USAID)”.
1958
Iraqi Revolution
West-aligned Iraq overthrown. Iran fears it to be next and starts trying to get security from both U.S. and Soviet Union. U.S. fears losing Iran.
On July 14, 1958, the Hashemite monarchy in Iraq (a close British ally and fellow member of the anti-Soviet Baghdad Pact) was violently overthrown by army officers led by Abd al-Karim Qasim. The King and the Prime Minister (Nuri al-Said, a staunch pro-Western figure) were executed, their bodies dragged through the streets of Baghdad. The new government immediately withdrew Iraq from the Baghdad Pact and began courting the Soviet Union (51).
The Shah saw the Iraqi monarchy fall to nationalist officers and knew he was next. His father had been deposed in 1941 by foreign powers, and now a neighbouring monarchy had been slaughtered. His fear of a similar coup became an obsession. He secretly starts courting the Soviets while pressing Washington for a bilateral defence guarantee.(52)
The Baghdad Pact (later CENTO) was the U.S.-backed alliance meant to contain the USSR. With Iraq’s withdrawal, the pact’s southern flank collapsed. Iran now sat directly on the Soviet border with no buffer. (53)
Washington feared a domino effect. If Iran also fell to a nationalist or communist revolution, the entire Middle East oil supply would be at risk. U.S. intelligence warned that the Soviet Union was already making overtures to Iran. (54)
In the months after the Iraqi revolution, the Shah secretly began talks with the Soviets while simultaneously negotiating for a bilateral defence pact with the U.S. He was determined to get a security guarantee from someone. The Soviet threatens to occupy Iran due to them breaking their treaty. (55)
1959
1959: A bilateral defence agreement was signed with the United States which represents the moment the U.S. formally took over from Britain as the primary foreign guarantor of the Iranian monarchy.
Following the 1958 revolution in Iraq that toppled a pro-Western monarchy, U.S. intelligence warns that the Soviet Union is actively courting Iran and that the Shah might sign a deal with Moscow if the U.S. does not act quickly, and the U.S. signs a bilateral defence agreement with Iran on March 5. (56) (57)
The pact is a direct response to Soviet overtures to Iran and is designed to lock Iran firmly into the U.S. Cold War alliance system against the USSR. (58) (59)
It cements the Shah’s role as a key U.S. proxy in the region and provides the foundation for the massive military buildup that will follow. (60)
1963
White Revolution (Shah tries to “Westernize” Iran). He wanted Iran to be like France, England, or the United States within a generation.
The Shah’s sweeping modernization program gives women the vote, breaks up feudal estates, and builds schools and roads. It fuels explosive economic growth but concentrates wealth, enrages Shia clerics, and creates a rootless urban underclass. Ayatollah Khomeini is exiled after leading bloody protests. The Shah builds the modern state but crushes all political freedom (a contradiction that will ignite the upcoming 1979 Revolution).
The White Revolution was Westernization without democracy. The Shah wanted the material trappings of the West (the factories, the highways, the universities, the consumer goods) but not the political freedoms. He built a modern state but ran it as an absolute monarchy.
This paradox is what ultimately destroyed him. Iranians saw the Westernization of their culture and economy as a threat, but they had no political outlet to express their grievances. The opposition (led by Khomeini) framed the White Revolution not just as Westernization, but as gharbzadegi (Westoxification), a disease that was poisoning Iranian identity.
1963 – 1964
Khomeini and the Path to Revolution (1963-1979)
Enter the voice that will eventually help the future 1979 revolution (in part 2), that is critical to understanding why Iran looks so different today.
1963 (June): Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini publicly denounces the Shah’s “White Revolution”. He is arrested on June 5, which triggers three days of nationwide riots, crushed by the military with hundreds killed. Khomeini is released and placed under house arrest. (61)
1964 (November): Khomeini is rearrested after denouncing the “Capitulations” law, which granted U.S. military personnel diplomatic immunity. He is exiled to Turkey, then to Iraq, where he settles in the holy city of Najaf. (62)
1970-1978 (Exile in Najaf): Khomeini lectures on Velayat-e faqih (Guardianship of the Jurist), a radical doctrine arguing that Islamic jurists (not kings) should rule. His ideas are smuggled into Iran on cassette tapes and become the ideological backbone of the opposition. (63)
If you are confused at this point (like I was), it’s because we all remember him being in France, that happens after the Iraq war in 1978. More on Khomeini in part 2.
1967
US supplies Iran with nuclear facility.
1968
Iran agrees to be inspected and to forgo nuclear weapons.
Iran signs the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in 1968 and ratifies it in 1970, committing, as a non-nuclear state, to forgo nuclear weapons in exchange for access to peaceful nuclear technology. (66)
1969-1970s
The “Nixon Doctrine” (U.S. to provide weapons instead of defence) made Iran the dominant military power in the Gulf
The US armed Iran with advanced weaponry as part of the Nixon Doctrine, making Iran the dominant military power in the region. (67)
Announced in 1969 by President Richard Nixon, the doctrine stated that the U.S. would honour its existing treaty commitments but expected its allies to take primary responsibility for their own defence, especially in the context of the Vietnam War. In the Persian Gulf, this meant the U.S. would provide massive amounts of advanced weaponry to its two key allies, Iran and Saudi Arabia, to act as “twin pillars” of regional stability and contain Soviet influence.
Iran was expected to become the “policemen of the Persian Gulf”. The Shah was given advanced American weapons and was expected to:
- Keep the peace in the Gulf, protect oil shipments, and prevent revolutionary movements from spreading
- Act as a strong defensive barrier against Soviet expansion into the Middle East
- Act as the muscle to protect American-friendly Gulf monarchies like Saudi Arabia and Kuwait
- Handle regional problems so the U.S. didn’t have to send its own troops
1971
Shah throws a $100-$300 million dollar party
The Shah’s extravagant 1971 celebration of 2,500 years of Persian monarchy (which cost hundreds of millions of dollars while poverty was rampant) became a powerful symbol of the Shah’s disconnect from his people and his servitude to Western luxury.
October 1971: The Shah of Iran throws a $100-300 million, three-day celebration at Persepolis to mark 2,500 years of Persian monarchy. World leaders, kings, and queens attend. While the Shah presents Iran as modern and powerful, the extravagance (caviar, peacock, catering, a tent city in the desert) ignites fury among ordinary Iranians.
Ayatollah Khomeini denounces the event from exile, calling attendees “traitors to Islam.” The party becomes a symbol of the Shah’s detachment and a rallying cry for the revolution that topples him in 1979. (68)
1974-1976
CIA profiles the Shar as an “uncertain” ally. U.S. wary of Iran’s nuclear intentions.
CIA compiled disturbing psychological profile of the shah of Iran portraying him as a brilliant, but dangerous megalomaniac, who is likely to pursue is own aims in disregard of U.S. interests. (70)
1974: The Shah establishes the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) and announces ambitious plans to construct up to 23 nuclear power stations by 2000. He stated: “Petroleum is a noble material, much too valuable to burn… We envision producing, as soon as possible, 23,000 megawatts of electricity using nuclear plants”. Iran also loaned $1 billion to France to become a 10% shareholder in the Eurodif uranium enrichment consortium. (71)
1975: Iran signs a $4-6 billion contract with the German firm Kraftwerk Union to begin construction on the Bushehr nuclear power plant. (72)
1976: The Iranian Atomic Energy Organization signs a confidential agreement with West Germany that secretly grants Iran the right to eventually acquire enrichment and reprocessing technology. (73)
U.S. and Iran negotiate over Iran’s nuclear ambitions. The Shah wants full nuclear independence, including the right to reprocess spent fuel (a key step toward bomb-making). The U.S. proposes a multinational reprocessing plant instead which Iran rejects. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger tells the Shah that “reprocessing in Iran on a purely national basis would not be an acceptable solution” and pushes for a U.S. “buy-back” program where America would retrieve Iran’s spent fuel. The negotiations are tense, with Iranian officials expressing skepticism about the “long-term credibility of US supply guarantees”. No final agreement is reached in 1976; negotiations will continue into 1977 and 1978. (74) (75)
1976
Shah criticizes Israel, oopsies.
The 1976 nuclear negotiations were happening in the background as the Shah gave his famous 60 Minutes interview.
The Shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, gave a candid warning about the power of what he specifically called the “Jewish lobby” in the United States, in a 60 Minutes interview. (76)
“Sometimes they are disserving the interests of Israel. They’re pushing around too many people. They have many means at their disposal. They are putting on pressure on many, many people. They are strong. They are controlling many things. Newspapers, medias, Banks, finances… and, I’m going to stop there.” (77)
His tone was “careful” and “a matter-of-fact”. He was not being conspiratorial; he was stating what he saw as a geopolitical reality. This interview is frequently cited today by those who analyze the influence of groups like AIPAC. His point was not an attack on Jewish people, but a strategic critique of the lobby’s influence on U.S. foreign policy.
He was warning that this influence could push the U.S. into policies that were not in America’s own best interest, nor, as he put it, “disserving the interests of Israel.” He saw it as an unelected center of power. (78)
1976
Iran’s first UFO
The 1976 Tehran UFO Incident was a radar and visual sighting of an unidentified flying object (UFO) over Tehran, the capital of Iran.
The incident is particularly notable for the electromagnetic interference effects on aircraft near the UFO. Two F-4 jet interceptors independently lost instrumentation and communications as they approached, only to have these restored when they left. One F-4 also lost its weapons systems when it was about to fire on the object. The incident is well documented in a U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) report with a distribution list that included the White House, Secretary of State (Henry Kissinger), Joint Chiefs of Staff, National Security Agency (NSA), and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Various high-ranking Iranian military officers directly involved with the events have also gone on public record stating their belief the object was an extraterrestrial craft.(79) (80)
Tehran UFO Incident, 1976: Iranian Fighter Jets Chase a UFO YouTube
It’s not lost on me that this “UFO” incident happened at the same time as the nuclear negotiations and the famous 60 minutes interview. A UFO incident involving Iran’s most advanced military hardware at the height of the Cold War is not just a sidebar. It demonstrated tech that could disable weapons systems and treated as a serious intelligence matter at the highest levels of U.S. government.
I’m just going to theorize that it was some kind of threat/show of force for now.
I’ll now proceed to the 1977-2026.. this post was getting rather large.
