Middle East Eye, Mansour Farhang:

Sixty four years ago, while hanging out with neighbourhood friends on Ray Street in Tehran, I saw a crowd of about 200 demonstrators shouting “death to Mossadeq” and “long live the Shah”. As a resident of the neighbourhood, I was surprised to see two notorious individuals leading the demonstrators. They were the kind of tough guys parents advised their sons to stay away from and shopkeepers had to pay them blackmail money to prevent their mischief.  

I heard older men watching the scene from the sidewalk telling each other that they were organised by the followers of Ayatollah Mohammad Behbahani, a well-known anti-Mossadeq cleric. Being a pro-Mossadeq high school student, I decided to follow the demonstrators out of fear and curiosity.

The crowd marched toward the parliament building, a couple miles away from our neighbourhood, where another anti-Mossadeq group carrying Ayatollah Kashani’s picture, had already congregated. Kashani was also an opponent of Mossadeq.

Two pro-Mossadeq political parties, Iran Party (hezb-e Iran) and Iranian Nation Party (hezb-e mellat-e Iran) had their headquarters near the parliament building. I watched the marchers occupy and loot the buildings without facing police resistance.

When I returned home in early evening, my father informed me that Mossadeq’s home had been attacked and the Royal Guards had taken over the radio station. The next day, Iranians learned that Prime Minister Mossadeq had been overthrown in a military coup. Informed Iranians suspected US and British involvement in the coup, but it took years before this suspicion was substantiated by credible evidence and testimonies...

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