CIA COUP
In the aftermath of World War II and beginning of the Cold War, Washington sees Iran as a bulwark against Soviet expansion and a source of stability in the oil-rich Persian Gulf. It cultivates a friendly relationship with Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, although the partnership is threatened with the 1951 appointment of Prime Minister Mohamed Mossadegh, who moves to nationalize Iran's oil industry. A CIA-backed coup ousts Mossadegh in 1953. The shah returns from a brief exile and resumes control.
COLD WAR ALLIES
The United States provides the shah hundreds of millions of dollars during the next quarter-century. The U.S. helps set up Iran's intelligence agency in 1957. Iranians come to revile the agency for its repression. Iran's oil exports expand and the economy expands. The shah recognizes Israel and becomes a dominant figure in the Middle East. Some tensions persist, however. Iran refuses to help the U.S. in the 1970s by lowering the price of petroleum. Toward the end of the shah's reign, the U.S. criticizes his government's worsening human rights record and crackdown on democracy.
REVOLUTION
Frustrated by the monarchy's brutality, corruption and autocracy, and faced with economic slowdown, Iranians overthrow the shah in 1979. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini returns from exile, seizes power and declares the U.S. the "Great Satan." In November 1979, during the Carter administration, militants storm the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. Fifty-two Americans are held for 444 days. An American rescue operation ends in disaster. Washington freezes billions of dollars in Iranian assets stored in the United States. The U.S. ends diplomatic relations withIran. The shah goes to Panama in December 1979 and dies in Egypt on July 27, 1980.
