Oil, Coup, and Iran’s Revolution

Iran’s modern conflict didn’t begin with religion—it began with oil and foreign control.

In the early 20th century and into the 1950s, Iran’s vast oil reserves were dominated

by the British-owned Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, the company that would later become

BP, leaving Iran with only a small share of its own wealth. By 1951,

public anger led to the election of Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh, who nationalized

Iran’s oil in an attempt to restore economic sovereignty. Britain responded with sanctions,

an oil embargo, and international pressure, warning the United States that Iran

could fall into Soviet influence during the Cold War. In 1953,