1953: Eisenhower Refuses To Overthrow the Iranian Government

One of the larger American foreign policy mistakes (probably top five, post-war) was in overthrowing the stable, democratic, and secular government of Iran for a military dictatorship.

We all know how that wound up.

So, what if Eisenhower (like Truman before him) refuses to go along with the British coup plan? (Alternatively the Iranians broker a nationalization deal with the oil companies and the crisis gets averted.)
 
After his restoration to the throne in 1953, the Shah rebuilt the royal
autocracy ..... The Eisenhower Administration believed its actions were
justified for strategic ..... The Iranian government demanded the return of the
Shah to Iran to stand trial; ... Shortly after his overthrow, Mohammad Reza
Pahlavi wrote an

Were you going somewhere with your abundance of bold and cut off in the middle post? Because the whole point of this is that Eisenhower does not install the Shah.

ETA: Nevermind, you're a crazy spambot. Albeit better than some we've seen.
 
One might want to remember that Mossadegh was not exactly a saint. All of his bad decisions and bad ideas have been posted here before.
 
One might want to remember that Mossadegh was not exactly a saint. All of his bad decisions and bad ideas have been posted here before.

Oh absolutely, the guy was not a particularly good PM or long term leader of Iran. Not least because of his anti-colonial attitude which had the potential to lead him or Iran into the USSR's orbit despite not being a socialist/communist.

However, the long term aspects of Iran without the coup have to be better than OTL. After all Mossadegh was just the PM and he did act to back the democratic parts of Iran and promote the secular forces in Iran (nothing against Islam, but it's pretty clear Iran post-Shah was a major force in the crazy version of it).

So he cuts a deal with oil companies (or Eisenhower backs the British) and Mossadegh does what? He has all kinds of domestic problems but has generally been on top of them. Does he stay on top of them? Does he stay in power? How does the situation proceed with Iran?
 
Top