📅 15 August 1953
Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi signed decrees dismissing Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh and appointing General Fazlollah Zahedi. Supporters of Mosaddegh regarded the move as an unconstitutional attempt...
📅 19 August 1953
Royalist military units, paid organizers and street forces defeated the government of Mohammad Mosaddegh. Supporters of the 1979 Revolution later treated the coup as decisive evidence of Western...
📅 19 August 1953
Control of broadcasting allowed coup leaders to announce that Zahedi was prime minister and encourage military units to join the overthrow.
📅 19 August 1953
Zahedi emerged as head of government under the Shah’s decree, reversing the defeat of the first coup attempt four days earlier.
📅 22 August 1953
Mohammad Reza Pahlavi returned from exile with his position strengthened by the army and Western support.
📅 21 October 1954
The agreement restored foreign companies to Iran’s oil industry through a consortium, although formal ownership remained Iranian. Critics viewed it as a retreat from genuine national control.
📅 21 October 1954
British, American, Dutch and French firms received shares in the consortium that marketed Iranian oil after the coup.
