1 00:00:02,200 --> 00:00:08,280 February 1953, the first anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II's reign. 2 00:00:09,900 --> 00:00:13,240 Little does she know that she is about to be deployed 3 00:00:13,240 --> 00:00:18,000 in a coup d'etat in a country 3,500 miles away. 4 00:00:20,880 --> 00:00:26,040 "Receipt message from Queen Elizabeth expressing concern 5 00:00:26,040 --> 00:00:28,240 "at latest developments re Shah..." 6 00:00:29,400 --> 00:00:31,960 The message goes to the American Embassy in Tehran. 7 00:00:34,960 --> 00:00:39,360 On the streets, a plot to overthrow the country's Prime Minister 8 00:00:39,360 --> 00:00:42,000 in favour of Iran's monarch, the Shah, is under way. 9 00:00:43,840 --> 00:00:47,760 But the Shah, terrified, wants to quit and run. 10 00:00:47,760 --> 00:00:53,480 It appears that Queen Elizabeth is trying to send a secret message 11 00:00:53,480 --> 00:00:55,760 to the Shah telling him to stay put. 12 00:00:56,920 --> 00:00:58,760 This would be remarkable. 13 00:00:58,760 --> 00:01:02,560 It would be the covert meddling 14 00:01:02,560 --> 00:01:05,160 of the Queen of the United Kingdom 15 00:01:05,160 --> 00:01:07,880 in the internal affairs of another country. 16 00:01:09,600 --> 00:01:12,800 It's an astonishing revelation in a new investigation 17 00:01:12,800 --> 00:01:14,680 by two British historians... 18 00:01:16,440 --> 00:01:19,960 ..how the young Queen's name was used to destroy Iran's democracy. 19 00:01:22,120 --> 00:01:25,640 It is a secret so sensitive the evidence has been locked away 20 00:01:25,640 --> 00:01:28,520 for nearly 70 years. 21 00:01:28,520 --> 00:01:31,280 I was truly shocked when I read this document. 22 00:01:31,280 --> 00:01:34,760 This is the sort of document that one almost never sees. 23 00:01:36,000 --> 00:01:38,280 The coup was first planned by MI6, 24 00:01:38,280 --> 00:01:41,320 then finally executed by the CIA. 25 00:01:42,600 --> 00:01:44,960 It was, above all, about oil. 26 00:01:46,720 --> 00:01:48,520 We have American diplomatic material, 27 00:01:48,520 --> 00:01:50,160 we have Foreign Office documents, 28 00:01:50,160 --> 00:01:51,640 we have CIA material. 29 00:01:51,640 --> 00:01:53,840 But MI6 have never admitted to it. 30 00:01:55,360 --> 00:01:58,040 The Foreign Office were very quick to deny 31 00:01:58,040 --> 00:02:00,360 any British involvement whatsoever. 32 00:02:00,360 --> 00:02:02,480 In fact, they flat out lied. 33 00:02:02,480 --> 00:02:05,800 It was an episode which would have devastating consequences 34 00:02:05,800 --> 00:02:10,920 for relations between Iran and the West right up to the present day. 35 00:02:15,000 --> 00:02:17,360 We do not seek regime change. 36 00:02:17,360 --> 00:02:20,080 However, the Iranian regime's aggression must end now. 37 00:02:31,680 --> 00:02:34,720 Professors Richard Aldrich and Rory Cormac 38 00:02:34,720 --> 00:02:37,000 are detectives with a difference. 39 00:02:38,760 --> 00:02:41,760 They burrow away among the hundreds of millions of buried documents 40 00:02:41,760 --> 00:02:43,200 in national archives. 41 00:02:45,080 --> 00:02:48,680 The treasure they seek is past secrets from high places 42 00:02:48,680 --> 00:02:50,520 which have an impact on our world today. 43 00:02:51,840 --> 00:02:54,880 Intelligence and the monarchy are perhaps the two most 44 00:02:54,880 --> 00:02:57,280 secretive institutions in the entire country. 45 00:02:57,280 --> 00:03:00,400 So if and when those two worlds ever collide, 46 00:03:00,400 --> 00:03:04,000 we're very unlikely to see unredacted papers. 47 00:03:05,720 --> 00:03:08,800 Aldrich and Cormac's latest investigation 48 00:03:08,800 --> 00:03:12,320 is into a world-changing event that happened 67 years ago. 49 00:03:13,880 --> 00:03:16,240 Sometimes the only way to find the truth 50 00:03:16,240 --> 00:03:18,960 about your own country's role is to look elsewhere. 51 00:03:21,320 --> 00:03:24,000 So often these things are hidden from us, 52 00:03:24,000 --> 00:03:27,320 so often the British keep these things very secret. 53 00:03:27,320 --> 00:03:31,280 But, of course, sometimes the American documents 54 00:03:31,280 --> 00:03:32,760 are available to historians. 55 00:03:34,360 --> 00:03:37,160 Their aim is to uncover the full story of a coup 56 00:03:37,160 --> 00:03:39,440 involving the young Shah of Iran, 57 00:03:39,440 --> 00:03:41,800 Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. 58 00:03:43,160 --> 00:03:45,520 It's a trail that will lead them to none other than 59 00:03:45,520 --> 00:03:47,960 Her Majesty The Queen, Elizabeth II. 60 00:03:54,040 --> 00:03:58,360 In 1948, the young Shah was a guest of the royal family 61 00:03:58,360 --> 00:03:59,920 at the London Olympic Games 62 00:03:59,920 --> 00:04:03,000 and met the two Princesses, Elizabeth and Margaret. 63 00:04:06,280 --> 00:04:09,920 But it was King George VI himself the Shah was really after. 64 00:04:09,920 --> 00:04:12,920 He believed his country and his throne were threatened 65 00:04:12,920 --> 00:04:14,320 by Communist uprisings. 66 00:04:18,880 --> 00:04:22,000 The secret details of the visit are missing in the British archives. 67 00:04:23,480 --> 00:04:25,840 But in the National Archives in Washington, 68 00:04:25,840 --> 00:04:29,400 Rory Cormac found cables from a Foreign Office official 69 00:04:29,400 --> 00:04:32,040 who was keeping Britain's American allies in the loop. 70 00:04:33,520 --> 00:04:36,680 ACTOR'S VOICE: "While the Shah was staying at Buckingham Palace, 71 00:04:36,680 --> 00:04:39,120 "he remarked to the King that he would like to have 72 00:04:39,120 --> 00:04:40,760 "an Anglo-Iranian alliance. 73 00:04:42,240 --> 00:04:44,880 "His Majesty's Government attitude 74 00:04:44,880 --> 00:04:48,000 "is that it would be extremely undesirable... 75 00:04:48,000 --> 00:04:50,440 "..for Iran to conclude such an alliance with the UK 76 00:04:50,440 --> 00:04:53,600 "because of trouble it would cause with USSR." 77 00:04:55,040 --> 00:04:58,360 The Shah was a bit player in a much bigger power game 78 00:04:58,360 --> 00:05:01,120 as cracks were appearing in the wartime alliance 79 00:05:01,120 --> 00:05:02,880 between the West and Russia. 80 00:05:04,360 --> 00:05:09,400 Making any alliance more formal, it would only irritate the Soviets, 81 00:05:09,400 --> 00:05:13,720 and it would only risk escalating the early Cold War tensions. 82 00:05:17,760 --> 00:05:20,360 Two years later, the Cold War set in. 83 00:05:22,160 --> 00:05:26,560 Iran, with its huge oil supplies, was a highly desirable asset. 84 00:05:26,560 --> 00:05:29,840 Its oilfields were owned by Anglo-Persian Oil, 85 00:05:29,840 --> 00:05:33,160 in which the British Government had a 51% stake. 86 00:05:35,360 --> 00:05:38,320 Those oilfields would become a political battleground. 87 00:05:40,680 --> 00:05:44,440 The Shah was a constitutional monarch, Iran a democracy. 88 00:05:46,240 --> 00:05:49,840 Its most popular politician was Mohammad Mossadegh, 89 00:05:49,840 --> 00:05:52,640 who believed Iranian oil should belong to Iranians. 90 00:05:54,680 --> 00:05:59,080 In 1950, he called for the nationalisation of Anglo-Persian. 91 00:06:03,520 --> 00:06:06,560 He was a national hero. 92 00:06:06,560 --> 00:06:10,960 He stood up for the nationalisation of the oil industry which was 93 00:06:10,960 --> 00:06:14,760 far greater, symbolically, 94 00:06:14,760 --> 00:06:17,640 than just nationalising an industry. 95 00:06:17,640 --> 00:06:22,040 Iranians did not want to be subservient 96 00:06:22,040 --> 00:06:25,120 to dictates from outside elements. 97 00:06:25,120 --> 00:06:29,640 It meant trying to give pride to the Iranian nation. 98 00:06:29,640 --> 00:06:32,760 ARCHIVE: Long-smouldering Iranian nationalists made clear 99 00:06:32,760 --> 00:06:35,560 their intention to seize the oil industry. 100 00:06:35,560 --> 00:06:38,920 The parliament fell in line behind an old enemy of the British, 101 00:06:38,920 --> 00:06:42,000 the ascetic, bitter Mohammed Mossadegh. 102 00:06:42,000 --> 00:06:48,360 Mossadegh said no to the foreign superpowers 103 00:06:48,360 --> 00:06:51,640 who wanted to impose 104 00:06:51,640 --> 00:06:57,920 their ideas, or their short-term interest, upon our country. 105 00:06:59,040 --> 00:07:03,280 This made Mossadegh the voice of the nation. 106 00:07:05,160 --> 00:07:10,680 In April 1951, Mossadegh became Prime Minister. 107 00:07:10,680 --> 00:07:13,320 He announced he was going ahead with the nationalisation, 108 00:07:13,320 --> 00:07:14,800 infuriating the British. 109 00:07:17,400 --> 00:07:20,800 ARCHIVE: Let us hope that the Persians will not allow themselves 110 00:07:20,800 --> 00:07:24,000 to be intimidated by fanatics into a rash act which will lead to 111 00:07:24,000 --> 00:07:26,360 disaster for both countries. 112 00:07:28,120 --> 00:07:32,040 The executives of Anglo-Persian Oil panicked and lobbied London. 113 00:07:33,840 --> 00:07:38,240 Britain was trying to find a way of recovering from the war 114 00:07:38,240 --> 00:07:40,800 and maintaining as much of the global power 115 00:07:40,800 --> 00:07:42,720 that Britain traditionally had. 116 00:07:42,720 --> 00:07:45,840 And this creates a very, very important backdrop 117 00:07:45,840 --> 00:07:49,520 to Mossadegh's decision to nationalise oil in 1951. 118 00:07:51,120 --> 00:07:55,040 Mossadegh might have expected the anti-colonialist Labour government, 119 00:07:55,040 --> 00:07:58,880 headed by Prime Minister Clement Attlee, to be sympathetic, 120 00:07:58,880 --> 00:08:00,600 but money talked. 121 00:08:02,200 --> 00:08:06,640 The oil coming from Iran brought millions in revenue 122 00:08:06,640 --> 00:08:08,160 to the British Treasury. 123 00:08:08,160 --> 00:08:10,520 The Brits are wondering, 124 00:08:10,520 --> 00:08:12,880 "How are we going to make up for this lost revenue? 125 00:08:12,880 --> 00:08:16,560 "We need this money because we spent all our money during the war." 126 00:08:19,520 --> 00:08:22,840 Attlee gave the green light for covert operations. 127 00:08:25,160 --> 00:08:28,200 On 22nd March 1951, 128 00:08:28,200 --> 00:08:30,840 an anonymous article appeared in the Times newspaper. 129 00:08:32,520 --> 00:08:34,920 It made many damaging and false accusations 130 00:08:34,920 --> 00:08:36,600 against Mossadegh's government. 131 00:08:37,760 --> 00:08:39,160 It smeared him. 132 00:08:39,160 --> 00:08:41,880 It portrayed him as corrupt, as unpatriotic, 133 00:08:41,880 --> 00:08:45,680 as economically incompetent and pro-Soviet, 134 00:08:45,680 --> 00:08:49,400 many of the lines which British propaganda would go on to take. 135 00:08:49,400 --> 00:08:51,640 This was a crucial article. 136 00:08:54,680 --> 00:08:56,480 The anonymous author was Ann Lambton. 137 00:08:58,080 --> 00:09:00,120 In public, she was an academic 138 00:09:00,120 --> 00:09:02,800 at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. 139 00:09:05,400 --> 00:09:09,800 However, during World war II Lambton had, in secret, 140 00:09:09,800 --> 00:09:12,920 been a propaganda chief at MI6's station in Tehran. 141 00:09:15,200 --> 00:09:18,000 In private, she was a spy, 142 00:09:18,000 --> 00:09:21,080 and one closely connected to the British establishment 143 00:09:21,080 --> 00:09:23,200 as a niece of Harold Macmillan - 144 00:09:23,200 --> 00:09:25,880 a cabinet minister in Churchill's wartime government 145 00:09:25,880 --> 00:09:27,520 and future Prime Minister. 146 00:09:31,040 --> 00:09:33,640 Mossadegh now found himself her target. 147 00:09:36,560 --> 00:09:39,960 Aldrich and Cormac discovered a key document in which 148 00:09:39,960 --> 00:09:43,880 MI6 notified the Foreign Office of Lambton's covert plans, 149 00:09:43,880 --> 00:09:47,520 plans which were the first step to a coup. 150 00:09:47,520 --> 00:09:51,320 ACTOR'S VOICE: "Ann Lambton has suggested in a conversation, 151 00:09:51,320 --> 00:09:53,760 "covert means to undermine the position... 152 00:09:53,760 --> 00:09:55,360 "..of Mr Mossadegh. 153 00:09:55,360 --> 00:09:59,360 "And that the ideal man to do it would be Dr Zaehner, 154 00:09:59,360 --> 00:10:03,760 "an Oxford lecturer, who has been extremely successful 155 00:10:03,760 --> 00:10:07,240 "in covert propaganda in 1944, in Iran." 156 00:10:08,720 --> 00:10:13,320 Dr Robert Zaehner, or Dr Z, as he was nicknamed, 157 00:10:13,320 --> 00:10:17,080 was an old associate of Lambton from her days in World War II Tehran. 158 00:10:18,320 --> 00:10:20,680 He was a very intriguing character. 159 00:10:20,680 --> 00:10:24,440 He wore small, pebbledash glasses. 160 00:10:24,440 --> 00:10:26,240 He kept money in socks. 161 00:10:26,240 --> 00:10:29,560 He was a heavy opium smoker. 162 00:10:29,560 --> 00:10:31,840 He was quite discreet, but very affable. 163 00:10:31,840 --> 00:10:32,880 And he had a great network. 164 00:10:32,880 --> 00:10:36,880 He knew pretty much everyone who mattered inside Tehran. 165 00:10:36,880 --> 00:10:41,200 In league with Dr Zaehner, Ann Lambton set about undermining 166 00:10:41,200 --> 00:10:42,680 Iran's Prime Minister. 167 00:10:42,680 --> 00:10:45,040 "The objective must be to destabilise Mossadegh... 168 00:10:45,040 --> 00:10:48,280 ACTOR'S VOICE: "..and to give encouragement 169 00:10:48,280 --> 00:10:51,360 "to the substantial body of Persian friends we still have, 170 00:10:51,360 --> 00:10:54,320 "who are unlikely to show their faces 171 00:10:54,320 --> 00:10:58,840 "and risk being called traitors, without some support. 172 00:10:58,840 --> 00:11:03,640 "This would," she hoped, "create the sort of climate in Tehran..." 173 00:11:03,640 --> 00:11:06,280 "..which is necessary to change the regime." 174 00:11:07,360 --> 00:11:09,080 This document is fascinating. 175 00:11:09,080 --> 00:11:14,040 It's sent shortly after Mossadegh has nationalised 176 00:11:14,040 --> 00:11:16,320 Britain's oil assets, 177 00:11:16,320 --> 00:11:18,600 and it's the response. 178 00:11:18,600 --> 00:11:21,040 And the response is covert action. 179 00:11:22,240 --> 00:11:26,640 This is the genesis of the operation to remove Mossadegh 180 00:11:26,640 --> 00:11:30,280 and put the Shah into complete control. 181 00:11:41,470 --> 00:11:43,830 In the summer of 1951, 182 00:11:43,830 --> 00:11:46,950 the plot to bring down Iran's constitutional government 183 00:11:46,950 --> 00:11:48,550 was christened within MI6. 184 00:11:50,670 --> 00:11:55,230 Operation Boot was the code name for the British plans to undermine, 185 00:11:55,230 --> 00:11:59,670 destabilise, and ultimately overthrow Prime Minister Mossadegh. 186 00:12:01,110 --> 00:12:03,990 Then suddenly, and unexpectedly, 187 00:12:03,990 --> 00:12:06,190 the operation took a whole new direction. 188 00:12:08,910 --> 00:12:11,830 ARCHIVE: Nurses coming off duty were among the first to vote. 189 00:12:11,830 --> 00:12:14,510 Another early elector to visit his polling station at Caxton Hall, 190 00:12:14,510 --> 00:12:16,230 Westminster, was Mr Attlee. 191 00:12:17,590 --> 00:12:21,990 In October 1951, the Labour Prime Minister, Clement Attlee, 192 00:12:21,990 --> 00:12:24,390 who had approved the covert operation, 193 00:12:24,390 --> 00:12:26,070 called a general election... 194 00:12:27,990 --> 00:12:31,590 ..only to be defeated by his former wartime boss, 195 00:12:31,590 --> 00:12:33,710 Sir Winston Churchill. 196 00:12:33,710 --> 00:12:36,990 ARCHIVE: For the time being, it was the end of socialist government. 197 00:12:36,990 --> 00:12:40,070 Attlee thinks about using force because he's desperate. 198 00:12:40,070 --> 00:12:41,750 He pulls back. 199 00:12:41,750 --> 00:12:46,830 Churchill's different, because he's absolutely in love with Empire 200 00:12:46,830 --> 00:12:49,390 and the old idea of Empire. 201 00:12:49,390 --> 00:12:53,230 He sees absolutely nothing wrong in the use of force. 202 00:12:53,230 --> 00:12:54,590 Indeed, he relishes it. 203 00:12:57,870 --> 00:13:02,190 Rory Cormac discovered a remarkable document from January 1952 204 00:13:02,190 --> 00:13:05,110 which shows the change in tone. 205 00:13:07,070 --> 00:13:11,070 The secret Foreign Office letter used language which unequivocally 206 00:13:11,070 --> 00:13:12,990 spelt out the plot being hatched. 207 00:13:14,910 --> 00:13:17,430 ACTOR'S VOICE: "Confidential: Tehran to Foreign Office. 208 00:13:19,430 --> 00:13:23,110 "There being no rival in sight who is likely to overthrow 209 00:13:23,110 --> 00:13:27,510 Mossadegh by parliamentary means, it follows that Persia's main 210 00:13:27,510 --> 00:13:31,070 "hope of not passing under Communist domination... 211 00:13:31,070 --> 00:13:33,950 "..is a non-Communist coup d'etat 212 00:13:33,950 --> 00:13:37,190 "preferably in the name of the Shah. 213 00:13:37,190 --> 00:13:40,190 "This would mean an authoritarian regime, 214 00:13:40,190 --> 00:13:42,990 "which would be ready to take active steps." 215 00:13:45,350 --> 00:13:48,950 This is the first occasion in the Iran secret documents, 216 00:13:48,950 --> 00:13:50,790 unearthed by Aldrich and Cormac, 217 00:13:50,790 --> 00:13:53,790 when the words "coup d'etat" are used. 218 00:13:53,790 --> 00:13:58,870 They're realising that Mossadegh is not going to be 219 00:13:58,870 --> 00:14:03,310 removed by ordinary parliamentary procedure. 220 00:14:03,310 --> 00:14:07,030 Something's got to happen, and that something is a coup d'etat, 221 00:14:07,030 --> 00:14:09,590 which you rarely see written in Foreign Office documents. 222 00:14:14,790 --> 00:14:19,190 The following month, Queen Elizabeth II came to the throne 223 00:14:19,190 --> 00:14:21,670 after the death of her father, the King, 224 00:14:21,670 --> 00:14:24,310 who had shunned a request for an alliance with Britain. 225 00:14:26,990 --> 00:14:29,710 Now Her Majesty's Government's position on the Shah 226 00:14:29,710 --> 00:14:31,910 and Iran was changing fast. 227 00:14:36,750 --> 00:14:39,350 But there was a problem. 228 00:14:39,350 --> 00:14:42,790 For regime change in Iran, Churchill knew he needed 229 00:14:42,790 --> 00:14:46,270 the support of the new post-war superpower, the United States. 230 00:14:47,510 --> 00:14:51,190 And its Democrat President, Harry S Truman, did not approve. 231 00:14:52,390 --> 00:14:54,510 Truman, in particular, 232 00:14:54,510 --> 00:14:57,710 not very keen initially to get on board 233 00:14:57,710 --> 00:15:00,790 with what appears to be a British conspiracy 234 00:15:00,790 --> 00:15:03,350 to perpetuate the British Empire. 235 00:15:05,230 --> 00:15:08,430 But America and Britain did have one thing in common - 236 00:15:08,430 --> 00:15:11,310 greed for oil. 237 00:15:11,310 --> 00:15:14,230 It had also been discovered in Saudi Arabia. 238 00:15:14,230 --> 00:15:16,710 The United States had got in there before the British 239 00:15:16,710 --> 00:15:20,230 and now had its eyes on Iran. 240 00:15:20,230 --> 00:15:21,350 Think about it. 241 00:15:21,350 --> 00:15:24,870 If you're in the US Government, why should you expend your resources? 242 00:15:24,870 --> 00:15:28,230 Why should you invest your covert operators? 243 00:15:28,230 --> 00:15:30,590 Why should you even invest your diplomatic effort, 244 00:15:30,590 --> 00:15:34,990 just so Britain could take back its oil company? 245 00:15:34,990 --> 00:15:37,990 There's also an impression amongst the Truman administration 246 00:15:37,990 --> 00:15:40,510 that the British got themselves into this mess. 247 00:15:40,510 --> 00:15:43,670 In 1950, the Americans strike a 50/50 agreement 248 00:15:43,670 --> 00:15:46,150 with the Arabian American Oil Company, 249 00:15:46,150 --> 00:15:48,430 and the Americans tell the Brits, 250 00:15:48,430 --> 00:15:50,790 "Why don't you do this with Iran? 251 00:15:50,790 --> 00:15:52,390 "Wouldn't this be a great arrangement?" 252 00:15:52,390 --> 00:15:54,470 Britain doesn't listen, 253 00:15:54,470 --> 00:15:57,270 so when Mossadegh nationalises their oil company, 254 00:15:57,270 --> 00:15:59,590 "You made your bed, you lie in it." 255 00:16:01,470 --> 00:16:05,870 Churchill tried to twist Truman's arm, writing to him. 256 00:16:05,870 --> 00:16:09,190 ACTOR'S VOICE: "Britain and America must gallop together on Iran. 257 00:16:09,190 --> 00:16:13,590 "I ask, why two good men asking only what is right 258 00:16:13,590 --> 00:16:16,230 "should not gang up on a third, who is doing wrong?" 259 00:16:17,750 --> 00:16:21,070 The third man was, of course, Mohammad Mossadegh. 260 00:16:23,950 --> 00:16:27,470 Churchill's using this Midwest language, 261 00:16:27,470 --> 00:16:29,270 he's using the cowboy analogy 262 00:16:29,270 --> 00:16:33,110 because he knows that Truman is from Independence, Missouri, 263 00:16:33,110 --> 00:16:36,430 and this is exactly the kind of idiom that a plain-speaking 264 00:16:36,430 --> 00:16:39,870 plain dealer from a place like Independence would appreciate. 265 00:16:42,070 --> 00:16:45,350 The Americans remain suspicious of the British. 266 00:16:45,350 --> 00:16:49,190 One CIA chief, CD Jackson, wrote: 267 00:16:49,190 --> 00:16:53,750 "The British are still living in the days of colonial supremacy. 268 00:16:53,750 --> 00:16:57,390 "They think the only way to win is to frighten the..." 269 00:17:01,990 --> 00:17:05,030 But none of that stopped MI6 officers in Tehran 270 00:17:05,030 --> 00:17:06,510 carrying on plotting. 271 00:17:08,550 --> 00:17:10,910 The plan was for the Shah to sack Mossadegh 272 00:17:10,910 --> 00:17:13,110 and replace him with a compliant Prime Minister. 273 00:17:15,110 --> 00:17:18,230 But the Shah had reason to be wary of the British, 274 00:17:18,230 --> 00:17:20,510 Winston Churchill in particular. 275 00:17:22,070 --> 00:17:24,190 Back in 1941, 276 00:17:24,190 --> 00:17:26,670 Churchill, as Britain's wartime Prime Minister, 277 00:17:26,670 --> 00:17:29,670 had sanctioned the toppling of the Shah's father 278 00:17:29,670 --> 00:17:31,870 when he refused to support Britain's war effort. 279 00:17:33,950 --> 00:17:36,310 Churchill replaced the father with his son, 280 00:17:36,310 --> 00:17:39,110 the 20-year-old Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. 281 00:17:39,110 --> 00:17:41,150 ARCHIVE: The swearing in of the new Shah, 282 00:17:41,150 --> 00:17:44,750 who is well disposed towards Britain, was a ceremonious event. 283 00:17:44,750 --> 00:17:46,550 These events scarred the Shah. 284 00:17:47,870 --> 00:17:50,550 He must have felt that humiliation himself, 285 00:17:50,550 --> 00:17:54,030 and he must have been very bitter 286 00:17:54,030 --> 00:17:56,990 at the way that his father had been treated, 287 00:17:56,990 --> 00:18:01,390 and the way that his destiny had been sealed. 288 00:18:01,390 --> 00:18:07,670 So I think that left a lifelong impression on him. 289 00:18:09,030 --> 00:18:13,030 One British diplomat in Tehran suspected the Shah might even 290 00:18:13,030 --> 00:18:15,390 be secretly supporting Mossadegh. 291 00:18:17,350 --> 00:18:21,030 "It is possible that Mossadegh has a curious hold over him 292 00:18:21,030 --> 00:18:22,950 "and is able to blackmail him 293 00:18:22,950 --> 00:18:26,270 "every time he sees a danger of his government being overthrown." 294 00:18:27,390 --> 00:18:29,310 ACTOR'S VOICE: "As a long-term policy 295 00:18:29,310 --> 00:18:31,670 "it seems that we should try to work towards 296 00:18:31,670 --> 00:18:33,390 "divesting the Shah of all his powers... 297 00:18:33,390 --> 00:18:38,230 "..and, if necessary, send him the same way of his illustrious father, 298 00:18:38,230 --> 00:18:39,550 "S Falle, 8th July, 1952." 299 00:18:42,230 --> 00:18:45,870 S Falle is Samuel Falle, who is the oriental secretary 300 00:18:45,870 --> 00:18:48,710 in the British Embassy in Tehran. 301 00:18:48,710 --> 00:18:54,470 Sam Falle is an example of a whole group of military officers, 302 00:18:54,470 --> 00:18:58,230 who join the Foreign Service after the Second World War 303 00:18:58,230 --> 00:19:00,710 and take a pretty hard line. 304 00:19:00,710 --> 00:19:02,590 They're pretty old-school 305 00:19:02,590 --> 00:19:05,110 on issues of British Empire, power... 306 00:19:06,910 --> 00:19:09,510 ..and how to treat foreigners. 307 00:19:09,510 --> 00:19:11,870 This is a remarkable document, 308 00:19:11,870 --> 00:19:14,870 because it shows such disdain for the Iranians, 309 00:19:14,870 --> 00:19:16,110 all the Iranians. 310 00:19:16,110 --> 00:19:17,630 It's not a very nice document. 311 00:19:22,910 --> 00:19:25,830 British plans advanced, but the Americans stayed out. 312 00:19:27,670 --> 00:19:31,990 So MI6's Head of Station, Montagu Woodhouse, 313 00:19:31,990 --> 00:19:34,110 tried a different tactic. 314 00:19:34,110 --> 00:19:39,390 Monty Woodhouse was a classic, upper-class gentleman spy. 315 00:19:39,390 --> 00:19:41,470 He was a Baron, 316 00:19:41,470 --> 00:19:44,110 he had served during the Second World War 317 00:19:44,110 --> 00:19:46,950 with the Special Operations Executive in Greece. 318 00:19:46,950 --> 00:19:49,270 He would go on to become a Conservative MP. 319 00:19:50,590 --> 00:19:53,150 Woodhouse now used his political skills 320 00:19:53,150 --> 00:19:55,350 to try to win the Americans round. 321 00:19:56,390 --> 00:19:58,710 ACTOR'S VOICE: "I was anxious not to be accused 322 00:19:58,710 --> 00:20:00,390 "of trying to use the Americans 323 00:20:00,390 --> 00:20:03,350 "to pull British chestnuts out of the fire. 324 00:20:03,350 --> 00:20:08,470 "So I decided to emphasise the Communist threat to Iran, 325 00:20:08,470 --> 00:20:12,390 "rather than the need to recover control of the oil industry." 326 00:20:12,390 --> 00:20:17,910 And he is making a conscious effort to play up, 327 00:20:17,910 --> 00:20:20,510 even exaggerate, the Communist threat. 328 00:20:22,950 --> 00:20:26,670 Using Communism, rather than oil, as a justification 329 00:20:26,670 --> 00:20:29,070 became a new ingredient in the coup planning. 330 00:20:31,190 --> 00:20:35,510 Mossadegh's Foreign Minister, Dr Hossein Fatemi, 331 00:20:35,510 --> 00:20:36,990 was wise to British scheming. 332 00:20:39,190 --> 00:20:41,710 He himself had been pilloried by the British 333 00:20:41,710 --> 00:20:45,390 and the year before narrowly survived an assassination attempt 334 00:20:45,390 --> 00:20:48,150 by an Islamist group which had links to MI6. 335 00:20:50,510 --> 00:20:53,070 Britain targeted him with propaganda, 336 00:20:53,070 --> 00:20:56,190 trying to smear him, trying to discredit him. 337 00:20:56,190 --> 00:20:58,750 They portrayed him as a homosexual. 338 00:20:58,750 --> 00:21:01,110 They portrayed him as a Christian convert. 339 00:21:01,110 --> 00:21:02,750 They portrayed him as a thief. 340 00:21:05,870 --> 00:21:08,590 Fatemi knew the British Embassy was a hotbed of spies. 341 00:21:10,270 --> 00:21:14,070 In October 1952, he shut it down 342 00:21:14,070 --> 00:21:16,990 in an attempt to quash MI6's coup planning. 343 00:21:20,350 --> 00:21:22,630 The MI6 officers retreated to Cyprus. 344 00:21:23,990 --> 00:21:26,430 Britain's coup, it seemed, had ground to a halt. 345 00:21:29,750 --> 00:21:32,510 Then another election, this time in America, 346 00:21:32,510 --> 00:21:34,230 put it right back on track. 347 00:21:35,470 --> 00:21:38,230 ARCHIVE: Electric signs flash the news - Ike's in, 348 00:21:38,230 --> 00:21:40,910 and bedlam breaks out amongst the Republican supporters 349 00:21:40,910 --> 00:21:43,390 as they hear of their landslide victory. 350 00:21:43,390 --> 00:21:46,350 Dwight Eisenhower becomes President by the greatest popular vote 351 00:21:46,350 --> 00:21:49,190 ever given a White House candidate. 352 00:21:49,190 --> 00:21:53,510 Eisenhower's administration was fanatically anti-Communist 353 00:21:53,510 --> 00:21:55,710 and a stark contrast to Truman's. 354 00:21:56,630 --> 00:21:59,750 Well, Dwight Eisenhower had advisors who had a certain view of Iran 355 00:21:59,750 --> 00:22:03,070 that was different from those who they succeeded, 356 00:22:03,070 --> 00:22:04,670 "We're the can-do boys. 357 00:22:04,670 --> 00:22:08,070 "Let us pursue covert operations, we'll change things." 358 00:22:08,070 --> 00:22:11,510 Their mind-set was the Mossadegh government is unstable, 359 00:22:11,510 --> 00:22:15,590 and it is weak, and if it falls, then the Communists come in, 360 00:22:15,590 --> 00:22:19,550 and now we've got a Cold War front line with the Soviets, 361 00:22:19,550 --> 00:22:21,150 and Tehran's in the wrong camp. 362 00:22:23,630 --> 00:22:26,990 But American support for Britain would not come free. 363 00:22:28,950 --> 00:22:31,230 The Americans drive a hard bargain. 364 00:22:31,230 --> 00:22:33,110 "You want us in? 365 00:22:33,110 --> 00:22:36,990 "You want us in after we help you get rid of Mossadegh? 366 00:22:36,990 --> 00:22:39,310 "Then we have to have an economic stake." 367 00:22:39,310 --> 00:22:41,590 And so the division takes place. 368 00:22:41,590 --> 00:22:44,030 The British retain 40% of the oil, 369 00:22:44,030 --> 00:22:47,590 America retains 40%, and then, what the Americans have got 370 00:22:47,590 --> 00:22:49,630 is obviously the profits from the oil, 371 00:22:49,630 --> 00:22:51,990 but they've also got political leverage. 372 00:22:51,990 --> 00:22:54,390 There is no chance again that Britain can act independently 373 00:22:54,390 --> 00:22:55,350 over Iran. 374 00:22:57,510 --> 00:23:01,110 With Britain's diplomatic HQ in Tehran neutralised, 375 00:23:01,110 --> 00:23:04,350 the centre of operations would become the US Embassy. 376 00:23:08,750 --> 00:23:11,110 All Iranian operatives working for MI6 377 00:23:11,110 --> 00:23:13,350 would be passed on to American handlers... 378 00:23:15,270 --> 00:23:19,910 ..the code name changing from Boot to Operation Ajax. 379 00:23:21,510 --> 00:23:23,870 The Americans would be taking over. 380 00:23:25,510 --> 00:23:27,990 But the British weren't out of it. 381 00:23:27,990 --> 00:23:31,310 Richard Aldrich and Rory Cormac were on the verge of discovering 382 00:23:31,310 --> 00:23:34,590 an extraordinary series of buried documents. 383 00:23:36,110 --> 00:23:38,670 They would show that the United States would deploy 384 00:23:38,670 --> 00:23:43,870 the Queen of England as a hidden asset in a bloody coup. 385 00:23:43,870 --> 00:23:48,110 It has remained a closely-guarded secret for nearly seven decades. 386 00:24:00,420 --> 00:24:03,660 In 1953, the preparations for a coup to topple 387 00:24:03,660 --> 00:24:06,900 the democratic government of Prime Minister Mossadegh 388 00:24:06,900 --> 00:24:09,900 and replace it with the autocratic rule of the young Shah, 389 00:24:09,900 --> 00:24:12,180 Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, 390 00:24:12,180 --> 00:24:14,940 passed from MI6 to America's CIA. 391 00:24:16,860 --> 00:24:19,300 It would be renamed Operation Ajax. 392 00:24:20,620 --> 00:24:22,700 The West wanted a puppet, 393 00:24:22,700 --> 00:24:25,060 but the Shah was proving anything but. 394 00:24:26,460 --> 00:24:28,060 The Shah is quite paranoid, 395 00:24:28,060 --> 00:24:30,100 he's worrying that the Brits and the Americans 396 00:24:30,100 --> 00:24:33,340 might actually be working against him all along, 397 00:24:33,340 --> 00:24:37,100 and he's also worried about the power of the Western hidden hand, 398 00:24:37,100 --> 00:24:39,420 to be able to depose him whenever they wanted, 399 00:24:39,420 --> 00:24:40,940 just like they deposed his father. 400 00:24:42,060 --> 00:24:45,180 The Shah was also caught in a war of nerves 401 00:24:45,180 --> 00:24:47,540 with Prime Minister Mossadegh. 402 00:24:47,540 --> 00:24:52,220 In February 1953, Mossadegh threatens to resign. 403 00:24:52,220 --> 00:24:55,180 He says to the Shah, "I've had enough of you and the Brits 404 00:24:55,180 --> 00:24:59,780 "trying to scheme against me and overthrow my government." 405 00:24:59,780 --> 00:25:05,100 This unnerves the Shah, and he offers to leave. 406 00:25:09,860 --> 00:25:11,820 At this critical moment, 407 00:25:11,820 --> 00:25:15,140 the Americans were bolstered by an unprecedented intervention. 408 00:25:16,580 --> 00:25:20,340 At the National Archives in Washington, Professor Rory Cormac 409 00:25:20,340 --> 00:25:23,660 recently uncovered an extraordinary secret cable 410 00:25:23,660 --> 00:25:28,060 which seemed to come from the pinnacle of the British state. 411 00:25:28,060 --> 00:25:30,780 It contained a message passed on to Washington 412 00:25:30,780 --> 00:25:33,740 by the British Foreign Secretary, Anthony Eden. 413 00:25:36,220 --> 00:25:39,260 It was for the eyes only of John Foster Dulles, 414 00:25:39,260 --> 00:25:42,140 America's all-powerful Secretary of State, 415 00:25:42,140 --> 00:25:45,460 whose brother was head of the CIA, 416 00:25:45,460 --> 00:25:48,460 and Assistant Secretary Henry Byroade. 417 00:25:49,940 --> 00:25:51,460 "Top secret. 418 00:25:51,460 --> 00:25:55,900 "From London to US Secretary of State. 419 00:25:55,900 --> 00:25:58,340 "Number 4844. 420 00:25:58,340 --> 00:26:01,020 ACTOR'S VOICE: "February 27th, 9pm, 421 00:26:01,020 --> 00:26:02,500 "Eyes only Secretary..." 422 00:26:02,500 --> 00:26:03,780 "..and Byroade." 423 00:26:05,140 --> 00:26:08,820 "Foreign Office this afternoon informed us 424 00:26:08,820 --> 00:26:14,060 "of receipt message from Eden, from Queen Elizabeth, 425 00:26:14,060 --> 00:26:19,140 "expressing concern at latest developments re Shah, 426 00:26:19,140 --> 00:26:24,060 "and strong hope we can find some means of dissuading him 427 00:26:24,060 --> 00:26:26,260 "from leaving the country. 428 00:26:27,580 --> 00:26:31,900 "British Embassy in Washington has been urgently instructed 429 00:26:31,900 --> 00:26:34,700 "to discuss with department." 430 00:26:34,700 --> 00:26:38,020 This is a really intriguing document, 431 00:26:38,020 --> 00:26:42,820 because it reads as if Queen Elizabeth herself 432 00:26:42,820 --> 00:26:46,580 is sending a message to the Americans 433 00:26:46,580 --> 00:26:50,580 and trying to persuade the Shah, 434 00:26:50,580 --> 00:26:52,860 another constitutional monarch, 435 00:26:52,860 --> 00:26:55,140 to stay put when he wants to flee. 436 00:26:55,140 --> 00:26:57,540 And this would be remarkable. 437 00:26:57,540 --> 00:27:01,860 It would be the...covert meddling 438 00:27:01,860 --> 00:27:04,620 of the Queen of the United Kingdom 439 00:27:04,620 --> 00:27:07,380 in the internal affairs of another country. 440 00:27:08,860 --> 00:27:12,380 It appears that Queen Elizabeth is almost leading the charge, 441 00:27:12,380 --> 00:27:14,260 but she has to do it indirectly, 442 00:27:14,260 --> 00:27:18,500 because Britain no longer has an embassy in Iran. 443 00:27:21,340 --> 00:27:24,980 Constitutionally, the Queen should have no direct role 444 00:27:24,980 --> 00:27:29,860 in foreign policy, let alone a plot to unseat a democratic leader. 445 00:27:31,660 --> 00:27:34,580 But the Americans instantly realised the impact the message 446 00:27:34,580 --> 00:27:36,060 would have on the Shah. 447 00:27:37,580 --> 00:27:39,300 They immediately forwarded it 448 00:27:39,300 --> 00:27:42,060 to their ambassador in Tehran, Loy Henderson. 449 00:27:43,660 --> 00:27:47,020 The next day, Henderson spoke to the Shah's senior minister, Ala, 450 00:27:47,020 --> 00:27:49,740 at the Imperial Palace, 451 00:27:49,740 --> 00:27:52,540 requesting an audience with the Shah. 452 00:27:52,540 --> 00:27:53,820 ACTOR'S VOICE: "Top Secret. 453 00:27:53,820 --> 00:27:55,020 "From London. 454 00:27:55,020 --> 00:27:57,740 "Ala called Shah on inter-palace telephone, 455 00:27:57,740 --> 00:28:00,780 "and after a few minutes' conversation, said..." 456 00:28:00,780 --> 00:28:03,460 "..Shah was unable to see me personally 457 00:28:03,460 --> 00:28:06,620 "since the Prime Minister was on the way to the palace 458 00:28:06,620 --> 00:28:08,020 "to bid him farewell. 459 00:28:09,900 --> 00:28:12,380 "Shah would appreciate it, however, 460 00:28:12,380 --> 00:28:14,580 "if I would talk to him by telephone." 461 00:28:16,460 --> 00:28:19,420 These were desperate days for the Americans and British 462 00:28:19,420 --> 00:28:21,620 plotting against Iran's Prime Minster. 463 00:28:23,340 --> 00:28:25,300 Mossadegh's visit to the palace 464 00:28:25,300 --> 00:28:28,740 seemed to herald the Shah going into exile. 465 00:28:28,740 --> 00:28:29,980 Henderson reported... 466 00:28:31,100 --> 00:28:33,140 ACTOR'S VOICE: "Early this morning, 467 00:28:33,140 --> 00:28:35,500 "stories regarding imminent departure Shah, 468 00:28:35,500 --> 00:28:38,220 "pouring in from many sources. 469 00:28:38,220 --> 00:28:42,260 "Most common version was that Shah had decided to leave 470 00:28:42,260 --> 00:28:45,740 "because Mossadegh was threatening if Shah did not, repeat not..." 471 00:28:45,740 --> 00:28:50,900 "..repeat not, so he would issue proclamation to country, 472 00:28:50,900 --> 00:28:56,260 "criticising Shah and asking people to choose between Shah and himself." 473 00:28:57,580 --> 00:29:01,900 Henderson urgently needed to pass on the message from Queen Elizabeth 474 00:29:01,900 --> 00:29:03,740 as a final plea to the Shah, 475 00:29:03,740 --> 00:29:06,740 but he was fearful of doing it on the phone. 476 00:29:08,740 --> 00:29:13,900 "I asked Ala if he was sure telephone not, repeat not, tapped. 477 00:29:13,900 --> 00:29:19,500 "Ala said every possible precaution taken in this respect. 478 00:29:19,500 --> 00:29:23,140 "I told him to tell the Shah that in interest of country, 479 00:29:23,140 --> 00:29:27,620 "the Shah should not, repeat not, leave in this fashion. 480 00:29:29,340 --> 00:29:32,780 "I also asked him to tell Shah that I had just received 481 00:29:32,780 --> 00:29:36,860 "message from a very important personage, 482 00:29:36,860 --> 00:29:40,180 "for whom Shah had most friendly feelings, 483 00:29:40,180 --> 00:29:43,500 "had also expressed sincere hope that Shah 484 00:29:43,500 --> 00:29:46,460 "could be dissuaded from leaving the country." 485 00:29:47,940 --> 00:29:50,580 Henderson is trying to be very discreet, 486 00:29:50,580 --> 00:29:54,300 so he's choosing his words very carefully indeed. 487 00:29:54,300 --> 00:29:57,900 He knows that there's a chance Mossadegh has tapped 488 00:29:57,900 --> 00:29:59,500 the palace's phone lines, 489 00:29:59,500 --> 00:30:04,060 if Mossadegh found out that the Queen was engaged 490 00:30:04,060 --> 00:30:08,100 in organising some sort of covert action, 491 00:30:08,100 --> 00:30:10,820 this would be devastating for the Queen's reputation, 492 00:30:10,820 --> 00:30:14,420 and for Anglo-American interests in Iran. 493 00:30:18,940 --> 00:30:22,060 It is now almost 70 years after that message, 494 00:30:22,060 --> 00:30:23,900 the Shah is long passed. 495 00:30:25,780 --> 00:30:28,540 I can't get inside his head directly, 496 00:30:28,540 --> 00:30:30,940 but when you look at the Shah, 497 00:30:30,940 --> 00:30:35,180 at the regard that he had for royalty and for ceremony... 498 00:30:36,340 --> 00:30:39,100 ..and the playing to his ego - 499 00:30:39,100 --> 00:30:42,100 "I've gotten a message from the most important monarch in the world, 500 00:30:42,100 --> 00:30:44,660 "telling me I need to stay." 501 00:30:45,820 --> 00:30:47,140 That's a boost. 502 00:30:47,140 --> 00:30:49,940 That's a boost that keeps him in place. 503 00:30:49,940 --> 00:30:52,900 There's an English phrase - it's a quaint one for me, as an American - 504 00:30:52,900 --> 00:30:55,580 what is it? - "Be a man, George," 505 00:30:55,580 --> 00:30:57,980 back from the 18th century, you know. 506 00:30:57,980 --> 00:31:01,540 Stand up to the pesky Americans or stand up to the French, 507 00:31:01,540 --> 00:31:05,420 Well, this was a "Be a man, George" message to the Shah, 508 00:31:05,420 --> 00:31:08,980 which he thought was coming from the Queen. 509 00:31:08,980 --> 00:31:11,340 He was really going to defy that and turn her down? 510 00:31:16,140 --> 00:31:19,180 However, as Cormac and Aldrich continued their investigation 511 00:31:19,180 --> 00:31:21,620 in the archives, 512 00:31:21,620 --> 00:31:25,860 a further new document would throw up one more revelatory twist. 513 00:31:27,700 --> 00:31:30,260 This document was truly astonishing, 514 00:31:30,260 --> 00:31:34,900 because clearly, the intervention that the State Department makes, 515 00:31:34,900 --> 00:31:39,660 the intervention that Loy Henderson makes, is very important, 516 00:31:39,660 --> 00:31:41,940 in the construction of that coup. 517 00:31:41,940 --> 00:31:43,100 Without the Shah, 518 00:31:43,100 --> 00:31:46,100 if the Shah had fled - he clearly was planning to, 519 00:31:46,100 --> 00:31:47,700 he was saying his farewells. 520 00:31:47,700 --> 00:31:49,420 He was pretty much heading to the airport. 521 00:31:49,420 --> 00:31:51,900 Without Henderson's intervention, 522 00:31:51,900 --> 00:31:54,260 the coup would not have happened. 523 00:31:54,260 --> 00:31:58,260 This new document has remained a carefully guarded secret 524 00:31:58,260 --> 00:32:02,860 in the State Department archive in Washington for 67 years. 525 00:32:05,700 --> 00:32:08,140 ACTOR'S VOICE: "From London to the Secretary of State. 526 00:32:09,740 --> 00:32:12,300 "Telegram number 4847, 527 00:32:12,300 --> 00:32:17,260 "February 28th 1953, 11am. 528 00:32:17,260 --> 00:32:20,580 "Priority. Repeated information." 529 00:32:20,580 --> 00:32:22,540 "Tehran, priority. 530 00:32:23,900 --> 00:32:27,340 "Reference to Embassy's telegram 4844, 531 00:32:27,340 --> 00:32:31,020 "27th February, repeated Tehran. 532 00:32:32,580 --> 00:32:34,180 "Queen Elizabeth..." 533 00:32:34,180 --> 00:32:37,620 "..refers, of course, to vessel..." 534 00:32:39,540 --> 00:32:41,140 "..and not... 535 00:32:41,140 --> 00:32:43,780 "..repeat not, to monarch." 536 00:32:47,020 --> 00:32:50,060 I was truly shocked when I read this document. 537 00:32:50,060 --> 00:32:54,700 This is the sort of document that one almost never sees. 538 00:32:54,700 --> 00:33:00,340 This is a correction to a previous telegram. 539 00:33:00,340 --> 00:33:02,820 It's saying, "Our previous telegram, 540 00:33:02,820 --> 00:33:07,500 "referring to Anthony Eden and Queen Elizabeth, 541 00:33:07,500 --> 00:33:11,380 "was badly drafted, was garbled, 542 00:33:11,380 --> 00:33:16,340 "and actually, when we referred to Queen Elizabeth, 543 00:33:16,340 --> 00:33:20,740 "what we actually meant to say was a message from Anthony Eden, 544 00:33:20,740 --> 00:33:23,980 "who is currently sailing on the vessel, 545 00:33:23,980 --> 00:33:26,180 "the RMS Queen Elizabeth." 546 00:33:28,380 --> 00:33:31,980 And, of course, at this time Anthony Eden was sailing to Canada 547 00:33:31,980 --> 00:33:35,340 on the RMS Queen Elizabeth to attend a conference. 548 00:33:39,420 --> 00:33:42,180 The Americans had a choice. 549 00:33:42,180 --> 00:33:45,180 Own up to their mistake and tell the British 550 00:33:45,180 --> 00:33:46,260 or keep it a secret. 551 00:33:48,340 --> 00:33:51,060 "Eyes only, Secretary Byroade." 552 00:33:51,060 --> 00:33:53,260 "Deeply regret lack of clarity." 553 00:33:54,580 --> 00:33:58,980 "It was not, repeat not, until rereading the message this morning 554 00:33:58,980 --> 00:34:02,460 "that it occurred to us that it was open to misinterpretation. 555 00:34:02,460 --> 00:34:04,580 "Embassy does not, repeat not, 556 00:34:04,580 --> 00:34:07,260 "propose to inform British of incident." 557 00:34:08,780 --> 00:34:12,100 The Americans chose to cover up, rather than own up. 558 00:34:13,820 --> 00:34:18,220 The decision is dramatic, because Britain would have been livid 559 00:34:18,220 --> 00:34:21,300 if the Queen's name had been used in vain like that. 560 00:34:26,580 --> 00:34:28,460 The deception went further. 561 00:34:30,380 --> 00:34:34,020 They're also trying to keep it from the Shah. 562 00:34:34,020 --> 00:34:38,580 Because the Shah believes that his decisions 563 00:34:38,580 --> 00:34:41,940 were partly in response to a request from Queen Elizabeth. 564 00:34:41,940 --> 00:34:44,300 They don't want to know that's not the case. 565 00:34:44,300 --> 00:34:48,260 They don't want the Shah to realise that essentially he's been 566 00:34:48,260 --> 00:34:52,580 misinformed, perhaps even unintentionally duped. 567 00:34:52,580 --> 00:34:55,820 He's been persuaded to take risks. 568 00:34:55,820 --> 00:34:58,820 He's actually been persuaded to stick his neck out. 569 00:34:58,820 --> 00:35:01,220 And all this, to some extent, is on a false premise. 570 00:35:02,780 --> 00:35:07,180 He believes he's received a message from one monarch to another. 571 00:35:07,180 --> 00:35:09,020 He's actually received a message from a boat. 572 00:35:10,540 --> 00:35:11,580 Not quite the same thing. 573 00:35:16,020 --> 00:35:18,300 At the end of this extraordinary episode, 574 00:35:18,300 --> 00:35:21,180 there is one undeniable fact - 575 00:35:21,180 --> 00:35:23,980 before the Queen's apparent message was passed on, 576 00:35:23,980 --> 00:35:26,260 the Shah had decided to leave Iran. 577 00:35:27,780 --> 00:35:30,700 After receiving it from the American ambassador, 578 00:35:30,700 --> 00:35:34,060 he changed his mind and stayed. 579 00:35:34,060 --> 00:35:35,700 The coup was back on. 580 00:35:48,610 --> 00:35:53,290 In March 1953, the MI6 and CIA preparations 581 00:35:53,290 --> 00:35:56,850 for the Iran coup, revealed in the secret documents, 582 00:35:56,850 --> 00:35:59,170 spilled over onto the streets of Tehran. 583 00:36:00,450 --> 00:36:02,730 Supporters of Prime Minister Mossadegh 584 00:36:02,730 --> 00:36:05,130 were taken on by pro-Shah rioters 585 00:36:05,130 --> 00:36:07,930 manipulated by the Western intelligence agencies. 586 00:36:10,330 --> 00:36:11,730 Covert action only works 587 00:36:11,730 --> 00:36:14,250 when there's a pre-existing movement 588 00:36:14,250 --> 00:36:17,770 which aligns with what the Brits or the Americans wanted to do. 589 00:36:17,770 --> 00:36:21,130 Britain and America did not create opposition 590 00:36:21,130 --> 00:36:22,850 to Mossadegh from scratch - 591 00:36:22,850 --> 00:36:25,850 these people already existed and were quite vocal. 592 00:36:25,850 --> 00:36:31,050 What the covert action sought to do was to push them along a bit, 593 00:36:31,050 --> 00:36:34,450 to bolster them, to fund them, 594 00:36:34,450 --> 00:36:37,450 and to make them as vocal as they possibly could be. 595 00:36:37,450 --> 00:36:43,450 CIA and MI6 have a whole range of agents and collaborators 596 00:36:43,450 --> 00:36:46,290 which they've been establishing for many years, 597 00:36:46,290 --> 00:36:49,330 but at the moment that the coup is approaching, 598 00:36:49,330 --> 00:36:51,530 the main mechanism is bribery. 599 00:36:52,570 --> 00:36:55,290 The British put further pressure on Mossadegh 600 00:36:55,290 --> 00:36:56,570 with a naval blockade. 601 00:36:57,890 --> 00:37:01,890 The British actually talk about the possibility of invasion, 602 00:37:01,890 --> 00:37:05,890 they talk about the possibility of sabotaging oil refineries, 603 00:37:05,890 --> 00:37:09,090 at one point they even talk about the use of nuclear weapons. 604 00:37:09,090 --> 00:37:11,450 So it's an extraordinary moment in history 605 00:37:11,450 --> 00:37:15,090 when Britain really rediscovers the whole idea 606 00:37:15,090 --> 00:37:18,050 of old-fashioned gunboat diplomacy. 607 00:37:20,770 --> 00:37:23,810 The chief of police, Mahmoud Afshartous, 608 00:37:23,810 --> 00:37:26,210 in attempt to protect Iran's government, 609 00:37:26,210 --> 00:37:28,490 rallied pro-Mossadegh supporters 610 00:37:28,490 --> 00:37:31,050 against the CIA and MI6-backed mobs. 611 00:37:33,050 --> 00:37:35,410 But Afshartous didn't last long. 612 00:37:35,410 --> 00:37:39,970 He was abducted by soldiers working for General Fazlollah Zahedi, 613 00:37:39,970 --> 00:37:43,530 a former Interior Minister who was now part of the coup. 614 00:37:48,410 --> 00:37:52,450 Six days later, his body was discovered 615 00:37:52,450 --> 00:37:56,410 and Zahedi and certain military officers 616 00:37:56,410 --> 00:37:59,450 were implicated in this murder. 617 00:37:59,450 --> 00:38:04,730 MI6 officers have since admitted that the abduction 618 00:38:04,730 --> 00:38:07,090 was part of the covert operation. 619 00:38:07,090 --> 00:38:09,450 They thought that by abducting the Chief of Police, 620 00:38:09,450 --> 00:38:10,890 a Mossadegh loyalist, 621 00:38:10,890 --> 00:38:14,290 they would give the opposition groups a morale boost. 622 00:38:14,290 --> 00:38:17,370 What they didn't expect was that they would get carried away 623 00:38:17,370 --> 00:38:19,570 and end up killing Afshartous. 624 00:38:25,130 --> 00:38:30,090 Afshartous was beaten, tortured, then strangled to death. 625 00:38:30,090 --> 00:38:32,890 His corpse was displayed outside Tehran. 626 00:38:35,170 --> 00:38:38,730 Smears, hired mobs, military force, 627 00:38:38,730 --> 00:38:41,090 and now murder. 628 00:38:41,090 --> 00:38:43,650 Terror began to erode Mossadegh's support. 629 00:38:50,090 --> 00:38:55,250 Three months later, the coup moved into its final phase. 630 00:38:55,250 --> 00:38:59,130 Kermit Roosevelt, grandson of a US President, 631 00:38:59,130 --> 00:39:03,450 was now the CIA man in charge of Operation Ajax. 632 00:39:03,450 --> 00:39:05,250 Kermit Roosevelt knows Iran, 633 00:39:05,250 --> 00:39:06,610 he knows the region, 634 00:39:06,610 --> 00:39:09,690 he's confident - with enough money and enough contacts - 635 00:39:09,690 --> 00:39:12,610 he can pull off this operation. 636 00:39:13,770 --> 00:39:17,250 On 19th July, Roosevelt arrived in Tehran 637 00:39:17,250 --> 00:39:20,210 after driving overland from Iraq, 638 00:39:20,210 --> 00:39:23,770 carrying $100,000 in small denominations. 639 00:39:23,770 --> 00:39:27,010 It was used to incite an orgy of street violence. 640 00:39:28,290 --> 00:39:32,690 In a last desperate act, Mossadegh shut down parliament 641 00:39:32,690 --> 00:39:35,690 and declared a state of emergency on the 16th August. 642 00:39:37,250 --> 00:39:38,970 ARCHIVE: After nine hours of bloodshed, 643 00:39:38,970 --> 00:39:41,010 the forces of the Shah were in command 644 00:39:41,010 --> 00:39:44,690 and Mossadegh's reign as virtual dictator of Iran had ended. 645 00:39:44,690 --> 00:39:47,570 Premier Mossadegh's ruined house is a mute testimony 646 00:39:47,570 --> 00:39:50,890 to three days of bloody rioting, culminating in a military coup 647 00:39:50,890 --> 00:39:54,250 from which the one-time dictator of Iran fled for his life. 648 00:39:54,250 --> 00:39:57,330 Now, indeed, all the shouting and the banners were for the Shah. 649 00:40:00,650 --> 00:40:05,210 On 19th August 1953, the Shah finally dismissed 650 00:40:05,210 --> 00:40:08,690 Iran's Prime Minister and installed a military government. 651 00:40:10,770 --> 00:40:13,450 British Ministers lied to the press, 652 00:40:13,450 --> 00:40:16,530 claiming they'd first heard news of the coup on the BBC. 653 00:40:19,090 --> 00:40:22,890 Forces loyal to the Shah turned up at Mossadegh's house. 654 00:40:22,890 --> 00:40:24,170 He fled. 655 00:40:26,530 --> 00:40:30,410 Two days later, he was captured, tried and sentenced to death. 656 00:40:31,890 --> 00:40:34,730 ARCHIVE: The aged defendant has constantly challenged the authority 657 00:40:34,730 --> 00:40:36,610 of the court to try him. 658 00:40:36,610 --> 00:40:40,290 The Shah commuted his sentence to house arrest for life. 659 00:40:42,650 --> 00:40:46,050 Mossadegh's Foreign Secretary, Dr Hossein Fatemi, 660 00:40:46,050 --> 00:40:48,770 the man who had closed down the British Embassy, 661 00:40:48,770 --> 00:40:51,570 was captured by pro-Shah troops 662 00:40:51,570 --> 00:40:54,290 and executed without trial by firing squad. 663 00:40:56,490 --> 00:41:00,050 The Americans celebrated, but there were still concerns 664 00:41:00,050 --> 00:41:02,250 about the Shah's stability and frame of mind. 665 00:41:03,490 --> 00:41:06,010 The US ambassador in Tehran, 666 00:41:06,010 --> 00:41:09,730 who had conveyed the Queen Elizabeth message to the Shah, 667 00:41:09,730 --> 00:41:12,210 asked if the British could give him a boost. 668 00:41:17,770 --> 00:41:21,210 ACTOR'S VOICE: "Believe it might be useful for Queen or Churchill 669 00:41:21,210 --> 00:41:23,810 "send oral message congratulations 670 00:41:23,810 --> 00:41:26,330 "to Shah through top-secret channels." 671 00:41:27,810 --> 00:41:32,490 A sharp response came back from the Foreign Office in London. 672 00:41:32,490 --> 00:41:36,330 "I do not think there can be any question of the Queen 673 00:41:36,330 --> 00:41:37,930 "sending a message." 674 00:41:40,090 --> 00:41:42,370 Associating the Queen with a bloody coup 675 00:41:42,370 --> 00:41:44,050 rang alarm bells in Whitehall. 676 00:41:45,530 --> 00:41:49,410 Little did officials know the damage was already done. 677 00:41:49,410 --> 00:41:51,930 But the Americans had hidden the truth. 678 00:41:57,330 --> 00:41:59,690 For many Iranians, the success of the coup 679 00:41:59,690 --> 00:42:01,450 was no cause for celebration. 680 00:42:03,170 --> 00:42:05,810 Farrokh Negahdar's parents were activists 681 00:42:05,810 --> 00:42:08,490 in the pro-Communist Tudeh Party. 682 00:42:08,490 --> 00:42:12,330 They desperately tried to destroy incriminating evidence. 683 00:42:12,330 --> 00:42:15,410 I remember, after the coup, 684 00:42:15,410 --> 00:42:23,250 the days which still deeply reside in my mind... 685 00:42:24,770 --> 00:42:31,730 ..the fear, the eyes of my mum, the eyes of my grandmum, 686 00:42:31,730 --> 00:42:37,410 who were burning papers in a stove, 687 00:42:37,410 --> 00:42:44,810 and the smell of the burnt papers was in my nose. 688 00:42:47,170 --> 00:42:49,930 It did not save eight of his relatives from prison. 689 00:42:51,410 --> 00:42:55,730 A decade later, Farrokh himself spent a total of ten years 690 00:42:55,730 --> 00:42:57,050 in the prisons of the Shah. 691 00:43:02,410 --> 00:43:06,010 The objectives of Operation Boot had been achieved, 692 00:43:06,010 --> 00:43:09,930 and Iran's democracy under Mossadegh successfully destroyed. 693 00:43:14,970 --> 00:43:19,290 For 26 years, the Shah was a steadfast ally 694 00:43:19,290 --> 00:43:21,890 of Britain, America and the Queen. 695 00:43:25,130 --> 00:43:29,970 Although he tried to modernise Iran, his regime also became synonymous 696 00:43:29,970 --> 00:43:32,170 with human-rights abuses and torture. 697 00:43:35,130 --> 00:43:37,170 ARCHIVE: It was Revolutionary Guards 698 00:43:37,170 --> 00:43:40,050 who, with Khomeini's tacit support, decided to take the fight 699 00:43:40,050 --> 00:43:43,370 to the seat of the Shah's power base - the armed forces. 700 00:43:45,410 --> 00:43:49,170 The repeated street demonstrations were a declaration to the Shah, 701 00:43:49,170 --> 00:43:52,410 and to the world, there could be no turning back. 702 00:43:52,410 --> 00:43:57,770 In 1979, the Shah became the victim of revolution himself 703 00:43:57,770 --> 00:43:59,290 and went into exile. 704 00:44:00,970 --> 00:44:04,410 Neither Britain nor America, fearing the consequences 705 00:44:04,410 --> 00:44:07,330 from the revolutionary Islamist regime in Tehran, 706 00:44:07,330 --> 00:44:09,290 would give him safe refuge. 707 00:44:11,970 --> 00:44:15,330 I think the Shah was a broken man. 708 00:44:15,330 --> 00:44:16,810 He... 709 00:44:16,810 --> 00:44:20,250 His life's work... 710 00:44:21,410 --> 00:44:23,170 His life's dreams... 711 00:44:24,290 --> 00:44:25,290 ..had... 712 00:44:26,490 --> 00:44:27,770 ..were in tatters. 713 00:44:27,770 --> 00:44:29,890 He had a huge deal of pride, 714 00:44:29,890 --> 00:44:33,610 and all of a sudden, he had found himself 715 00:44:33,610 --> 00:44:37,010 in a situation where he couldn't even take refuge 716 00:44:37,010 --> 00:44:41,010 in any country that had preached loyalty to him 717 00:44:41,010 --> 00:44:44,330 and friendship to him for over 37 years 718 00:44:44,330 --> 00:44:45,610 that he had been in charge. 719 00:44:47,050 --> 00:44:52,130 The Shah ended up in Egypt, where he died just one year later. 720 00:44:52,130 --> 00:44:56,170 The British Government did not send official condolences. 721 00:44:56,170 --> 00:44:59,730 Such attempts not to cause offence to the new Islamic Republic 722 00:44:59,730 --> 00:45:02,130 failed miserably. 723 00:45:02,130 --> 00:45:04,690 The atrocities and human-rights abuses 724 00:45:04,690 --> 00:45:07,730 by Ayatollah Khomeini's Islamist regime 725 00:45:07,730 --> 00:45:10,530 at least matched those of the Shah. 726 00:45:10,530 --> 00:45:13,970 And even those Iranians who opposed the Ayatollah 727 00:45:13,970 --> 00:45:17,010 have never forgotten Britain and America's role 728 00:45:17,010 --> 00:45:19,890 in the coup of 1953. 729 00:45:19,890 --> 00:45:24,210 It triggered a chain of events that, nearly seven decades later, 730 00:45:24,210 --> 00:45:26,410 continue to shake the world. 731 00:45:27,490 --> 00:45:32,570 I think that the Islamic revolution of Iran 732 00:45:32,570 --> 00:45:39,130 is a direct response to the coup of 1953. 733 00:45:41,010 --> 00:45:44,170 ARCHIVE: Khomeini branded the United States "the great Satan". 734 00:45:45,410 --> 00:45:49,850 After the coup, the psychology of Iranian people 735 00:45:49,850 --> 00:45:52,570 changed dramatically. 736 00:45:52,570 --> 00:45:55,410 They started to blame the United States, 737 00:45:55,410 --> 00:46:00,050 even religious layers, not only lefts, 738 00:46:00,050 --> 00:46:03,450 because of their involvement in the coup. 739 00:46:03,450 --> 00:46:07,170 Marg bar Amrika! Marg bar Amrika! Marg bar Amrika! 740 00:46:07,170 --> 00:46:12,650 The 1953 coup was a classic example of a covert operation 741 00:46:12,650 --> 00:46:15,410 that's carried out for short-term reasons, 742 00:46:15,410 --> 00:46:17,770 for short-term gain, 743 00:46:17,770 --> 00:46:20,770 but in the long-term it's immensely damaging. 744 00:46:20,770 --> 00:46:22,450 In Iran, in Afghanistan, 745 00:46:22,450 --> 00:46:25,250 in so many places where the West has meddled, 746 00:46:25,250 --> 00:46:29,010 the long-term results have actually been fairly disastrous. 747 00:46:54,210 --> 00:46:57,170 Subtitles by Red Bee Media