The 1953 coup against Mossadegh

In 1951, the elected Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh nationalized the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (later BP), arguing that Iran's oil wealth should benefit Iranians, not foreign shareholders. The British and American governments organized a coup that overthrew Mossadegh in August 1953, restoring the Shah to power. The CIA played a central role. The coup is now widely seen as one of the most consequential American foreign policy decisions of the twentieth century, both because it succeeded and because it produced long-term Iranian distrust of the United States.