Biography
of Dr. Mohammad Mossadegh
&
The History of Iranian Oil Industry Nationalization
Dr. Mohammad Mossadegh was born on May 19, 1882. His
father "Hedayat Ashtiani" was the Finance
Minister of King Naser al-Din Qajar, and his mother was a granddaughter
of the Crown Prince Abbas Mirza. After the Constitutional Revolution of
1906, Mossadegh was elected from Isfehan to the first Parliament, but
since he was under the age of 30, he refused his position as a Parliament
member. When Mohammad Ali Shah bombarded the first Parliament, and
liberals were either executed or imprisoned, Mossadegh spent a while in
concealment, and in 1909 he started his trip to France through Russia,
and he studied at the Political Science Institute of Paris for two years.
Because of his illness, Mossadegh was forced to return to Iran, but after
5 months he traveled to Switzerland where he continued his education at
the law school of Neuchatel.
Mossadegh obtained his law doctorate and his attornyship
permit in 1913. In 1914 he returned to Iran and began his career
at the Political Science Institute of Tehran, as a professor. During
this time Mossadegh compiled two books, the "Civil Legal Procedure," and
the "Capitulation."
In 1917, Mossadegh became the deputy Finance minister and took many steps
against corruption inside the
ministry. When the cabinet of Vosough al-Doleh signed the
treacherous agreement of 1919 with the British
government, Mossadegh strongly criticized the agreement and left the country
for Europe. There he informed
the western societies about this agreement which would have made Iran
a British colony. By signing the
agreement, Vosugh received 131,000 British Pounds to divide among himself
and his Foreign and Finance
ministers. A few months later, Vosough's cabinet collapsed because
of the public pressure, and Moshir al-Doleh became Prime Minister. The
new Premier invited Dr. Mossadegh to join him as his minister of Justice.
In his return to Iran from the Persian Gulf, due to the
request of the people of Shiraz, he accepted the
governor ship of the Fars province, until the British backed coup d'etat
of 1921, and took effective steps
towards the security of the people.
When the British backed coup of Seyed Zia and Reza Khan took place in
1921, Mossadegh was one of the
few Iranian politicians who asked the legitimacy of the coup government,
and resigned his post as the governor of Fars. After his abdication, in
his way to Tehran, the Bakhtiari tribe invited Mossadegh to be their guest,
and he lived there until the Zia government collapsed after 100 days.
After Zia government's fall, Ghavam al-Saltaneh became the new Premier
and Dr. Mossadegh was selected as the Finance minister with full authority.
With the fall of Ghavam's government, and when Moshir became the premier
once again, Mossadegh was
asked to become the governor of the Azerbaijan province, and accepted
the post from 1921 to 1922, upon the
condition of having authority over the province's armed forces. But at
the end because of the provincial army
commander's disobedience, who got his orders from Reza Khan (the War Minister),
Mossadegh resigned and
returned to Tehran.
In May 1923, Mossadegh became the Foreign Minister of
Moshir's cabinet, and strongly opposed the British government's claim,
which requested 2 million Pounds from Iran, for the creation of the Iranian
southern police (which protected Britain's interests). After Moshir's
abdication, Reza Khan (Commander of the Armed Forces), reached the post
of Premiership.
Dr. Mossadegh was elected to the Parliament from Tehran, and it was during
this period that the Qajar
dynasty was overthrown and Reza khan declared himself the King of Iran.
Mossadegh strongly criticized the
Kingship of Reza khan, and when the sixth Majlis ended, and Reza Khan
became the absolute dictator of Iran, Mossadegh was forced to stay at
home for many years. During the last years of Reza Shah's reign, when
most of the political figures were either deceased or had surrendered
to the Pahlavi regime, Mossadegh was arrested and exiled for several months,
but finally he was sent back to his Ahmad Abad country estate under house
arrest. After the occupation of Iran by the British and Russian armies
in 1941, Reza Shah was forced to abdicate and exiled to South Africa until
his death, and Mossadegh returned to Tehran. - In the elections of the
14th Majlis (Parliament), Dr. Mossadegh was elected as the first representative
from the Capital, and was surprisingly honored by the nation.
During the 15th Majlis elections, because of the interference of Mohammad
Reza Shah, and Premier
Ghavam, Mossadegh didn't get the chance to enter the Parliament, so the
British could confirm the 1933 oil
agreement that was signed by the ex-Shah, with the new cabinet, and plunder
the Iranian oil for another 60
years. Fortunately because of the public pressure, the wish of the British
government didn't come true, and the life of the 15th Majlis ended. But
the Shah, by the request of the British, formed a Constituent Assembly,
and extended his powers as a constitutional monarch. It was also during
this period that Dr. Mossadegh and his companions formed the Jebhe Melli
(National Front) of Iran, which played a great role in nationalizing the
Iranian oil industry.
Despite all the interference and frauds of the Shah and the Royal Court
during the 16th Majlis elections, the
fake ballot boxes were announced expired, and the Royal Court minister
was assassinated. In the second round of the elections, Mossadegh and
a group of his companions were elected, and it was this Parliament that
approved the nationalization of the Iranian oil industry, by the leadership
of Dr. Mossadegh. A while later the Majlis elected Mossadegh as the new
Prime Minister. - When Mossadegh became Premier in 1951, the first thing
he did after introducing his cabinet, was the enforcement of the Oil Nationalization
Bill.
Following the British law suit against Iran and propounding it at the
United Nations Security Council, Dr.
Mossadegh made a trip to New York in order to defend the rights of Iran.
Then he made a trip to the Netherlands and defended Iran at the Hague
Court, and Iran was voted not guilty for nationalizing its oil. In his
return to Iran, Mossadegh also visited Egypt and was magnificently welcomed
by its people.
The 17th Majlis elections ended in violence because of
the army and Royal Courts interference, and after 80
deputies were elected, Mossadegh had to announce the conclusion of the
elections. In order to avoid the army's interference, Mossadegh
asked the Shah to convey the War Ministry to his cabinet, but the Shah
refused and Mossadegh resigned in 1952. The next day, Majlis elected
Ghavam as the new premier and he announced his Premiership by a harsh
statement.
The people of Iran who were angered by Mossadegh's dismissal, revolted
in favor of him and Ayatollah
Kashani (who was a close ally of Mossadegh at that time), and against
the new government and the Shah. After 4 days of bloody revolt, the people
defeated the Ghavam's government and the shah's army, and once again Mossadegh
became Prime Minister.
By controlling the Defense Ministry (previous War Ministry),
Mossadegh succeeded in cleaning the army
from corrupted officers, and this act angered the Royal Court. In
March of 1953, the Royal Court with the help of a group of clergies, expelled
army officers, and ruffians, decided to perform a conspiracy plan against
Dr. Mossadegh. The plan was that on the first day of March, the Shah would
leave the capital for Europe and pretend that Mossadegh had forced him
to leave the country. On the other hand the ruffians and expelled army
officers would gather in front of the Royal Palace to avoid the Shah's
departure. At the same time when Mossadegh comes out of the Royal Palace,
they would attack and murder him. But since Mossadegh suspected
the conspiracy at the last moment, he escaped the scene. General
Afshar-Toos, the loyal police chief of Mossadegh's government, was brutally
murdered by the Royal Court's agents and the expelled officers.
Because of the continues disputes between the Parliament and the cabinet,
and following the Majlis member's abdications, Mossadegh declared a national
referendum to let the people choose between dissolvement of the Parliament,
or cabinet's abdication. In this referendum (which was criticized by many
figures, because of the separation of the Yes and No ballot boxes, and
not being held at a same time in Tehran and other cities), the majority
of the votes were for dissolvement of the Majlis, and it was dissolved
in August of 1953.
On August 16, 1953, with accordance to an American-British
designed plan, the Shah issued Dr. Mossadegh's dismissal, and the chief
of the Royal Guards carried the formal notice to Mossadegh's house (which
was also his Prime Ministry office) and was ordered to occupy the house
by the Royal troops. But when the troops reached the Mossadegh's house,
Mossadegh's guards immediately arrested the Royal Guard's chief and his
troops. The coup was publicized and the Shah escaped the country for Italy.
On 17th and 18th of August 1953, people poured to the streets in support
of Mossadegh and the status of
Mohammad Reza and Reza Shah were pulled down all over the country.
On August 19, 1953, the intelligence services of U.S.A. and Britain (CIA
- MI6), enforced a more precise
and expensive coup d'etat plan, and this time succeeded in overthrowing
Mossadegh's government. On this
day, after bribing some of the grand Ayatollahs, army officers, ruffians,
and the prostitutes, the coup makers
pulled large mobs into the streets to demonstrate against the national
government of Dr. Mossadegh. Because of the police chief treachery, the
coup makers reached the house of the Prime Minister and after several
hours of bombarding the house and bloody battle with the small group of
Mossadegh's loyal guards, they entered the house and after plundering
it, they burned the house. Mossadegh and his companions used a ladder
and took refugee inside the neighbor's house. Some of Mossadegh's previous
companions were among the coup makers.- On the next day, Dr. Mossadegh
and his loyal companions surrendered themselves to the coup Prime Minister,
General Zahedi. A few days latter, the Shah returned to Iran from Italy,
and began his 25 years of despotic reign.
During the military trial of Dr. Mossadegh, he publicized the secrets
of the two coups against his government. In conclusion Mossadegh was given
three years of prison, and after being imprisoned for 3 years, Mossadegh,
now 74, was moved to his country house in Ahmad Abad, and lived there
under house arrest until
he died.
Mossadegh's wife passed away in 1964, at the age of 84,
and left Dr. Mossadegh and their 2 sons and 3 daughters in grief.
On March 4, 1967, Dr. Mossadegh died of cancer at the age of 84. His body
was buried in one of the rooms
of his Ahmad Abad residence.
On the first anniversary of Mossadegh's pass away after the 1979 Revolution,
about one million Iranians
honored their national hero by gathering in Ahmad Abad.
========================================
By Mr. P. Kian
|
