{"id":27588,"date":"2023-10-12T11:10:52","date_gmt":"2023-10-12T11:10:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/uncategorized\/2023\/10\/12\/cia-publicly-acknowledges-1953-coup-it-backed-in-iran-was-undemocratic\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T05:10:33","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T05:10:33","slug":"cia-publicly-acknowledges-1953-coup-it-backed-in-iran-was-undemocratic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/federal-oversight\/2023\/10\/12\/cia-publicly-acknowledges-1953-coup-it-backed-in-iran-was-undemocratic\/","title":{"rendered":"CIA publicly acknowledges 1953 coup it backed in Iran was undemocratic"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While revealing new details about one of the most famed CIA operations of all times \u2014 the spiriting out of six American diplomats who escaped <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/10e62420e55c4eff9ddb96319f704fbc\">the 1979 U.S. Embassy seizure in Iran<\/a> \u2014 the intelligence agency for the first time has acknowledged something else as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The CIA now officially describes the 1953 coup it backed in Iran that overthrew its prime minister and cemented the rule of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi as undemocratic.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/management\/leadership\/2023\/10\/07\/republican-field-blames-biden-for-dealing-with-iran-after-hamas-attack\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP23280716214724.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Republican field blames Biden for dealing with Iran after Hamas attack<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">Hamas\u2019 surprise early morning attack Saturday marks a new foreign policy front in a presidential election that&#039;s already been dominated by foreign affairs.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Other American officials have made similar remarks in the past, but the CIA\u2019s acknowledgment in a podcast about the agency\u2019s history comes as much of its official history of the coup remains classified 70 years after the putsch. That complicates the public\u2019s understanding of an event that still resonates, as tensions remain high between Tehran and Washington over <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/russia-ukraine-iran-politics-government-mahmoud-ahmadinejad-6acdb64d36fcbe05b3ee725d8a585d96\">the Islamic Republic\u2019s rapidly advancing nuclear program<\/a>, its aiding of <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/middle-east-iran-jerusalem-israel-media-01bcc885cb5e064af64656e81c33ef89\">militia groups across the Mideast<\/a> and as it <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/iran-headscarf-hijab-protests-unrest-7cfce99b8841d6df5e8ad95ec8032b28\">cracks down on dissent<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The \u201cCIA\u2019s leadership is committed to being as open with the public as possible,\u201d the agency said in a statement responding to questions from The Associated Press. \u201cThe agency\u2019s podcast is part of that effort \u2014 and we knew that if we wanted to tell this incredible story, it was important to be transparent about the historical context surrounding these events, and CIA\u2019s role in it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In response to questions from the AP, Iran\u2019s mission to the UN described the 1953 coup as marking \u201cthe inception of relentless American meddling in Iran\u2019s internal affairs\u201d and dismissed the U.S. acknowledgments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe U.S. admission never translated into compensatory action or a genuine commitment to refrain from future interference, nor did it change its subversive policy towards the Islamic Republic of Iran,\u201d the mission said in a statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The CIA\u2019s podcast, <a href=\"https:\/\/thelangleyfiles.transistor.fm\/episodes\/file-013-part-ii-the-side-of-the-argo-mission-you-ve-never-heard-exfiltration\">called \u201cThe Langley Files\u201d<\/a> as its headquarters is based in Langley, Virginia, focused two recent episodes on the story of the six American diplomats\u2019 escape. While hiding at the home of the Canadian ambassador to Iran, a two-man CIA team entered Tehran and helped them fly out of the country while pretending to be members of a crew scouting for a made-up science fiction film.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The caper, retold in the 2012 Academy Award-winning film \u201cArgo\u201d directed by and starring Ben Affleck, offered a dramatized version of the operation, with Affleck playing <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/frederick-us-news-ap-top-news-movies-north-america-82b03a34e04d471687c907472cc811f5\">the late CIA officer Antonio \u201cTony\u201d Mendez<\/a>. The podcast for the first time identified the second CIA officer who accompanied Mendez, naming him as agency linguist and exfiltration specialist Ed Johnson. He previously only had been known publicly by the pseudonym \u201cJulio.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"3444\" height=\"2380\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GettyImages-153883326.jpg.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-79365\" srcset=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GettyImages-153883326.jpg.jpg 3444w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GettyImages-153883326.jpg.jpg?resize=300,207 300w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GettyImages-153883326.jpg.jpg?resize=768,531 768w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GettyImages-153883326.jpg.jpg?resize=1024,708 1024w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GettyImages-153883326.jpg.jpg?resize=1536,1061 1536w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GettyImages-153883326.jpg.jpg?resize=2048,1415 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 3444px) 100vw, 3444px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">WASHINGTON, DC &#8211; OCTOBER 10: Ben Affleck attends the &#8220;Argo&#8221; Washington D.C. Premiere at Regal Gallery Place Stadium 14 on October 10, 2012 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Leigh Vogel\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWorking with the six \u2014 these are rookies,\u201d Johnson recounts in an interview aired by the podcast. \u201cThey were people who were not trained to lie to authorities. They weren\u2019t trained to be clandestine, elusive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But in the podcast, which aired about a month before <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/israel-palestinians-gaza-hamas-rockets-airstrikes-tel-aviv-11fb98655c256d54ecb5329284fc37d2\">Hamas\u2019 unprecedented attack Saturday on Israel<\/a>, another brief exchange focuses on the 1953 coup in Iran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In it, CIA spokesman and podcast host Walter Trosin cites the claims of agency historians that the majority of the CIA\u2019s clandestine activities in its history \u201cbolstered\u201d popularly elected governments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe should acknowledge, though, that this is, therefore, a really significant exception to that rule,\u201d Trosin says of the 1953 coup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">CIA historian Brent Geary, appearing on the podcast, agrees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThis is one of the exceptions to that,\u201d Geary says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Seven decades later, the 1953 coup remains as hotly debated as ever by Iran, its theocratic government, historians and others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Iran\u2019s hard-line state television spent hours discussing <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/iran-1953-coup-us-tensions-3d391c0255308a7c13d32d3c88e5f54f\">the coup that toppled Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh on its anniversary in June.<\/a> In their telling, a straight line leads from the coup to the 1979 Islamic Revolution that ultimately toppled the fatally ill shah. It still fuels the anti-Americanism that colors decisions made by the theocracy, whether in <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/russia-iran-drone-factory-ukraine-war-dfdfb4602fecb0fe65935cb24c82421a\">arming Russia in its war on Ukraine<\/a> or alleging without evidence that Washington fomented the recent nationwide mass protests targeting it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">From the U.S. side, the CIA\u2019s hand in <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/ap-was-there-iran-1953-coup-6ae8700ec74ba7d2ff04a40aa3f1f4d7\">the coup quickly was revealed as a success of Cold War espionage<\/a>, though historians in recent years have debated just how much influence the agency\u2019s actions had. It also led the CIA into a series of further coups in other countries, including Guatemala, where American clandestine action in 1954 installed a military dictator and sparked a 40-year civil war that likely killed some 245,000 people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"5000\" height=\"3567\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP23285132131849.jpg.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-79371\" srcset=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP23285132131849.jpg.jpg 5000w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP23285132131849.jpg.jpg?resize=300,214 300w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP23285132131849.jpg.jpg?resize=768,548 768w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP23285132131849.jpg.jpg?resize=1024,731 1024w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP23285132131849.jpg.jpg?resize=1536,1096 1536w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP23285132131849.jpg.jpg?resize=2048,1461 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 5000px) 100vw, 5000px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">FILE &#8211; Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh rides on the shoulders of cheering crowds in Tehran&#8217;s Majlis Square, outside the parliament building, after reiterating his oil nationalization views to his supporters on Sept. 27, 1951. While revealing new details about one of the most famed CIA operations of all times, the spiriting out of six American diplomats who escaped the 1979 U.S. Embassy seizure in Iran, the intelligence agency for the first time has acknowledged something else as well. The CIA now officially describes the 1953 coup it backed in Iran that overthrew its prime minister and cemented the rule of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi as undemocratic. (AP Photo, File)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That\u2019s led to an American political reappraisal of the 1953 CIA action in Iran. Then-Secretary of State Madeleine Albright acknowledged the U.S.\u2019 \u201csignificant role\u201d in the coup in 2000. President Barack Obama, speaking in Cairo in 2009, described the CIA\u2019s work as leading to the \u201coverthrow of a democratically elected Iranian government.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But largely absent from the discussion was the CIA itself. After years of conflicting versions of the coup both in public and classified papers, a member of the CIA\u2019s own in-house team of historians wrote a reappraisal of the operation in a 1998 paper titled \u201cZendebad, Shah!\u201d in Farsi \u2014 or \u201cLong Live the Shah!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But despite a series of American historical documents being made public, <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/5111167bcaf84892b01eea93eea4bc01\">including a major tranche of State Department papers in 2017<\/a>, large portions of that CIA reappraisal remain heavily redacted despite attempts to legally pry them loose by the George Washington University-based National Security Archive. That\u2019s even after pledges by former agency directors Robert Gates and James Woolsey Jr. in the 1990s to release documents from that coup and others engineered by the agency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Further complicating any historical reckoning is the CIA\u2019s own admission that many files related to the 1953 coup likely had been destroyed in the 1960s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt\u2019s wrong to suggest that the coup operation itself has been fully declassified. Far from it,\u201d said Malcolm Byrne of the National Security Archive. \u201cImportant parts of the record are still being withheld, which only contributes to public confusion and encourages myth-making about the U.S. role long after the fact.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The \u201cCIA\u2019s leadership is committed to being as open with the public as possible,\u201d the agency said in a 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By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>CIA publicly acknowledges 1953 coup it backed in Iran was undemocratic - Federal Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The \u201cCIA\u2019s leadership is committed to being as open with the public as possible,\u201d the agency said in a statement.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"CIA publicly acknowledges 1953 coup it backed in Iran was undemocratic\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The \u201cCIA\u2019s leadership is committed to being as open with the public as possible,\u201d the agency said in a statement.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" 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