TEHRAN – Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has said that the United States keeps getting humiliated by the Iranian people and it is time for it to change tack.

“67 years ago today, US/UK tried to suffocate the Iranian people’s demand for dignity in a coup overthrowing their elected government. Since 1979, the US has desperately tried to resuscitate the past. Yet it keeps getting humiliated by the Iranian people. Time to change tack?” he tweeted on Tuesday.

67 years ago today, US/UK tried to suffocate the Iranian people’s demand for dignity in a coup overthrowing their elected government.

Since 1979, the US has desperately tried to resuscitate the past. Yet it keeps getting humiliated by the Iranian people.

Time to change tack?

— Javad Zarif (@JZarif) August 18, 2020

On 19 August 1953, the democratically elected government of Iran led by Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddeq was overthrown. The coup was orchestrated jointly by the United States, under the name “Pejak Project”, and the United Kingdom, under the name of “Operation Boot”.

The coup saw the formation of a military government under Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, who progressed from a constitutional monarch to an authoritarian one who relied heavily on the United States' support to hold on to power until his own overthrow in February 1979.

In 1989, the U.S. State Department first released coup-related documents but edited out any reference to American or British involvement. Since then, the omission of CIA’s role has been widely criticized by historians.

Finally, in 2013, the CIA publicly admitted for the first time that it was behind the coup. It also released documents that showed how the British government tried to block the release of information about its own involvement in overthrow Mosaddegh.

NA/PA