UK’s Former Foreign Secretary Lord David Owen said he had warned during Iran’s 1979 revolution that “the coming rule of the mullahs would be far worse than the rule of the shah in terms of human rights.”
He stressed that the UK should finally acknowledge its leading role in the 1953 coup that toppled Iran’s last democratically elected leader, for the sake of Britain’s credibility and the Iranian reform movement, according to the British newspaper, The Guardian.
The US formally admitted its role 10 years ago with the declassification of a large volume of intelligence documents, which made clear that the ousting of the elected prime minister, Mohammad Mosadegh, 70 years ago this week was a joint CIA-MI6 endeavor.
“There are good reasons for acknowledging the UK’s role with the US in 1953 in overthrowing democratic developments. By admitting that we were wrong to do so and damaged the steps that were developing towards a democratic Iran, we make reforms now a little more likely,” said Owen, who was foreign secretary from 1977 to 1979, on the 70th anniversary of the coup on Tuesday.
“I warned in a very public way on TV in the autumn of 1978 that the coming rule of the mullahs would be far worse than the rule of the shah in terms of human rights and personal happiness,” Owen told The Guardian. “Sadly, that has been proven to be correct.”
“I made it clear to the Shah that his form of rule had to make way for democratic reforms, but I wish I had known of his serious illness and could have pressed him much earlier in 1978 to stay in Switzerland for medical treatment and let a more democratic government emerge in Iran,” he added.
The original plot, codenamed Operation Boot, was drafted by MI6 after Mosadegh became prime minister and the dominant British oil company in Iran was nationalized.
Harry Truman’s administration did not want anything to do with it, seeing Mosadegh as a bulwark against communism, but Winston Churchill was able to persuade his successor, Dwight Eisenhower.
In the spring of 1953, the CIA began joint planning with MI6, and the operation was renamed Ajax.
“Today, women’s powerful arguments for reform in Iran are being heard and respected because they are true to a political spirit that has a long history in Iran. The British government today would help their cause and make it more likely to succeed and not be brushed aside if we admitted past errors in 1953, as I have admitted errors I made from 1977 to 79,” Owen said.
