US Intervention in Iran: The Hidden History Behind Today’s Crisis

The diabolical history you were never meant to know

Groundwork

Imagine it’s 1951, and the Cold War against Russia is emerging as a key political force, while control of the Middle East is being transferred from England to America. Churchill and Eisenhower cooperate to expropriate Iran’s oil and control its future. The U.S., at first, follows Britain’s lead but then increases its intervention to set up a puppet regime, build a network of terror, and engage Israel to transfer and supply weapons. Welcome to the history of modern Iran. 

Today, President Donald Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth are echoing a past that was crafted by the US long ago; an old-style colonialism wrapped up in a new banner of America First. 

Goodbye democracy 

In 1951, the Prime Minister of Iran, Mohammad Mosaddegh, was democratically elected. He was overwhelmingly popular, promising to increase the rights of women, and expand civil society. Iranians were proud to have him as a modern leader. He also promised to introduce accountability to Iran’s primary oil company, Anglo-Iranian Oil (AIO), which was 84% owned by what later became British Petroleum (BP). 

Upon scrutiny, however, AIO refused to provide records that indicated the whereabouts of the 16 percent royalty payments due to Iran. In response, Prime Minister Mosaddegh nationalized Iran’s oil industry. Western powers, in turn, placed economic sanctions and boycotts on Iranian oil, causing a severe economic crisis. 

Next, came a coup orchestrated by the CIA and MI6 (British Intelligence) in 1953. They employed the most feared mobsters and gangs in Tehran to stage riots and overrun the streets, killing 200 to 300 people. The CIA stated, in documents released 40 years later, that they “were in charge of planning and execution of the coup, as an act of foreign policy.” These same tactics of terror show up later in Israel’s actions against Palestinians in Gaza through the use of paid provocateurs, staged civil unrest, and collective punishment to crush political opposition.

The CIA worked diligently to install General Fazlollah Zahedi as Prime Minister. Zahedi had a military history, was active in the government, US educated and pro-Western. He began a colonial transition that lasted for years. He was used as a ruse to fight communism, particularly against the Communist party, Tudeh. A short period of time elapsed before Mosaddegh was arrested and imprisoned for three years. He was then placed under house arrest until his death ten years later. 

Next, Shah Mohammed Reza, who was a constitutional monarch and figurehead, was brought to power in place of Zahedi. He made a lasting deal with the US and CIA for oil and gifts: Iran’s oil would now be owned 40% by BP, 40% by five American oil companies, 14% by Shell, and 6% by French CFP oil company. Deal done. Gifts flowed.

However, in order to keep a Western puppet in power, it was necessary to employ a network of security to suppress dissent. General Schwarzkopf Sr., whose son later directed the Gulf War, was brought in to train Reza’s security forces SAVAK. He, along with the CIA, established an underground terror network to guarantee that no dissent would interrupt the flow of oil. Human rights organizations and declassified State Department records estimate that 1,500 political prisoners were taken monthly, and as many as 40-60,000 were interned and/or tortured during the Shah’s reign.  A deal was also struck with Qashqai tribal leaders in the South of Iran to provide a safe corridor for US-funded guerrillas and spies.  

Shah Reza maintained power for twenty-six years, until 1979.  During that time, investigative reporting suggests Israel transferred roughly $500 million in weapons annually during this period. Then a bonanza hit: Israel provided weapons to Iran to fight Iraq, opening a channel that would soon expand into something far larger, becoming the catalyst for the Iran-Contra Affair.

Iran-Contra Affair—1985 to 1987

President Reagan, like President Trump, refused to follow directives from Congress. Congress specifically stated that no shipping of arms to Iran would occur without Congressional approval. The situation shifted in Reagan’s favor when Hezbollah, funded by Iran, kidnapped 25 Americans in Lebanon, and the US wanted them returned. The deal included an exchange of weapons. This wasn’t entirely a humanitarian act, but the beginning of a massive cover-up of weapon sales that connected right-wing gun runners in the US, Israel and Europe to Iran and finally, to Nicaragua, Central America. Why Nicaragua? Because the same appetite for crushing movements that drove US policy in the Middle East was playing out in America’s own backyard.

Daniel Ortega, a leftist leader, led a Sandinista revolution against Somoza who was a dictator in Nicaragua, 1979. He had gained power by force and later elections. President Reagan labeled Ortega a communist and wanted the Sandinistas destroyed. The “Contras” in Nicaragua were secretly employed by the US to wage a guerilla war against the Sandinistas. The Contras, however, needed funding, guns and training outside of Congressional oversight. 

This is where an undercurrent of intrigue surfaces:

• The US supplied weapons to Contras without approval from Congress. Weapons were secretly shipped through Israel, up to 40 truckloads daily, to Iran via Syria and Turkey. In some cases, weapons traveled from Sweden to Argentina, then to Iran, and finally to Nicaragua. Several billion dollars in weapons changed hands. The partial beneficiary was Iran, which gained some sway with Ayatollah Khomeini. 
• The Contras were trained by Israeli IDF operatives in Nicaragua, operating under US cover. Israel was, in other words, running a counter-revolution to destabilize and overturn the government of Nicaragua with US participation. This was not a new role for Israel as they supported the French colonialists against the National Liberation Movement in Algeria in the ’50s.
• A key player in the illegal gun-running to Nicaragua was Colonel Oliver North, a former marine and gung-ho American who was assigned to the National Security Council, 1986. He appeared under President Reagan as a “patriot” ready to run guns and intelligence to Contras while blocking information to Congress. His counterpart today is Pete Hegseth. 

Ultimately, the Contras lost, the illegal gun-running was exposed and stopped, and Israel turned to profiting from supplying weapons to anti-mullah factions in Iran. Oliver North was found guilty of obstruction of Congress, destroying documents and receiving illegal bribes. His felony convictions were vacated on appeal in July 1990. It seems that the witnesses in the trial had been tainted by Congress, case dismissed. 

Current involvement

Decades later, the same logic of external pressure, covert action, and disregard for international norms would resurface in a new arena: Iran’s nuclear program. The Iranian regime has spent years developing nuclear materials. According to Tehran, nuclear material, uranium, has been processed and used specifically to drive electricity since 2000. President Obama spearheaded a solid deal that included regular observations of Iran’s nuclear program by multiple nations in July 2015. Nations included the US, China, Germany, European Union, and Iran. 

Under the agreement, Iran agreed to open their facilities to inspection, and reduce its enriched uranium stockpile by 98 percent for 15 years. It also agreed to modify its reactor to prevent plutonium production for an atomic bomb. President Trump refused to recognize, update or renegotiate the agreement because he hated its terms. He said Iran violated it all the time. The US withdrew unilaterally, disregarding the objections of every other signatory nation.

According to reports corroborated by multiple intelligence sources as of mid-2025, Israel has carried out 17 targeted assassinations of nuclear scientists and senior program officials to block any program. They have used drones and aircraft; five were killed in car bombings or shootings. Mossad, Israel’s CIA, has been linked to targeted killings of Iranian scientists since 2007. The US has confirmed the connections and killings.

Recent threats from President Trump to blow up and eliminate Iran’s civilization will no doubt strike a familiar chord among Iran’s leaders. International law, unfortunately, doesn’t seem to apply to Israel or the US in Iran. Is it any wonder that after seven decades of conflict, destabilization and theft of resources that Iran’s leadership has a negative view of Western or Israeli power? 

It’s not that Iran is an innocent party, or well-meaning to Israel, it’s that the US, Israel and the world are reaping the fallout of what has been sown. The only hope is for regime change in the US and dedication in Iran to finding a solution to issues at hand. Bombing and war primarily kill innocent people, and preclude or postpone genuine solutions to conflict.