Mossadegh

Mohammed Mossadegh (1882-1953) is the former prime minister that served Iran for two years, from 1951-1953. Mossadegh came from an affluent family and received a Western education. He has a PhD in law. He held various offices in the Iranian government, including Minister of Finance, Foreign Minister and Governor of the "Azerbaijan" Province. Mossadegh was in favor of nationalizing Iran's oil and kicking the British oil company out of the country. Britain responded negatively to this and withdrew all educated British technicians who worked in the refineries. Iran lacked educated Iranian technicians. It seemed that Mossadegh would rather drag the country into debt than have anything to do with the British. Mossadegh was a known liberal and was popular withthe Iranian people. he resigned when the Shah refused to grant him the additional powers of Minister of War and Chief of Staff. Mossadegh was re-appointed to prime minister and discontinued Iran's friendly relationship with Britain. He was ousted out of office by the British and the CIA who were in favor of Reza Shah.



Sources:

"Mohammed Mossadegh." __Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia__. 24 Oct 2006, 18:58 UTC. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 31 Oct 2006 .

http://www.moreorless.au.com/heroes/mossadegh.html

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