An Iranian Film Festival Exclusive – Untold History of the United States

Movie Info:

Untold History of the United States challenges the basic narrative of U.S. history that most Americans have been taught. It not only renders Americans incapable of understanding the way much of the rest of the world looks at the United States, it leaves them unable to act effectively to change the world for the better.

When Dwight Eisenhower took office, the Dulles brothers met with Kermit “Kim” Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt’s grandson and the ClA’s top Middle East expert, to discuss eliminating the popular Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadeq who was opposed to the British oil monopoly and five American oil companies for taking more than 6o% of Iran’s oil revenue. John Foster Dulles approved $1 million to use to bring the fall of Mossadegh. Behind the scenes, the CIA went to work, launching “Operation Ajax” headed by Roosevelt. British intelligence, MI6, provided support. When Mossadeq uncovered the shah’s collaboration with the coup attempt, forced the shah to flee the country. The CIA, meanwhile, had been buying up Iranian journalists, preachers, army and police officers, and members of parliament, who were instructed to foment opposition to the government. The CIA also purchased the services of the extremist Warriors of Islam, a “terrorist gang,” according to a CIA history of the coup. In August, Roosevelt began setting mobs loose to create chaos in the capital, Tehran. He spread rumors that Mossadeq was a Communist and a Jew. On August 19, 1953, in the midst of the anarchy, Roosevelt brought General Fazlollah Zahedi out of his CIA hiding place. Zahedi announced that the shah, then in Italy, had appointed him the new prime minis¬ter. After an armed battle, coup plotters arrested Mossadeq and thousands of his supporters. Some were executed. Mossadeq was convicted of treason and impris¬oned. The shah returned to Tehran. The American oil companies were also grateful. Previously frozen out of Ira¬nian oil production, five U.S. oil companies now received 40 percent ownership of the new consortium established to develop Iranian oil. The United States had gained an ally and access to an enor¬mous supply of oil but in the process had outraged the citizens of a proud nation whose resentment at the overthrow of their popular prime minister and imposition of a repressive regime would later come back to haunt it. The masterful director, Oliver Stone, brings this part of the U.S. and Iranian history to light for the generations to come.