In the News

Developing Stories

Watch our developing stories
International media will have us believing that war is the only go to, but history tells another story. And as the saying goes, history can repeat itself.
The United States & China’s rapprochement era
Tracking the many sides of the man at the center of the news in the Iran Israel US conflict.
The Different Sides of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
Watch the complete series & follow us for more content like this.
The Argument of Foreign Intervention & why it doesn’t hold up.
The second vid from this series, we look at what the man known as ‘the last shah of Iran’ first said when confronted with an idea of a CIA & MI6 backed coup in 1953 to remove democratically elected Mossadegh. His answer was very different from his stance that would follow after & was perhaps also a prophecy of what was to come. Subscribe to keep track of the other vids in this series & more little known facts about Global South History.
The Last Shah’s First Answer
In the 1st vid from this series we explore the place of British Petroleum in the root causes of the current Iran Conflict. Watch out for Vid 2 that looks at the Last Shah's First Answer.
How BP fits into the war in Iran
This video provides a concise historical overview of key events in Iran between 1951 and 1979, focusing on the geopolitical shifts and the roots of modern tensions: • Nationalization of Oil (1951): Prime Minister Muhammad Mossadegh rose to popularity on a nationalist platform, aiming to nationalize Iranian oil—previously controlled by the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (now BP)—to alleviate poverty in Iran (0:00-1:11). • The 1953 Coup: Faced with the loss of control over oil infrastructure, the UK and the US (MI6 and CIA) orchestrated a coup to remove Mossadegh. They pressured Muhammad Pahlavi (the Shah) to sign a royal decree authorizing the change in government. Mossadegh was subsequently placed under house arrest for the rest of his life (1:12-2:42). • The Pro-Western Era and Rising Dissent: Following the coup, the Shah maintained power as a pro-Western leader. However, internal dissent grew due to the country's political trajectory and protectionist ideology (2:43-3:06). • The 1979 Islamic Revolution: The accumulation of this dissent culminated in the 1979 revolution and the storming of the US embassy, which students viewed as a center of CIA operations. This event established the complex, often adversarial relationship between Iran and the West that persists today (3:07-3:52). In 1953, the MI6 and CIA staged a coup in Iran to remove Prime Minister Muhammad Mossadegh and sought to have the Shah, Muhammad Pahlavi, sign a royal decree to sanction the change of government (1:29-1:55). Initially, the Shah refused because he feared losing the credibility provided by the nationalist sentiment surrounding Mossadegh (1:58-2:13). The intelligence agencies pressured him by stating they would proceed with the coup anyway and would place one of his brothers in power if he did not cooperate, which ultimately forced the Shah to go along with the plan (2:15-2:25). the 1979 Islamic revolution, student protesters who stormed the US embassy described it as a "den of the CIA." (3:20 - 3:25)
Iran 1951 - 79 in less than 4 mins (FULL VID)
Load More... Subscribe