2.5. Mossadeq and the Shah. Iran since the 1950s

Many features of the current Iranian system can be seen as responses to misgivings about the former one, that of the Pahlavi dynasty. Many of these “solutions” have become problems themselves. "Independence" became isolation and confrontation, "islamization" has led to alienation... Nevertheless, the Islamic Republic has also, in many respects, built on the foundations of that bygone era. Today, we discuss what Iran was like under the last dynastic ruler: Mohammed Reza Shah Pahlavi. We also discuss how the occurrences in this era explain the antagonism between Iran and the USA. And we talk about the nationalization of oil, a dramatic story of hybris and betrayal, with as protagonist, a frail aristocrat in pajamas.