182. Information Report Prepared in the Central Intelligence Agency1
SUBJECT
- Planned Coup d’État against Mossadeq Government
REFERENCES
- CS–4599, 53492
SOURCE
- Paragraphs 1–4: [3 lines not declassified]. Paragraphs 5–6: [1 line not declassified]. Appraisal of Content: 3.
1. Anti-Mossadeq Majlis deputies and retired Army officers are planning a coup d’état which is tentatively scheduled to take place “two or three weeks hence.”
2. Those prominent in planning the coup are: Majlis Deputy Seyyed Abul Hasan Haerizadeh, General Nadr Batmangelitch, and retired Generals Abbas Garzan, Bahadori,3 and Fazollah Zahedi.
3. In the event that the coup were successful, General Zahedi would become Prime Minister and General Garzan would become Chief of Staff.
4. The group which is planning the coup claims that the United States Embassy in Tehran is “fully supporting” the move.4
5. Colonel Mohammad Adhavi (retired) stated on 17 March 1953 that the coup would take place in “about twenty days” and that General Afshartus, the Chief of Police, probably would take part, along with one Army “motorized division.”
6. On 18 March 1953 General Hoseyn Mozayeni (retired), a supporter of Zahedi, remarked to source, “We are not finished; we will be in power before summer.”
- Source: Central Intelligence Agency, DDI Files, Job 80–00810A, Box 9, Folder 5, CS Information Reports 6360–6369. Secret; Security Information; Control—U.S. Officials Only.↩
- CS–4599 is ibid., Box 6, Folder 343, Information Reports 4599CS. CS–5349 is ibid., Box 7, Folder 383, Intell Information Reports 5349CS.↩
- Washington Comment. This may refer to Ahmad Bahadori, a member of the Majlis (see CS–3238). [Footnote is in the original. CS–3238 is ibid., Box 4, Folder 27, Information Reports 3238CS.]↩
- Field Comment. The information in Paragraph 4 presumably stems from wishful thinking. [Footnote is in the original.]↩