Quotes from Ervand Abrahamian

One should never underestimate the role of stupidity in history

It was in describing these early bargaining tactics by the British oil company that Dean Acheson, the U.S. secretary of state, made his famous statement: "Never had so few lost so much so stupidly in so short a time.

The British consul in Mashed later wrote in his memoirs that what had turned "Russia from hot-war ally to cold-war rival" was the "vigorous American intervention to capture the Persian market, especially the efforts of Socony-Vacuum to secure oil prospecting rights.

A Foreign Office diplomat in London wrote in the margins of a Tehran report: "I tend to the view that Musaddiq still enjoys some public support, more than some of our close friends would have us believe. . . . Coup d'état may well be the only answer.

refused any aid until the oil issue was settled. Matters came to a head in August when Mossadeq for three days, backed by the Communist Party, seemed the irresistible dictator of Iran. . . . But fortunately the loyalty of the Army and fear of communism saved the day. —President Dwight D. Eisenhower, in a speech entitled "Peace with Justice

I refused any aid until the oil issue was settled. Matters came to a head in August when Mossadeq for three days, backed by the Communist Party, seemed the irresistible dictator of Iran. . . . But fortunately the loyalty of the Army and fear of communism saved the day. —President Dwight D. Eisenhower, in a speech entitled "Peace with Justice

Haerizadeh, Sayyed Abul-Hassan (1894–1987)—an early Mossadeq supporter who soon turned against him. He was a retired judge and veteran Majles deputy. The British embassy described him as an "extreme neutralist" who was "quarrelsome and usually at logger-heads with his colleagues.

1907 with the Anglo-Russian Agreement carving up Iran into "zones of influence." Britain took the southwest, Russia the north. They further consolidated their hold in 1914 with the British occupying the whole of the south, including the oil regions. The British government later, without any trace of irony, presented Iran an itemized bill for having occupied the south. The bill totaled 313 pounds, 17 shillings, and 6 pence.