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Dissolution or Continuation of the 17th National Consultative Assembly | |||||||||||||||||||
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A referendum on the dissolution of Parliament , the first referendum ever held in Iran, was held in August 1953. The dissolution was approved by more than 99% of voters.
Following the referendum, there were talks about another referendum to abolish the Pahlavi dynasty and make Iran a republic, however the government was overthrown by a coup d'état shortly after. [1] [2]
| Position | Organization | Ref |
|---|---|---|
Yes | Iran Party | [2] |
| Iranian People Party | [2] | |
| Tudeh Party | [2] | |
| Pan-Iranist Party | [2] | |
| Nation Party | [2] | |
| Third Force | [6] | |
Boycott | Toilers Party | [2] |
| Muslim Warriors | [2] |
The balloting was not secret and there were two separate voting booths, i.e. the opponents of Mossadegh had to cast their vote in a separate tent. [7] [1] Critics pointed that the referendum had ignored the democratic demand for secret ballots. [8]
| Choice | Votes | % |
|---|---|---|
| For | 2,043,389 | 99.94 |
| Against | 1,207 | 0.06 |
| Invalid/blank votes | 4 | – |
| Total | 2,044,600 | 100 |
| Source: Direct Democracy | ||
| City | Yes | No |
|---|---|---|
| Tehran [9] | 101,396 | 67 |
| Tabriz [10] | 41,502 | 3 |
| Isfahan [10] | 43,505 | 11 |
| Ahvaz [10] | 22,771 | 2 |
| Mashhad [10] | 26,547 | 9 |
United States: On 5 August 1953, the U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower, speaking to a gathering of state governors in Seattle, criticized Mosaddegh for the decision and specified, that it had been supported by the communist party. An editorial published by The New York Times on 4 August characterized the exercise as "More fantastic and farcical than any ever held under Hitler or Stalin", and an effort by Mosaddegh "to make himself unchallenged dictator of the country". [11] 
Mohammad Mosaddegh was an Iranian politician, author, and lawyer who served as the 35th Prime Minister of Iran from 1951 to 1953, after appointment by the 16th Majlis. He was a member of the Iranian parliament from 1923, and served through a contentious 1952 election into the 17th Iranian Majlis, until his government was overthrown in the 1953 Iranian coup d'état aided by the intelligence agencies of the United Kingdom (MI6) and the United States (CIA), led by Kermit Roosevelt Jr. His National Front was suppressed from the 1954 election.
The 1953 Iranian coup d'état, known in Iran as the 28 Mordad coup d'état, was the U.S.- and UK-instigated, Iranian army-led overthrow of the democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh in favor of strengthening the monarchical rule of the shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, on 19 August 1953. It was aided by the United States and the United Kingdom. The clergy also played a considerable role.
The Tudeh Party of Iran is an Iranian communist party. Formed in 1941, with Soleiman Mirza Eskandari as its head, it had considerable influence in its early years and played an important role during Mohammad Mosaddegh's campaign to nationalize the Anglo-Persian Oil Company and his term as prime minister. The crackdown that followed the 1953 coup against Mosaddegh is said to have "destroyed" the party, although a remnant persisted. The party still exists but has remained much weaker as a result of its banning in Iran and mass arrests by the Islamic Republic in 1982, as well as the executions of political prisoners in 1988.
The Abadan Crisis occurred from 1951 to 1954, after Iran nationalised the Iranian assets of the BP controlled Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (AIOC) and expelled Western companies from oil refineries in the city of Abadan.
The National Front of Iran is an opposition political organization in Iran, founded by Mohammad Mosaddegh in 1949. It is the oldest and arguably the largest pro-democracy group operating inside Iran despite having never been able to recover the prominence it had in the early 1950s.
Nematollah Nassiri was the director of SAVAK, the Iranian intelligence agency during the rule of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, and later the Ambassador of Iran to Pakistan. He was one of the 438 individuals who were arrested and executed in 1979 following the Iranian Revolution.
Hossein Fatemi was an Iranian scholar. A close associate of Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh, he proposed nationalization of Iranian oil and gas assets. Initially a journalist, he served as minister of foreign affairs from 1951 to 1953. After the 1953 coup d'état toppled the government of Mosaddegh, Fatemi was arrested, tortured, and convicted by a military court of "treason against the Shah", and executed by a firing squad.
Assadollah Rashidian was an Iranian businessman and anglophile who, along with his brothers, played a critical role in the 1953 overthrow of Iranian Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh. He was a principal covert agent of the British Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) and through him the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was able to convince the Shah, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, to endorse the operation.
Gholam Hossein Sadighi was an Iranian politician and Minister of Interior in the government of Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh in 1953. After a CIA-backed coup d'etat overthrew Mossadegh, Sadighi was arrested and later testified in defense of Mossadegh at the latter's trial. Despite the loss of power, Sadighi continued to be politically active. He helped to found the Second National Front in 1960 and, along with other pro-Mossadegh politicians, advocated a democratic system and a Shah that reigns but does not rule.
The United Kingdom v Iran [1952] ICJ 2 was a public international law dispute between the UK and Iran. This case concerned the nationalization of Iran's oil which had been, in large part, controlled by the United Kingdom since the early 20th century.
The Abadan Crisis was a major event in Iranian history. It began in 1951 with the nationalization of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company by the government of Iran, and the shutting down by the British of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company's huge oil refinery in Abadan. It ended with a successful CIA-orchestrated coup which overthrew the democratically elected government of Mohammed Mosaddeq in 1953, and enabled the Shah to rule autocratically for the next 26 years, before he was overthrown by the Iranian Revolution.
Parliamentary elections were held in Iran in 1952 to elect the 17th Iranian Majlis.
Darioush Bayandor is a former Iranian diplomat and official who worked for the government of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. Following the Iranian Revolution, he left Iran to work for the United Nations in the 1980s and 1990s before retiring to Switzerland where he writes and consults.
The nationalization of the Iranian oil industry resulted from a movement in the Iranian parliament (Majlis) to seize control of Iran's oil industry, which had been run by private companies, largely controlled by foreign interests. The legislation was passed on March 15, 1951, and was verified by the Majlis on March 17, 1951. The legislation led to the nationalization of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (AIOC). The movement was led by Mohammad Mosaddegh, a member of the Majlis for the National Front and future prime minister of Iran. The movement to nationalize the oil industry was the reaction to the following concessions made by Iran to foreign powers: the Reuter concession of 1872, proceeding letter,D'Arcy Concession?] the 1933 agreement between the Iranian government and AIOC, and the Gas-golshaian[?] contract. According to the political scientist Mark J. Gasiorowski, the oil nationalization movement had two major results: the establishment of a democratic government and the pursuit of Iranian national sovereignty.
Anatoly Iosifovich Lavrentiev was a Soviet diplomat. He served as the head of the People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs of the Russian SFSR in the Soviet government from 8 March 1944 to 13 March 1946. He was a member of the CPSU (b).
Abdol Hossein Hejazi (1904–1969) was an Iranian military officer who served as the commander of the Imperial Iranian Army's Ground Forces between 1958 and 1960.
Morteza Yazdanpanah (1888–1970) was an army officer who served as chief-of-staff in the Imperial Iranian army for two times, between 1941 and 1942 and in 1952. He also held other governmental and military positions during the reigns of Reza Shah and Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
Nader Batmanghelidj (1904–1998) was an Iranian military officer who served in various military and government posts. He also served as the ambassador of Imperial Iran to Pakistan and Iraq.
Mahmoud Baharmast (1899–1977) was an Iranian major general who served as the chief of staff of the Imperial Army in Iran in the period 1952–1953.
Hedayatollah Gilanshah (1907–1986) was the commander of the Imperial Iranian Air Force for three terms. He was among the individuals who contributed to the development of the Iranian air force. In addition, he was one of the army officers who played an active in the coup against Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh in 1953.
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| Parliamentary | |
| Assembly of Experts | |
| Senate | |
| Local | |
| Constitutional | |
| Referendums | |
