MI6 Overrode CIA's Abort Order to Overthrow Iran's Democracy for Oil

For six decades, a critical moment in Cold War history remained obscured from public view: the day an American intelligence officer ordered the abort of a covert operation, only to have a British spy override that decision. What happened next would reshape the Middle East and plant seeds of anti-American sentiment that persist today.

In 1953, the CIA launched Operation Ajax—a joint effort with British intelligence to remove Iran's Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh from power. Mosaddegh's crime, from the Western perspective, was straightforward: he had nationalized the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, threatening British and American financial interests in one of the world's richest oil reserves. The operation aimed to restore Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi to absolute power after the coup's initial attempts failed.

What made this operation historically significant was the moment of doubt that emerged from within American intelligence itself. According to declassified documents, a CIA officer sent a cable ordering the operation aborted. The logic was sound: the coup wasn't working, momentum was slipping, and continued effort risked exposure and failure. This was a decision made by someone with the authority to make it—a recognition that the operation had become too risky to continue.

But the operation proceeded anyway. An MI6 operative, working in coordination with American counterparts, overrode the American abort order. The British intelligence service, which had perhaps more directly threatened interests in Iran, chose to push forward. Within days, the coup succeeded. Mosaddegh was removed, the Shah was reinstated, and Anglo-Iranian Oil Company reclaimed its control of Iranian petroleum reserves.

For sixty years, this critical detail about who actually made the final call remained largely unknown to the public. and British government neither confirmed nor denied the specific narrative of the abort order and its override. When pressed, officials offered vague acknowledgments that intelligence operations had occurred, but little detail. The American government didn't formally acknowledge the CIA's role until 2000, and even then, specifics remained classified.