Once There Was a Shah

I was seven when my father entered my life permanently. Before that he was an elusive figure who would appear for a day or few hours and then he was not there, with disappearances and durations that I could not keep count of and measure.

1953 Coup and Democracy in Iran

The month of August is the anniversary of the 1953 coup in Iran, the overthrow of the government of Mohammad Mossadegh, then premier of the country. This coup has been widely labeled as the “1953 CIA coup”. CIA stands for the Central Intelligence Agency of the U.S. Alternatively the 1953 coup has been called the “1953 CIA led coup”, a milder version. Mohammad Reza Shah which reinstated his rule through this coup and his supporters have called this event as the “Shah and People Uprising”.