As late as 1909, the United States government did not even have a separate division within the State Department that focused on Middle Eastern affairs.

In 1925, Reza Khan overthrew the weakening Qajar Dynasty and became Shah (Shah or shahanshah ("King of Kings") was the title of Persian emperors or kings.   Reza Shah initiated industrialization, railroad construction, and the establishment of a national education system.  Reza Shah sought to balance Russian and British influence, but when World War II started, his ties to Germany alarmed Britain and Russia.

In 1941, Britain and the USSR invaded Iran to use Iranian railroad capacity during World War II.  The Shah was forced to abdicate in favor of his son, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi

In 1951, Dr. Mohammed Mossadegh was elected prime minister. As prime minister, Mossadegh became enormously popular in Iran after he nationalized Iran's petroleum industry and oil reserves into the The Anglo-Iranian Oil Company

In Iran this was enormously popular and seen as a long overdue staunching of its national wealth which could now be harnessed to fighting poverty in Iran. In Britain, the nationalization was widely seen as an intolerable breach of contract or theft

1953 In response to the nationaliszation of the petroleum industry the British government, headed by Winston Churchill, embargoed Iranian oil and successfully enlisted the United States to join in a plot to depose the democratically elected government of Mossadegh.

President Dwight D. Eisenhower authorized Operation Ajax.   The operation was successful, and Mossadegh was arrested on August 19, 1953.

The coup was the first time the US had openly overthrown an elected, civil government.

1953 to 1979 Seeds of the Iranian Revolution