Iran

Iran celebrates 62nd anniversary of oil nationalization

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Iran has marked the 62nd anniversary of the nationalization of its oil industry as a momentous breakthrough in the nation’s movement for independence, Press TV reports.

On March 20, 1961, members of the Iranian parliament passed a bill introduced by then Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddeq on the nationalization of the oil industry.

Mosaddeq garnered the support of his nationalist party and religious groups led by prominent cleric, Ayatollah Abolqasem Kashani, for the initiative.

Experts say before nationalization of Iran’s oil industry, the British government, which controlled Iran’s oil industry through the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, reaped higher profits from Iran’s oil resources than the Iranian government.

Some scholars believe that nationalization of Iran’s oil industry was the main reason behind the 1953 joint CIA-MI6-sponsored coup d’état, codenamed Operation Ajax, which overthrew Mosaddeq.

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