[FreeKeys]

the (Republican) Eisenhower administration authorized the CIA to overthrow the duly-elected government of Mohammed Mossadegh in Iran.

Didn't Mossadegh immediately prove himself to be an international criminal by stealing all the oilfields and oil facilities first?

[Alberta's Child]

Iranians from that era will tell you that he wrested control of the nation's oil assets from the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (AIOC) -- a construct of post-WW2 British colonialism.

In either case, there was absolutely no reason for the U.S. government to basically help serve as the guarantor of British Petroleum's investments in the Middle East.