The Role of US in widening division among Iranians during the years 1941-1953

The objective is to unravel the role of the US diplomacy in dividing Iranian nationalists in the years between the occupation of Iran during World War 2 in 1941 and the 1953 Coup. The focus is on particular on events in the aftermath of the nationalization of the Iranian oil industry.
Method/Research Design: Archival documents were consulted in addition to existing publications.
Findings: The American and the British agents activated an operation code-named BEDAMN in 1948, carrying out a variety of propaganda and political action activities in order to combat Soviet and Tudeh Party influence in Iran. Following the nationalization of the Iranian oil industry, the operation succeeded in dividing followers of the Prime Minister Mosaddeq and Ayatollah Kashani, the influential religious leader and a former ally of Moseddeq.