Illuminating the Human Side of Espionage

It's Iran 1951. Mohammad Mosaddegh, fuelled by an ever-growing nationalism, has just been elected Prime Minister. Immediately he chooses to nationalise the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, much to the anger of the British who control the majority stake. In response, MI6 are determined to destabilise his government and remove him from power. So they begin to conspire with the CIA. Kermit Roosevelt, grandson of Teddy Roosevelt and agency man, will go from Washington to Iran and, building on existing instability, foment chaos on the streets. But it won't be plain sailing...

Listen to Goalhanger's latest podcast, The Rest Is Classified, as David McCloskey and Gordon Corera tell the story of the 1953 Iranian coup orchestrated by the CIA and MI6.

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