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We need to be honest about Iran - and how our rampant greed for oil is causing mayhem
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/mar/19/iran-greed-oil-capitalism-regimesOil has empowered capitalism, and some of the world’s most exploitative regimes. Move away from it and we can solve some of the key issues we face
Trump’s war aims are typically incoherent: apparently incomprehensible even to himself. But Iran would not be treated as an “enemy of the west” were it not for what happened in 1953, when Winston Churchill’s government persuaded the CIA to launch a coup against the popular democratic government of Mohammad Mossadegh. The UK did so because Mossadegh sought to nationalise the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company: to stop a foreign power from stealing the nation’s wealth. The US, with UK support, tried twice to overthrow him, and succeeded on the second attempt, with the help of some opportunistic ayatollahs. It reinstated the shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. In 1954, the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company became British Petroleum, later BP.
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