# The Global Story: Operation Ajax: The CIA’s Iran coup

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/global-news-podcast-204504/the-global-story-operation-ajax-the-cia-s-iran-coup
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/global-news-podcast-204504/the-global-story-operation-ajax-the-cia-s-iran-coup.md
Podcast: [Global News Podcast](https://stenobird.com/podcast/global-news-podcast-204504)
Published: 2026-05-17T19:00:00+00:00
Episode link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0nl7b0f
Audio file: http://open.live.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/6/redir/version/2.0/mediaset/audio-nondrm-download-rss-low/proto/http/vpid/p0nl78sp.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/global-news-podcast-204504/episodes/the-global-story-operation-ajax-the-cia-s-iran-coup
Duration seconds: 1693

## Resource

At the outset of the war in Iran, US President Donald Trump suggested that regime change was one of its goals. He later said it had been had achieved, a claim that is disputed by critics who point out that the same repressive forces in Iran still hold power. American attempts at regime change in Iran have a long history. In 1953 the CIA, assisted by British intelligence, led a deadly coup that toppled Iran’s last democratically elected leader. It’s a moment in history that poisoned US-Iranian relations, and helped launch the theocratic revolution to come. But the immediate success of ‘Operation Ajax’ would convince the CIA to carry out a wave of similar plots around the world. We get the full story from Scott Anderson, author of King of Kings: The Fall of the Shah and the Revolution That Forged Modern Iran. The Global Story brings clarity to politics, business and foreign policy in a time of connection and disruption. For more episodes, just search 'The Global Story' wherever you get your BBC Podcasts. Producers: Viv Jones and Valerio Esposito Executive producer: James Shield Mix: Travis Evans Senior news editor: China Collins Photo: Supporters of the Shah of Iran in Tehran, 1953. Credit: Getty/Bettmann

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## Transcript

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