nights as they tried to find a way of satisfying his demands without ruining themselves. Mossadegh never threatened war. His weapon was the threat of his own political suicide, as a willful little boy might say, "If you don't give me what I want I'll hold my breath until I'm blue in the face . Then you'll be sorry." It was known as political suicide and could be economically detrimental to states around the globe due to Iran‘s oil reserves (Mosasdel, 1989, p.6). Among other oddities Mossadegh governing styles were peculiar. For example, when he decided to shift his governors, he dropped into a bowl slips of paper with the names of provinces; each governor stepped forward and drew a new province (Roosevelt, 1972, p.43).At the same time 4,000 miles away, that blue face of Mossadegh did not alert the administration of President Truman. Truman has initially been sympathetic to Iran's nationalist aspirations (Gavin, 1999, p.34). Under the administration of President Eisenhower, however, the United States came to accept the view of the British government that no reasonable compromise with Mossadegh was possible. Also, by working with the Tudeh Party, Mossadegh was making a probable communist-inspired takeover. Mossadegh's intransigence and inclination to accept Tudeh support, the Cold War atmosphere, and the fear of Soviet influence in Iran also shaped United State’s thinking (Gavin, 1999, p.39). By this time oil production came to a virtual standstill as the British imposed a worldwide embargo on the purchase of Iranian oil. No later than September 1951, Britain froze Iran's sterling assets and banned export of goods to Iran (Cable, 1993, p.21).Finally, in June 1953, the Eisenhower administration approved a British proposal for a joint Anglo-American operation, code-named Operation Ajax, to overthrow the Mossadegh regime. The heavily western supported Shah of Iran, who had appointed Mossadegh, but had then come into ...
