What are your thoughts on him? Were the U.S. and the U.K. justified in their attempts to topple his regime? Was he a desirable leader in Iran? Would he have lost power even if Operation Ajax never happened?

Another martyr caused by the Cold War struggle and US's desire to retain oil imports from Iran. Mossadegh perked up the ears of the religious traditionalist majority in Iran by saying that Iran's oil (which was owned at the time by UK and US companies) should be nationalized and made an Iranian resource, not a foreign one. He became Prime Minister by popular vote and forced the Shah (who was trying to westernize Iran against the peoples' will) to virtually relinquish his power over the nation. Foreign oil companies were thrown out of Iran. Mossadegh began instituting socialist reform, attempting to undue the westernization the Shah had forced on the nation. Most of Iran was traditional Islamic and welcomed this change towards a more Islamic state.

The US saw this overtaking as a communistic threat because Mossadegh was a socialist (having nothing to do with Russia, though). Britain enforced an oil embargo, stopping any ships exporting oil from Iran. Britain, in a blatant lie, told the US that Mossadegh was moving towards communism and would become one of Russia's satallite nations. Both US and British operatives created dissent in Iran against Mossadegh. This, along with the oil embargo and failing economy, caused many Iranian political groups to turn away from Mossadegh, thinking he was not as capable as they had thought before. Mossadegh was finally arrested after forcing the Shah out of the country. The Shah was reinstated and continued his westernization of Iran before the revolution in '79. Since the revolution, the nation has adopted much of what Mossadegh had been trying to do, such as oil nationalization, a more socialist government with a mixed socialist/neo-liberal economy. The nation has become deeply rooted in Islamic tradition in response to the years of forced westernization. this is why they don't like us.