While revealing new details about one of the most famed CIA operations of all times — the spiriting out of six American diplomats who escaped the 1979 U.S. Embassy seizure in Iran — the intelligence agency for the first time has acknowledged something else as well.

The CIA now officially describes the 1953 coup it backed in Iran that overthrew its prime minister and cemented the rule of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi as undemocratic.

Other American officials have made similar remarks in the past, but the CIA’s acknowledgment in a podcast about the agency’s history comes as much of its official history of the coup remains classified 70 years after the putsch. That complicates the public’s understanding of an event that still resonates, as tensions remain high between Tehran and Washington over the Islamic Republic’s rapidly advancing nuclear program, its aiding of militia groups across the Mideast and as it cracks down on dissent.

The “CIA’s leadership is committed to being as open with the public as possible,” the agency said in a statement responding to questions from The Associated Press. “The agency’s podcast is part of that effort — and we knew that if we wanted to tell this incredible story, it was important to be transparent about the historical context surrounding these events, and CIA’s role in it.”

  • V H
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    51 year ago

    Nobody will take the authority of someone who is on record in this very thread supporting a mass murderer.

      • V H
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        31 year ago

        I’ve literally never done anything of the sort, you liar.

          • V H
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            31 year ago

            I have never in my life supported any violent coups or putting mass murderers in charge by any means. You have on the other hand repeatedly done so in this thread alone.

            • @SaakoPaahtaa
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              -31 year ago

              Again, reality defies this sentence. Communism is inherently violent

              • V H
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                31 year ago

                In reality the dictator you’ve repeatedly expressed support for here killed thousands, while unlike you I’ve never supported any oppressive, mass-murdering government of any kind.

                Actual murders trumps your fictional head canon any time.

                  • V H
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                    21 year ago

                    And again, actual murders trump your fictional headcanon any time. This “it’s for the good of everyone” argument is the traditional argument of fascists to justify dismantling democracy and hunting down political opponents. Every brutal dictator and their supporters think they are the heroes and project their own brutality on the people they murder while they leave a trail of blood behind them.