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The Socialist Program with Brian BeckerAuthor: The Socialist Program
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'Operation Ajax' in Iran: The CIA's Original Sin
Monday, 2 March, 2026
In 1953 the CIA secretly organized a coup to overthrow the democratically elected leader of Iran. This was the CIA's first regime change operation — code-named 'Operation Ajax' — becoming the playbook for later CIA operations. Its consequences are still reverberating around the world.In this episode we take a deep dive into how Operation Ajax was planned and executed, it's motivations, the political context locally and globally, what happened in Iran after 1953, its impact on US-Iran relations up to today, and more. We've added many archival audio clips, including first-hand accounts on both sides, sound effects, music, and more. This is the first episode in our new series on The Socialist Program. In each episode we will unpack a different CIA/Pentagon operation, each which was given its own code-name as Operation Ajax was. Join the The Socialist Program community at http://www.patreon.com/thesocialistprogram to get access to the next episodes in this series, more exclusive content, and help keep this show on the air.Credits:Brian Becker - writer, narratorLayan Fuleihan - writer, narratorJohn Prysner - audio engineer, producerEmily Brease - archival producer
