Tuesday, March 10, 2026-As tensions rise with Iran, discussion has resurfaced about moments when the United States helped install or support foreign leaders after political upheaval. The topic has gained attention as Donald Trump signals a more aggressive stance toward Iran’s leadership amid the ongoing conflict. Analysts note that while each situation is different, U.S. intervention in foreign governments has a long and controversial history.
One of the most well-known examples occurred in 1953 when the U.S. and British intelligence services orchestrated a coup that removed Iran’s democratically elected prime minister Mohammad Mosaddegh. The operation restored the rule of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran, and installed Fazlollah Zahedi as prime minister. The move was driven largely by fears of Soviet influence and concerns over Iran’s oil industry after Mosaddegh nationalized it.
Similar U.S. involvement has been reported in several other countries during the Cold War and beyond. In Chile, the U.S. supported efforts that contributed to the 1973 military coup that removed President Salvador Allende. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, American intelligence backed actions that helped remove the country’s first elected prime minister Patrice Lumumba in 1961. These interventions remain widely debated today, especially as modern geopolitical tensions revive questions about how far the U.S. might go to shape leadership in rival states.
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