Transcript Middle East - South Orange

Middle East
• Iran had been in a state of instability since
1951
• It had once been a British colony, but in 1941
the British “withdrew” and placed the Shah in
power
• The British owned the main oil company in
Iran and profited from it greatly
• The Iranian citizens were tired of being poor
and wanted control of the company
Middle East
• First Truman, then Eisenhower fear that the
struggling company would turn communist
• The CIA staged a coup to overthrow the
government
• They gave Mohammad Reza Pahlavi many
supplies such as gun, trucks, and radio
communications in 1953 so the Iranian rebels
could overthrow the current government
• After the coup the United States & Britain split
most of the Oil profits
Suez Crisis
• Was a military confrontation between Egypt and
Britain, France, and Israel in 1956
• The United States and the Soviet Union both supported
Egypt
• Israel invaded Egypt in 1956 in order to gain control of
the Suez canal
• They then received support from the British and
French
• The British and France wanted to remove Egyptian
president Gamal Abdel Nasser from power in order to
place a leader in there more friendly toward them