Trump’s Strike Kills Ayatollah Ali Khamenei: US Had Changed Iran’s Regime In 1953 Too

Last Updated:March 01, 2026, 16:18 IST

Stir against Mossadegh, CIA's coup & arrangement of $5 million: Iranians are not new to US enforcing regime change; the history before killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei explained

The Israel and United States joint strikes on Iran on Saturday killed Tehran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Some reports claim that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s son Mojtaba Khamenei is likely to be named Iran’s new Supreme Leader. Iranians, however, are not new to the US enforcing a regime change in their country.

WHAT HAPPENED THE LAST TIME US PUSHED IRAN INTO REGIME CHANGE

In 1953, the US helped stage a coup to overthrow Iran’s democratically elected prime minister Mohammad Mossadegh.

Why?

Mossadegh wanted to nationalise the country’s oil fields, which would hit the US and Great Britain, which were dependent on oil from the Middle East. The move gained popularity in Iran and was seen as victory for the then-USSR.

ALSO READ | Shah To Khomeini To Khamenei: How Iran’s Islamic Revolution Reshaped Global Politics

The coup was meant to support Iran’s monarch Mohammad Reza Pahlavi to rule as Shah of Iran, and appoint a new prime minister – General Fazlollah Zahedi.

YEARS LATER, CIA ROLE IN COUP CLEAR

Years after Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh was overthrown, a declassified CIA document showed the agency was involved in the 1953 coup. Former President Barack Obama had acknowledged the US involvement in the coup in 2009.

The independent Security Archive research institute had published the document. The the declassification marked the CIA’s first formal acknowledgment of its involvement.

The documents were declassified in 2011 and given to George Washington University research group under the Freedom of Information Act.

WHAT THE DOCUMENTS SHOWED

According to a CNN report, the documents showed that the CIA, along with the British Secret Intelligence Service, organised large protests against Mossadegh in 1953, which the Army eventually joined.To offer some stability to Zahedi, the CIA made $5,000,000 available within two days of him taking power. The Shah was an ally of the US. However, unhappy with the interference, the anti-American sentiment kept growing in the country.In the late 1970s, millions of Iranians took to the streets against his regime, which they viewed as corrupt and illegitimate.The Shah was toppled in the 1979 Islamic revolution, which ended the country’s western-backed monarchy and ushered in the start of the Islamic Republic and clerical rule.

Thus began the rule of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, a Shia cleric, as the Supreme Leader, the highest authority in the new system based on Velayat-e Faqih (Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist). After Khomeini’s death, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei became the Supreme Leader of Iran on June 4, 1989.

What happened since June 2025?

The long-simmering tensions between the United States, Iran, and Israel erupted into open conflict in June 2025, when Israel launched air and drone strikes deep into Iranian territory targeting nuclear and military sites, triggering large-scale Iranian missile and drone retaliation and pulling in the U.S., which struck Iranian nuclear facilities as part of the 12-day war; a ceasefire mediated by the U.S. and Qatar was agreed by June 24, 2025, ending the immediate hostilities.

ALSO READ | Why US President Trump Attacked Iran Killing Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei: 5 Reasons Explained

After months of uneasy calm and stalled diplomacy, on February 28, 2026 the United States and Israel commenced a coordinated military campaign against Iran—dubbed Operation Epic Fury—hitting Iranian leadership, missile sites, nuclear infrastructure and other strategic targets, resulting in the death of Iran’s Supreme Leader and senior officials, significant Iranian counter-strikes against U.S. bases and Israeli territory, and heightened fears of a wider regional conflict with global repercussions as tensions continued into early March 2026.

With CNN Inputs

News explainers Trump’s Strike Kills Ayatollah Ali Khamenei: US Had Changed Iran’s Regime In 1953 Too

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