Why Iran Once Trusted America: Oil, Empire & Mosaddegh's Rise

In 1945, many Iranians saw the United States as the friend who helped push the old empires out. How did that trust begin — and why did it start to crack over oil? This first episode of Iran & America: A Century and Counting sets the stage. We trace the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company's lopsided grip on Iran's oil, the WWII occupation that forced Reza Shah out, and the 1945–46 crisis when U.S. pressure helped expel Soviet troops from the north. Then nationalism collides with empire: in 1951 Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh nationalizes the oil industry, Britain answers with the crippling Abadan embargo, and President Truman — wary of a coup — keeps pressing for mediation. It's the road not yet taken, and the question the next administration would answer differently.