US Delays Release Of Study On 1953 Iran Coup

Source: Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The State Department is delaying the release of a volume from its U.S. foreign relations history that deals with the CIA-backed overthrow of an Iranian prime minister in the 1950s out of concern that publication could undermine nuclear diplomacy with the Islamic republic.

The decision was made at a September meeting of the department's advisory committee on historical diplomatic documentation and recorded in minutes released this week. The foreign relations records aren't supposed to be suppressed for longer than three decades.

Stephen Randolph, the department's historian, informed the gathering that the volume on U.S. policy in Iran would be withheld "because of ongoing negotiations with Iran." Richard Immerman, a Temple University professor who chairs the committee, expressed frustration with the decision. The delay was first reported by online publication Secrecy News.

The history of the 1953 ouster of Iran's popularly elected prime minister, Mohammad Mossadegh, is well-known. And just last year, newly classified documents offered more details about the motivations that led the U.S. and Britain to take covert action against a Soviet ally and how the CIA executed its plan.

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