"This behavior, measures or propaganda are in continuation of the long-standing
hostile policies of the US and are nothing new,” Qassemi told reporters in his
weekly press conference in Tehran on Monday.
"This is a behavior contrary to all internationally recognized norms,” he said,
adding, "It will go nowhere as before and will be neutralized by the resistance
of the Iranian nation and the strategies that exist.”
"This (Iran Action Group) sounds more like a game and psychological warfare that
the warmonger ruling team of the US is playing,” the spokesman said.
The US move calls to mind the August 1953 coup d'état in Iran as it is
coinciding with the coup’s anniversary these days, Qassemi went on to say.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the creation of the Iran Action
Group (IAG) at a news conference on Thursday, naming Brian Hook, the Department
of State’s director of policy planning, as its head.
US State Department recently released a trove of confidential documents that
disclosed more details of Britain’s role in the 1953 coup in Iran, an issue
London strongly denied in the past.
On June 15, 2017, the US State Department released a long-awaited volume of
declassified US government documents on the 1953 coup in Iran.
The publication of the documents put an end to decades of internal debates and
public controversy after a previous official collection omitted all references
to the role of American and British intelligence in the ouster of the legal
government of prime minister Mohammad Mosaddeq.
London had previously denied any role in the coup but the new evidence confirmed
Britain’s involvement in it.
In August 1953, the British and American intelligence agencies initiated a coup
by the Iranian military, setting off a series of events, including riots in the
streets of the capital, Tehran, which led to the overthrow and arrest of
Mosaddeq.
Mosaddeq, who was convicted of treason by a court martial, served three years in
solitary confinement and then died under house arrest in 1967.
His overthrow, which is still given as a reason for Iranians’ mistrust of the UK
and the US, consolidated the Shah's rule for the following 26 years until the
victory of the Islamic Revolution in 1979, led by Imam Khomeini, which toppled
the US-backed monarchy.
The Iranian premier had played a key role in the country’s 1951 movement that
resulted in the nationalization of Iran’s oil industry, which had been mainly
controlled by the British-owned Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (AIOC), now known as
BP.
Experts say the 1953 coup, known as the 28 Mordad coup, was aimed at making sure
the Iranian monarchy would safeguard the West’s oil interests in the country.
Source: Tasnim