The USA Dragged Young Queen Elizabeth into Deep State Op to Overthrow Iran

Queen Elizabeth II unknowingly played key role in 1953 Iran coup after US officials confused her with SHIP…& lied about it

Main: RMS Queen Elizabeth ocean liner © Wikipedia; insert: Queen Elizabeth II © Getty Images / Samir Hussein

Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II got entangled in the 1953 coup d’etat in Iran after US diplomats mistook the RMS ‘Queen Elizabeth’ cruise ship for the newly enthroned royal, recently discovered documents suggest.

Shortly after ascending to the throne, the Queen inadvertently played a key role in the regime-change op that ousted Iran’s Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh, new research by Richard Aldrich, a professor at the University of Warwick, reveals. His work on the documents and cables will be featured in a Channel 4 documentary in Britain on Sunday.

The Iranian PM was targeted for his move to nationalize Iran’s oil industry which was operated exclusively by the Anglo-Persian Oil Company (AIOC), later known as British Petroleum (BP). The then-Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden, who was one of the main figures behind the brewing CIA and MI6 operation, was trying to convince Iran’s shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi to back the coup. The monarch was very reluctant to do so – as he was actually ready to pack up and live in exile. Eden then called upon US diplomats to press the shah into backing the coup.

While communicating with the Americans, Eden happened to be traveling aboard the RMS ‘Queen Elizabeth’, an ocean liner named after the Queen’s mother. The coincidence apparently confused American officials and ultimately yielded the following telegram, sent in February 1953 by the US Embassy in London to the envoy in Iran, Loy W. Henderson.

"Foreign Office this afternoon informed us of receipt message from Eden from Queen Elizabeth expressing concern at latest developments re Shah and strong hope we can find some means of dissuading him from leaving country."

The diplomats promptly realized their mistake, sending a follow up cable that warned “Queen Elizabeth refers, of course to vessel and not ... to monarch.” The embassy also suggested covering the whole thing up, stating that the Embassy “does not (repeat not) propose to inform [the] British of the incident.” Yet, Henderson had already delivered the message to the shah.

“I had just received message indicating that very important personage for whom shah had most friendly feelings had also expressed sincere hope that shah could be dissuaded from leaving country,” Henderson wrote in a diplomatic cable on a later day.

It's unclear how much impact the badly-worded message of Queen Elizabeth II's alleged support had on the shah's plans for exile, but he decided to stay. The monarch only left the country briefly in August amid the ongoing coup. The regime-change op succeeded, resulting in the downfall of Mosaddegh and empowerment of the shah, who was ultimately ousted by the Islamic Revolution of 1979.

While this story is partly funny and partly alarming, I include it on this blog as an example of Deep State, ie Big Business was already at work in their clandestine operations in 1953. Their object: to take natural resources from countries for their own profits, ignoring the cost to the people of the country. This scenario played itself out dozens of times around the world, but especially in Africa and Latin America. It's still happening today.

Thinking Anew – ‘The Light Shines in the Darkness’

Excellent column in the Irish Times by

Gordon Linney

“We do not have to like or approve of those we are called to reach out to, and that can be very demanding.” 

A hospital chaplain bringing Holy Communion to bedridden patients came across a cleaner on her knees scrubbing a granite staircase. When she saw the chaplain, she gathered up her things in silence and almost cowered against the wall. The chaplain stopped to ask her did she think that what he was doing was important. She assured him she did. He then asked her did she think that what she was doing was important, and she said not really. He then told her that her work was just as important; a dirty hospital would be a dangerous place for any sick person; her work was very important.


Martin Luther King

Martin Luther King believed that everybody could be great because anyone can serve. “You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve. You don’t have to know about Plato and Aristotle to serve. You don’t have to know Einstein’s theory of relativity to serve. You don’t have to know the second theory of thermo-dynamics in physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.”

In tomorrow’s gospel we are told how Jesus uses a social occasion to explain that service makes demands. While a guest at a meal he offers this advice to his host: “When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbours, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind.”

This is not just a story about sharing food nor is it a demand that we abandon the enjoyment of family and friends; Jesus himself enjoyed family and friends. Rather it questions the tendency we all have to live in bubbles – social, cultural, religious, political, economic, with little or no engagement with or understanding of the world that exists beyond.

The Epistle reading goes further by urging us to show hospitality to strangers and concern for those who are in prison. This suggests that we do not have to like or approve of those we are called to reach out to, and that can be very demanding.


Médecins Sans Frontières

David Nott, a vascular surgeon working in London, has also served regularly with Médecins Sans Frontières in war situations such as Bosnia, Gaza, Iraq and more recently Syria. Nott, a committed Christian, describes an encounter he had with Isis fighters in Syria who forced their way into a hospital in Aleppo where he was operating on a wounded man. A colleague told him to say nothing as these aggressive men would have killed him instantly if they discovered he was a Christian. He tells how he trembled with fear as his colleague told them the patient – one of their own men – would die if they distracted the surgeon.


Queen Elizabeth

In 2014 Nott received an award from Queen Elizabeth and was invited to lunch at Buckingham Palace where he was seated beside Queen Elizabeth. She was keenly interested in his work but when she asked him to talk about it he became upset and found it impossible to talk about his terrible experiences. She, realising that he was distressed, sent for the corgis and for the next 20 minutes they quietly fed the dogs while everyone else enjoyed lunch. Charming as that moment of royal sensitivity was, it arose from the trauma that David Nott experienced in Syria.

Our world is a nasty place right now as we see every boundary of human decency abandoned in Syria and many other countries. It is tempting to become despondent but thanks to thousands of people like David Nott love and human compassion refuse to give in even in the darkest of times. St John’s gospel assures us that that is how it will always be: “The light [Jesus Christ] shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”