Iran and the U.S., Part One: Four Days in August

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NPR

Society & Culture, History, Documentary

4.7 • 15K Ratings

🗓️ 24 June 2025

⏱️ 37 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The U.S. and Iran have had a tense relationship for decades — but when did that begin? This week, we feature our very first episode about an event from August 1953 — when the CIA helped to overthrow Iran's prime minister.

This episode originally ran as Four Days in August.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	But I thought, wow, this guy goes to work and he does Donald Duck.
0:04.4	I'm Jesse Thorne. On Bullseye, the one and only Mark Hamill, Luke Skywalker from Star Wars,
0:09.4	on his life's greatest aspiration, doing silly cartoon voices in the moment that he realized his dream.
0:15.5	I did a terrible Donald Duck, but it made me think that's what I want to do. I want to do cartoon voices.
0:20.9	That's on Bullseye for Maximumfund.org and NPR.
0:25.0	Hey, it's runned. We're all watching the current conflict between the United States and Iran.
0:30.9	And it got us thinking about the origins of the incredibly complex relationship between these two countries.
0:37.9	Today we're bringing you the very first episode of ThruLine,
0:41.5	the story of how the U.S. overthrew Iran's democratically elected prime minister back in 1953.
0:48.9	It first ran in 2019, but it's just as relevant today as it was then.
0:59.4	August 15, 1953.
1:04.5	Shortly before midnight in Tehran, Iran's capital city, the air was thick with anticipation.
1:10.6	Something big was about to happen.
1:12.5	The elected Prime Minister of Iran, Mohamed Mosaddell, was sitting at home, waiting.
1:18.1	He knew something was coming.
1:19.7	And he had no idea if he'd still be prime minister by morning.
1:23.2	So with each tick, tick, tick of the clock, he knew that the future of Iran was at stake.
1:31.3	One truckload of presidential guard soldiers were going to Mossadegh's house at midnight.
1:36.2	Their mission was simple.
1:37.5	Go to Mossadegh's house in the middle of the night.
1:39.4	Knock on the door.
1:40.3	Tell him he's fired.
	...

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