TEHRAN -- The U.S.-engineered coup of 1953 is indeed the foundation stone of the wall of mistrust between the Iranian nation and the U.S. government. The wall was raised by the U.S. government and is still in place. But what is the story? Following the domestic developments in Iran, a joint security committee was set up by the United States and Britain which prepared the 1953 coup plot to implement the following goals: 1- The coup was to have a legal veneer and was to look like a coup in the public opinion.

2- Iran's public opinion should have been simultaneously provoked against Aytollah Kashani and Mohammad Mosaddeq through propaganda tactics and psychological war.

3- General Fazlollah Zahedi had to take charge of the coup under the leadership of the United States and prepare the grounds for the suppression of any reaction against the coup.

4- The Shah was assured of all kinds of supports from the U.S. and Britain, including financial assistance.

5- Shah was to be directly involved in the coup and was to issue the decrees, including the removal of Mosaddeq and his replacement by Fazlollah Zahedi.

6- Infiltrators, particularly those in the Iranian press and media and in the Persian services of foreign-based radios such as Radio Baghdad, were to play a crucial role in provoking public opinion in Iran.

7- Finally the U.S. and British security departments and the coup engineers were to make arrangements with Zahedi and his allies for the implementation of the coup.

The plan was approved on July 11, 1953 under the title of T.P.-Ajax and, after approval by British officials, was signed by the CIA director, the U.S. secretary of state, and the then U.S. president, General Dwight David Eisenhower.

Signatories of the plan had also called on western media to publish articles with a view to create chaos in Iran and weaken the Iranian establishment. They had also been requested to launch a publicity propaganda on elements of the coup.

On July 28, 1953, the U.S. government issued a communiqué to voice concern over the state of affairs in Iran, and announced that it could not by any means help the administration of prime minister Mohammad Mosaddeq. This was while secret instructions by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) had already been printed in U.S. press calling on the print media there to coordinate efforts to follow the aforementioned policy-line.

Finally, the U.S. engineered coup, better known as the "T.P.-Ajax" plan, was carried out against the Iranian nation so as to lay the ground for the rule of the White House on the fate of the Iranian nation. The role of internal elements, like the communist Toudeh Party, can never be denied in the success of the coup. Besides, journalists affiliated to Washington had also a significant role in joining Western media in their efforts to mislead the Iranian public opinion, and to foment dispute among domestic political parties.

All the above details are selections of what have been mentioned in classified documents of the U.S. government, and have even been confirmed in reports by certain U.S. press. In June 2000, the documents revealing U.S. direct interference in the 1953 military coup in Iran were officially released and the country admitted to having interfered in Iran's internal affairs by planning the coup.

The documents also included U.S. confessions on resisting the Iranian Islamic Revolution, supporting the Iraqi Baath regime during its eight-year imposed war on Iran, and adopting silence regarding Iraqi chemical and biological attacks against Iran. However, the U.S. officials were too impudent to apologize to the Iranians despite these revelations.

Iranian President Mohammad Khatami has said he doubts if the U.S. will ever face up to the consequences of these confessions. "The U.S. officials have not made any effort to apologize to the Iranian nation for the 1953 coup, and are still continuing their rhetoric against the Islamic Republic," he said. "It is regrettable to see that the White House is still persisting to push forward its hostile policy regarding Iran."

Over the past few years the American politicians have, again, tried to bring about changes in Iran; not in the manner called for by the Iranian people, but in the manner the White House and its warmongers want.

In the past few years, two main U.S. strategies can be observed with regard to Iran. First, is to create a rift between the domestic forces and to transform minor issues into major ones. And second, utilizing the domestic and foreign media in order to create intellectual chaos about the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran and also launching a psychological war to prove that the system is ineffective.

Recent statements of the U.S. officials about the change of U.S. policy and emphasis on the Iranian nation instead of the political forces is merely a tactical measure with the previous aim of overthrowing the popular system of the Islamic Republic. The new project may be termed as T.P.-Ajax2.

The issue is so obvious that some U.S. congressmen even present bills in the Congress to overthrow the Iranian government. The U.S. warmongers, using the literature of Hitler, level baseless charges against Iran in order achieve the said objective.

While none of their accusations has had any support of any international organization.

In the beginning of the third millenium, the world does not need any war and only those are eligible to rule over their people who seek peace, justice and equality instead of war and bloodshed. There is an old Persian proverb which says 'The higher one's position, the harder he will fall."

This implies that whoever tries to impose its domination over other countries through bullying and disrespecting nations will eventually fall after receiving a hard blow.

With the experience of the former Soviet Union behind U.S., one wonders if the present economic crisis of the American empire and its escalating warmongering policies would not soon lead to the downfall of the entire edifice of the Western liberal capitalism.

The American people must convince their leaders that they have voted for them to help promote peace, security and welfare, and not to expand war and conflict throughout the world. In fact, the U.S., as a member of the international community, will eventually have to bear the consequences of any conflict jeopardizing the world.

Isn't it time for the U.S. officials to abandon their bankrupt policies and adopt a more rational approach toward the Iranian people? One that is based on the principle of mutual respect? If this were to happen, there would never arise a need for the U.S. government to have to apologize to another nation, nor will there be revelations, such as the one about the 1953 coup in Iran.

Isn't it the time for the U.S. policymakers to bid farewell to their previous unsuccessful policies regarding the Iranian nation and act on the principle of mutual respect toward them? It is only through such an approach that the U.S. government will be required to apologize Iranians any more, and that there would be no more disclosure of U.S. interventions in internal affairs of any nation in the world.