March 20, which marks the anniversary of nationalization of the oil industry is an official holiday on Iranian calendar.
On March 20, 1951, members of the Iranian parliament voted unanimously in favor of a bill introduced by the country’s then democratically-elected prime minister, Mohammad Mosaddeq, to nationalize Iran’s oil industry.
Mosaddeq garnered the support of his nationalist party and religious figures led by prominent cleric, Ayatollah Abolqasem Kashani, for the initiative.
The initiative put an end to Britain’s four-decade monopoly over Iran’s oil industry.
Upon formation of intellectual, political, religious, and nationalist movements in the history of Iran, certain activities were staged to confront foreign influence and change in the political structure of the country.
In the meantime, Nationalization of the Iranian Oil Industry was an outstanding movement, which took place upon integration of two religious and nationalist movements against foreign colonialism and domestic despotism.
The principal question of this paper revolves around the role of religious movement in nationalization of the oil industry and on what the impact of this experience was on formation of the Islamic Revolution in Iran.
Based on the findings, the religious movement had had a pivotal role in formation of the Islamic Revolution in the country.
It seems that without the influence of this movement, the probability of the occurrence of nationalization of oil industry movement would be low.
In early years after the culmination of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, Imam Khomeini enjoyed the experiences of the religious movement in nationalization of oil industry.
The planned coup in 1953 however toppled the democratically elected government of Mohammad Mossadeq and established a dictatorship in Iran.
Recalling unpleasant events of 1953, Imam once said that such nasty coup happened because of the then government had not attached enough significance to religious figures of that era. Imam also criticized the separation between religion and politics at the certain juncture of history.
The Islamic revolution’s victory in 1979 toppled the monarchial regime of Pahlavi and resulted in establishment of the Islamic-democratic system.
The US Central Intelligence Agency in recent years released documents formally acknowledging the role it played alongside the British spy agency MI6 in the coup. Overthrowing Mosaddeq also strengthened the dictatorial rule of Iran’s deposed Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi who had just fled Iran following a power struggle with him.