Oil companies are reporting soaring profits after the U.S. attack on Iran. This is an appropriate time to ask whether a portion of those enormous profits should help compensate the Iranian people for the lasting consequences of the 1953 coup.
In 1953, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower authorized the efforts of Britain's MI6 and the U.S. CIA to help overthrow Iran's democratically elected government after it nationalized its oil industry. The coup protected Western oil interests but destroyed Iran's democracy and contributed to decades of instability and mistrust.
If oil companies continue to benefit from resources whose history is intertwined with that intervention, they should contribute billions of dollars toward reparations for the Iranian people. Those who profited from the consequences of the coup should share responsibility for helping repair the damage.
Justice delayed is not justice denied. It is time to acknowledge history and act accordingly.
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