It probably came as a bit of a shock for most Britons to hear Iran’s embattled supreme leader call Britain the “most evil” of its enemies but memories go back a long way in the Middle East.
The Brits helped the CIA depose democratic leader Mohammed Mosaddeq in 1953 following Iran’s decision to nationalise its oil industry which had been dominated by British company the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, now BP.
The coup, orchestrated by CIA officer Kermit Roosevelt, followed a Royal Navy blockade of Iranian ports and took place under the smokescreen of claims that Iran was about to join the Soviet block.
Even the Shah, who the British under Churchill and the Americans under Eisenhower installed as ruler, apparently blamed the Brits for his eventual removal in 1979 although it’s hard to see how this helped their cause.
Churchill in particular always regarded the Middle East as Britain’s patch, British meddling in the area being responsible ultimately for the formation of the state of Israel, the creation of Iraq and the Suez crisis of 1956 among others.
So we have previous in the region, as the Ayatollah has reminded us.