gasiorowski co author malcolm byrne edits the nsarchive's iran documents this one dated is directly relevant to this wikipedia article this is byrne's comments about the linked state department report to eisenhower which you have to click to read as byrne does not summarize it memorandum for the president discussing behavior of the shah gen zahedi and winston churchill immediately after the coup memorandum from the department of state top secret circa august prior to the hostage taking episode the most contentious issue in u s iran relations was the coup against iranian prime minister mohammad mossadeq which the cia and british intelligence helped to instigate numerous questions remain about the coup itself its impact and the circumstances which brought it about to what extent was mossadeq leading his country down the path toward communist subversion could the coup have succeeded without substantial iranian public dissatisfaction with mossadeq s policies did key iranian political and religious figures wittingly or not receive cia payments in return for stirring up the population what effects did the coup have on the future development of internal iranian politics including possibly radicalizing anti shah and anti american opposition elements with consequences that would not be foreseen until the revolution itself the search for answers will have to wait at least until more of the documentary record is available in both iran and the united states unfortunately a portion of the record on the american side will never be recovered because cia operatives according to former director of central intelligence james woolsey destroyed them in the s the surviving files remain locked away from public view on the grounds that their declassification even years later would damage the national security because of the obvious public interest value and historical significance of these materials the national security archive in may filed suit against the cia to demand their release the suit is still pending