Street signs bearing the name of Mohammad Mossadegh, Iran’s nationalist prime minister in 1950s who nationalized the oil, have been blackened in act of vandalism in Tehran.
While a member of Tehran’s city council announced the news on Sunday, ILNA confirmed that all signs in “Mossadegh” street have been spray-painted. The council member also said that new signs will be installed.
It is not clear when exactly the act of vandalism took place.
While Mossadegh’s nationalist credentials are too strong for the Islamic Republic to completely ban his name, the Islamic establishment has never felt comfortable with his legacy and reputation among many people.
A street was named after him only in April 2018 by the city council, with all-reformist members.
Mossadegh who was twice elected by parliament as prime minister confronted the British over ownership of Iran's oil and had a tense relationship with the Shah Mohammadreza Pahlavi, who was more pro-Western.
After social unrest forced the shah to flee the country in 1953, an army coup was organized, with the help of the British and American intelligence services, which toppled Mossadegh and the king returned to rule the country as an authoritarian leader for 25 years.