Oil, revolution and ayatollahs: how Iran went from great power to rogue state

Within living memory, Tehran ruled an oil-rich great power brimming with intellectuals inspired by British democracy. So how did it become an impoverished rogue state at war with the West?

In this special Bank Holiday edition, Ali Ansari, professor of Iranian history at the University of St Andrews, takes Roland Oliphant through Iran's tumultuous modern era: from the 1906 Constitutional Revolution and the 1953 coup, to the 1979 ousting of the shah and the 2026 US assassination of Ali Khamenei.

From the blunders of the unlikely "midwife" of the modern Iranian state - Great Britain - to the catastrophic decisions of successive Supreme Leaders after the founding of the Islamic Republic, he charts the course that shaped the country Donald Trump is fighting today.

How do the myths overshadow the facts of the CIA's 1953 coup and the Iran-Iraq war? Why is the regime so obsessed with enriching uranium and fighting Israel and America? And is the UK guilty of betraying Iranian dreams of democracy?

Plus, how the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company brought association football to Tehran.

Highlights

• Oil, revolution and ayatollahs: how Iran went from great power to rogue state
• Professor Ali Ansari explains 20th-century Iranian history

CONTRIBUTORS:

Roland Oliphant, co-host and chief foreign affairs analyst @RolandOliphant

Ali Ansari, professor University of St Andrews @aa51_ansari

CONTENT REFERENCED:

Part 1: ‘Iran thinks it’s still a great power’: Why the regime won’t surrender

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/04/03/why-the-iranian-regime-wont-surrender-ali-ansari/

Producer: Max Bower

Executive Producers: Venetia Rainey & Louisa Wells

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