I don't think you paid a lot of attention to Iranian history. Here's a brief snippet since the 20s

1921 Reza Shah comes to power with British backing to oppose the soviets, WWII Iran claims neutrality and is quickly invaded by British and Soviets, British demand Reza's abdication from the throne, British install Mohammad Reza Pahlavi (the son) in power, British companies make one sided deals for Iranian oil, people get pissed and demand nationalization, Mohammad Pahlavi becomes more involved in politics and argues against nationalization, a pseduo "coup" occurs to prevent shah from interfering with politics, Oil nationalization approved, Britain starts embargo, Britain installs operatives to rile up population, country becomes impoverished due to embargo, religious clerics pissed that country isn't becoming an islamic state, Mossadegh loses most friends and allies, western backed coup to reinsert Pahlavi to power. Mosaddegh was not a communist, and actually used a communist threat to try and bring western powers, especially the United States, to the country's aid.

Honestly, Iranian history, especially during this period, is so much more complicated than people try to make it out to be. For example, some of the largest supporters of Mosaddegh were religious clerics that hated the progressiveness of the country. Mosaddegh only came up for a vote (parliamentary not direct vote) because the previous prime minister was assassinated. The person that assassinated the previous prime minister was a member of a religious "terroristic" organization. One of the first things Mosaddegh did in power was pardon the assassin. In a desperate attempt to hold onto his power Mosaddegh disbanded the parliament and instated emergency powers giving himself near dictatorial control over the country and the military. Mosaddegh called for a direct election to disband the parliament, to give his actions legitimacy, but the election was rife with electoral fraud, including significant and substantiated claims that violent pro-Mosaddegh bands patrolled the polling places and attacked anyone who attempted to vote against Mosaddegh's position.

A shit ton of the issues and actions in Iran were reactions against the western power's influence in the country, but Mosaddegh being held up as this paragon of democracy has always riled me up a bit. Dude wasn't a saint. Also, if you look at Iran's geographic location, and oil resources, you start to realize why the wet was so interested in the country during WWI, WWII, and the cold war.