Iran had a democracy. They had a parliament and a Prime Minister separate from the Shah, and only the parliament could dismiss or replace the P.M.  who was Time's Man of the Year (Mohammad Mossadegh) in 1951 (not Truman, not Eisenhower, not Churchill).  He nationalized the British oil company which his people loved (of course I don't approve of that but Britian did go to war against Iran in 1941 and controlled them, so I think they had a right to fight back, Iran honored that oil agreement for 40 years they weren't just corrupt thieves or something).  The CIA and SIS toppled that, turning the country into a dictatorship.  Is that spreading democracy?  Is it?  It became "Westernized" under a dictatorship and growing resentment lead to the 1979 Islamic Revolution that made Iran the theocratic state of little freedom that it is today.

Did you know Iranians loved America before 1953?  They thought it was the best most perfect country.