As Kadivar neared his 12th birthday, Mohammad Mosaddegh, the Prime Minister of Iran was overthrown in a Western sponsored coup. Kadivar's father, a supporter of Mosaddegh's regime, was imprisoned, tortured, & summarily executed. The young Kadivar entered his teenage years with a powerful anti-imperialist anger and revolutionary fanatical rage. Later he would begin to reluctantly associate with agents of the USSR, who also had an strong interest in ousting the American-backed Shah.