This video is incredible in describing why the British Empire did what it did in the Middle East and the resulting decades-long disaster [1]. Note this is a small portion of a longer 2h video you can find.

Absolutely fascinating historical lesson. tl;dw - the Brits and US along with other colonial powers needed oil, and this region was blessed/cursed with gobs of it, and destabilizing or corrupting governments allowed the colonizers to get more direct access to the goods.

[1] https://youtu.be/mo_ZhGIE8xQ?si=AU5sqYkYoTRbUlBw