Kyra+Cohen

=Iran =





In 1921, Seyyed Zia al-Din Tabatabai, an Iranian politician and journalist, and Reza Khan, a cavalry officer, overthrew the Qajar government. Although Reza Khan’s initial objective was to become the president of a republic, in 1925, the clergy, fearing a lesser role in a republic, persuaded him to become the Shah or king. At that time, Reza Khan changed his family name to Pahlavi. In 1926, Reza Khan was crowned and his eldest son, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, was named the crown prince.

Reza Shah Pahlavi

Reza Pahlavi’s first priority was to strengthen the authority of the central government by creating a disciplined standing army and restraining the autonomy of the tribal chiefs. Reza Shah Pahlavi wanted to modernize Iran and free it from foreign influence. He embarked upon a series of reforms, some of which were designed specifically to break the power of the clergy over Iran’s education and judicial systems. He provided public education, built Iran’s first modern university, opened the schools to women and brought them into the work force. He built numerous roads, bridges, state-owned factories and Iran’s first transnational railway.

In 1935, he officially requested all foreign governments to stop referring to Iran as Persia. The Iranian people already referred to themselves as Iranians. Reza Shah mandated a number of reforms that were difficult for many people to accept. He prohibited women from wearing the veil, took away the effective power of the Majles (parliament) and did not permit any form of free speech.

In 1939, soon after World War II began, Iran declared its neutrality. The Allies wanted to use the Trans-Iranian Railway to ship war supplies from Great Britain to the Soviet Union but Reza Shah refused. In 1941, British and Soviet troops invaded Iran and forced Reza Shah to give up his throne in favor of his son, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. The new shah signed treaties with Britain and the Soviet Union, allowing them to use the railway and to keep troops in Iran for the duration of the war. The presence of foreign troops stirred up nationalistic feelings among many Iranians. In the Majles, a group of nationalists led by Mohammad Mossadegh demanded an end to British control of the oil industry. In 1950, Mossadegh became prime minister.

1951 to 1953 was a period of political unease in Iran. The Majles placed Iran’s oil industry under government ownership and control. The British were angered by this and responded by freezing all of Iran’s Sterling assets (all assets backed by the British pound) and took its case to the International Court of Justice. The court ruled in Iran’s favor.

Mohammad Mossedegh

In 1953, Britain stopped anyone from trading with Iran, leading to the collapse of Iran’s economy. Citing the threat of a Communist takeover, British and American intelligence services overthrew Mossadegh’s government.

In the early 1960s, Mohammad Reza Shah began a series of economic and social reforms known as the White Revolution. He redistributed the land holdings of wealthy landlords among the peasants who worked the land. He also backed workers’ rights. The Shah promoted education, improved social welfare services and gave women the right to vote. He used Iran’s growing oil revenues to develop new industrial projects and to provide a base for future economic growth. These reforms were adopted quickly without sufficiently preparing the population and were poorly executed. In a series of public speeches, a cleric named Ayatollah Khomeini attacked the reforms and was arrested and then exiled.

From 1963 through 1973, Iran experienced rapid economic growth and prosperity, coupled with a relatively stable political climate. Iran’s infrastructure, public health and educational institutions were expanded. A number of highways, bridges, railroads, water and sewage projects, factories, schools, universities and hospitals were built. Iran’s military strength also grew and its international prestige was enhanced.

Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi

Politically, the Shah had nearly absolute control over the government. The wealth from increased oil revenues allowed the Shah to accelerate his timetable to make Iran “catch up” with the West. This brought about much opposition, especially from students and intellectuals. Critics denounced him for denying freedom of speech and other civil rights and for using secret police – called Savak – to crush opposition to his rule. Many conservative Muslims believed the Shah’s modernization programs violated traditional Islamic teachings.

In 1978, the Shah’s rule led to riots, strikes and mass demonstrations. In an effort to re-establish control, the Shah imposed martial law. In 1979, the Shah was overthrown by the Islamic Revolution and the revolutionaries took control of the government. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini returned to Iran following fourteen years of exile and declared Iran a religious republic, based on the teachings of Islam.

Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini

In October 1979, President Jimmy Carter allowed the Shah to enter the U.S. for medical treatment. On November 4, 1979, Iranian revolutionaries seized the American Embassy in Tehran and began holding a group of fifty-two Americans hostage. The revolutionaries said they would free the hostages if the U.S. would send the Shah back to Iran for trial. The U.S. refused.

In 1979 and 1980, hundreds of officials under the Shah were tried in revolutionary courts and put to death by firing squads. The government shut down newspapers and magazines, banned political parties, closed universities, and severely restricted personal freedom.

Abulhassan Bani-Sadr returned to Iran with Ayatollah Khomeini as the revolu- tion was beginning in 1979. In 1980, Bani-Sadr was elected the first President of the Islamic Republic of Iran with seventy-eight percent of the vote. Khomeini remained the Supreme Leader with the authority to dismiss the president. The Iranians also elected the first Majles of the republic. The new government was very anti-American because the U.S. supported the Shah.

A bulhassan Bani-Sadr

In September 1980, Iran began fighting a war with Iraq over territory and other issues. During the eight years the war lasted, hundreds of thousands of Iranians were killed or injured and over one million were left homeless. Serious shortages of food and other basic goods resulted. Rising prices and unemployment added to the problems. The government executed, tortured or imprisoned thousands of its opponents.

On January 20, 1981, Iran freed the American hostages during President Ronald Reagan’s inauguration, ending 444 days in captivity.

In 1987, clashes occurred between the U.S. and Iran. Iran laid mines in the Persian Gulf and fired on U.S. ships and helicopters. The U.S. response included sinking three Iranian patrol boats and destroying oil platforms in the Gulf.

In July 1988, the Navy warship //USS Vincennes// mistakenly shot down an Iranian passenger airplane while battling Iranian gun boats. Ship’s radar led the Captain of the //Vincennes// to believe it was a hostile Iranian fighter. Two hundred ninety people were killed. In July 1988, Iran and Iraq began negotiations and agreed to a ceasefire at the U.N.’s urging in August.

In 1989, Ayatollah Khomeini demonstrated to the rest of the world what he meant by an Islamic Republic. On February 14, 1989, Khomeini issued a religious edict, a fatwa, ordering Muslims to kill British author, Salman Rushdie, for his fourth novel //The Satanic Verses//. The Ayatollah considered it blasphemous to Islam because it contained an irreverent depiction of the Prophet Muhammad. In 1998, in order to restore diplomatic relations with Britain the Iranian government under President Mohammad Khatami committed publicly that it would not be involved in assassination attempts on Rushdie. However, in early 2005, the fatwa was reaffirmed by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s spiritual leader. The Revolutionary Guards have also declared the death sentence still valid. Iran has rejected requests to withdraw the fatwa on the basis that only the person who issued the fatwa can withdraw it and, since that was Khomeini who died in 1989, that will never happen.

Salman Rushdie speaking to a group of Emory students

On June 3, 1989, the Ayatollah Khomeini died. The following day, President Khamenei was appointed as the new Supreme Leader. In August, Ali Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani was sworn in as the new president. He served two terms, remaining in that position until 1997. Rafsanjani is considered a pragmatic conservative. He supported turning industry over to individuals and corporations rather than having government control. He supported making a deal with the U.S. over Iran’s nuclear program. Yet, during his presidency, political dissidents, drug offenders, Communists, Kurds, Bahais and clerics were executed. Rafsanjani condemned both the U.S. and Iraq during the Persian Gulf War in 1991. After the war, he tried unsuccessfully to renew ties with the West.

Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani

In 1997, Mohammad Khatami won the presidential election with seventy percent of the vote, beating the conservative elite. In July 1999, pro-democracy students at Tehran University demonstrated against the closure of the reformist newspaper “Salam.” They clashed with security forces, leading to six days of rioting and the arrest of more than one thousand students. In the Majles elections in February 2000, liberals and supporters of Khatami took control from conservatives for the first time. Yet, in April of the same year, the judiciary banned publication of sixteen reformist newspapers. In May, the Sixth Majles was inaugurated. In June 2001, President Khatami was re-elected.

Mohammad Khatami

Iran has been more unstable since the beginning of the twenty-first century. In 2002, President George Bush described Iran as part of the “axis of evil.” His speech was condemned by both reformists and conservatives. In September 2002, Russian technicians begin construction of Iran’s first nuclear reactor at Bushehr despite strong objections from the U.S. In June 2003, thousands attended student-led protests in Tehran against the religious establishment. In September, the U.N. nuclear watchdog, IAEA, gave Tehran 60 days to prove it was not pursuing an atomic weapons program. In November 2004, Iran agreed to suspend most of its uranium enrichment activities as part of a deal with the European Union.

In 2005, Rafsanjani ran again for president of Iran. He lost the presidential election to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the ultra-conservative mayor of Tehran. Under President Ahmadinejad, Iran announced that it had resumed uranium conversion at its Isfahan plant, although it insisted it was for peaceful purposes.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

In 2008, Iran launched two rockets, one a research rocket and the other a new version of a long-range missile supposedly capable of hitting targets in Israel. In early 2008, the U.N. tightened trade sanctions on Iran. In September the Security Council unanimously passed a resolution reaffirming demands that Iran stop enriching uranium but imposed no new sanctions because Russia said it would not support further sanctions.

Iran’s ninth presidential election took place on June 17, 2005, with the runoff election taking place on June 24th. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was elected as Iran’s president and immediately issued a statement saying that Iran’s nuclear program could not be stopped.

The U.N. became involved officially in July 2006, demanding that Iran suspend all uranium enrichment-related and reprocessing activities. In December, the Security Council imposed sanctions on Iran, blocking the import or export of sensitive nuclear material and equipment and freezing the financial assets of persons or entities supporting its proliferation of sensitive nuclear activities or the development of nuclear-weapon delivery systems.

To the dismay of most countries, Russia signed an agreement with Iran on September 26, 2006 under which Russia would ship fuel to a nuclear power plant it was building in Iran. Russia put all shipments on hold after the U.N. Security Council resolution.

Iran held a nationwide presidential election on June 12, 2009. The announcement of the results triggered a massive popular protest. At least thirty people were killed and more than one thousand were arrested during the wave of protests. The Iranian authorities claimed that foreign interference was exacerbating the unrest and singled out Britain for criticism. The religious leaders who ran Iran announced that their favored candidate, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, won the election by a substantial margin. Since Ahmadinejad had fallen into disfavor with the people, they did not believe the announced results. They felt that the ruling clerics had stolen the election.

People began protesting in the streets. They were led by highly respected leaders, including the opposition candidates for president, who publicly criticized the ruling clerics. The religious leaders maintained that the election results were accurate and sought to prove that by a partial recount. The clerics undertook to squelch the protests. They barred press coverage, closed universities, jammed cell phones and opposition web sites, sent police to break up demonstrations with violence where needed, and arrested, imprisoned, and tortured protesters. The protests still simmer. Where they will lead is unknown at this time.

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