Iran - national flag
The flag was adopted in 1980 after the revolution the year before. The
green-white-red flag has been known in Iran since the 1700's, and the tricolor
pattern dates back to the Constitution of 1907. The Arabic inscription around
the white stripe reads "God is great", a total of 22 times. In the middle is the
new state emblem, the basic element of which is a strongly stylized rendering of
the word Allah.
- Countryaah:
What does the flag of Iran look like? Follow this link, then you will see
the image in PNG format and flag meaning description about this country.
The former national flag was the same color combinations, with a lion with a
sword in the middle with a sunrise in the background, hence the name "shir-e
khorshid". The present flag stands in stark contrast to the former, as the
present has an Islamic meaning, whereas in the past it was Persian.
Iran (Prehistory)
According to a2zgov, Iran is rich in archaeological remains, not least due to the monumental
construction activities of the Achaemenid great kings in e.g. Persepolis and
Pasargadae. While these monuments have always attracted the interest of
travelers and researchers, the earlier periods, Stone, Bronze and Iron Ages, are
only in the 1900's. have been the subject of systematic investigations. Until the
fall of the shah in 1979, Iran was one of the countries in the Middle East that
attracted the most archaeologists from abroad. In particular, expeditions in the
1960's and 1970's helped to map Iran's earliest periods. Danish archeology has
also been involved in the exploration of the Stone and Bronze Ages in Iran, for
example through the expeditions to Tepe Guran and the Cave Island Valley in
Luristan.
-
AbbreviationFinder: Check three-letter abbreviation for each country in the world,
such as IRN which represents the official name of Iran.
The high mountain ranges of Zagros and Elburz are intersected by several
valleys, which more or less cut off from the outside world have given people
good living conditions. Remains from the oldest Stone Age with an age of several
hundred thousand years have been found in these areas.
The oldest peasant cultures date to 7000 BC. and are found as small villages
in valley areas, eg Genj Dareh. In the southwestern province of Khuzistan,
bordering the Mesopotamian river plain, systematic studies of relics from
8300-3500 BC. gained great importance for the understanding of the development
of the first villages and urban communities. The areas of Deh Luran and Susiana
lie outside the so-called fertile crescent, but nevertheless appear to have been
important for the breeding of cereals and the breeding of animals. A selection
of suitable cereals was a prerequisite for a successful outcome of agriculture
in the area.
During the 5th and 4th millennium BC. Iran became more and more involved in
the Mesopotamian cultural circle, due to an increasing need for trade in
commodities over long distances. Iran could supply the budding Sumerian
community with metals and wood as well as several attractive rocks, such as
steatite. The development of the east-west-going trade route, later known as the
Silk Road, can probably be traced back to this time.

The significance of the metals is seen through the development of the art of
casting, well known in the Luristan bronzes. In the Bronze Age,
approximately 3000-1200 BC, large urban communities in Iran often emerged as a result
of the trade network that eventually also connected Mesopotamia with the Indus
culture. The main explored cities are Hasanlu, Godin Tepe, Tepe Yahye, Tell
Malyan and Tepe Sarab. Cemeteries in the mountain areas have been the subject of
great archaeological attention due to the beautiful bronzes. In the region up to
the Caspian Sea, a special ceramic tradition arose at one time, where vases were
made in the form of animal and human figures, the so-called Amlash terracotta.
Iran's pre - Islamic history
From around 1000 BC. Iranian tribes gradually populated Iran, where the
highly developed Elamite civilization already existed in Khuzistan. The two
Iranian tribes that came to possess the western territories, the Medes and the
Persians, are mentioned in the annals of the Assyrian king Salmanassar III in
835/834 BC.
The Medical Empire
The Medes already controlled from around 900 BC. the eastern part of the
Zagros Mountains and expanded to the west, bringing them into constant conflict
with the Assyrians. According to the Greek historian Herodotus, who in addition
to the Assyrian annals is the only surviving source for the history of the
Medes, the Medes were gathered under one kingdom by Deiokes (approximately 700-647
BC); however, since several medical chiefs appear as tributaries in Assyrian
annals from this period, most scholars consider it more likely that Fraortes
(647-625 BC) united the medical tribes into one kingdom. He died during an
attack on Assyria, after which his son, Kyaxares, became king. During the reign
of Fraortes, the kingdom was ravaged by violent attacks from Scythian tribes,
but Kyaxares managed to liberate the country from this equestrian people, and he
created peace and stability.
Historical overview |
7000-tfKr. |
Earliest urban cultures. |
600-tfKr. |
Medical tribes are united into one kingdom. |
612 BC |
The Medes conquer Nineveh and thus Assyria. |
558-529 BC |
Cyrus II the Great. The Persians under the Achaemenids subjugated
the Medical Empire, Asia Minor, and Babylon. |
525 BC |
The Persians conquer Egypt. |
522-486 BC |
Dareios 1. the Great. The kingdom is consolidated. War against the
Greeks. |
331 BC |
The Achaemenids are defeated by Alexander the Great. |
323 BC |
Alexander dies. The Hellenistic Seleucid dynasty rules in the
eastern part of the kingdom. |
100-tfKr. |
The Parthians conquer almost all of Iran and Mesopotamia. Wars
against the Romans. |
224-241 AD |
Ardashir 1. The Sasanian Empire is founded. |
636 |
The Persians suffer defeat to the Arabs at Qadisyya. |
1055 |
The Seljuks take over the secular power of the caliphate. |
1256-1353 |
The Ilkhanids conquer Baghdad in 1256 and control Iranian territory. |
closed of 1300-t. |
Timur Lenk rules over Iran. The Timurids ruled in the eastern parts
of the country until the 1500's. |
1501-1736 |
The Safavids control Iran; Shia Islam becomes state
religion. Repeated wars with the Ottoman Empire. |
1588-1629 |
Abbas 1. the Great; the power of the safavids culminates. |
1736-47 |
Nadir Shah. Extensive looting expeditions, including to Delhi 1739. |
1800-t. |
Interference from Russia and the United Kingdom. |
1914-19 |
Iran declares itself neutral in World War I; the southern parts are
occupied by Great Britain. |
1925-79 |
Pahlavidynastiet. Iran is being modernized. |
1941-46 |
Iran occupied by the Allies. |
1951 |
The oil industry is nationalized; Mossadeq was overthrown in a coup
two years later. |
1979 |
The Shah was ruled. Iran becomes an Islamic republic under the
leadership of Ayatollah Khomeini. |
1980-88 |
Iran-Iraq War. |
1989 |
Khomeini dies. Rafsanjani seeks to improve Iran's relations with the
outside world. |
1990's |
Iran partially isolated after accusations of being behind
international terrorism. |
2006 |
Iran announces that it is in the process of enriching uranium. |
In coalition with Babylon, the Medes destroyed the Assyrian Empire and
conquered Nineveh in 612 BC. The conquerors divided the Assyrian empire, and the
Kyaxares gained the real Assyria and northern Mesopotamia; in advance he had
annexed the area of Fars. Later, he subdued the kingdom of Urartu in
present-day Armenia and attempted to penetrate Asia Minor, where he clashed with
the expanded Sound Empire. At the conclusion of a peace, the river Halys was
recognized as a border, and the alliance was sealed by marriage between
Kyaxares' son Astyages and the daughter of the sound king. To the east, the
kingdom was extended to the borders of Bacteria either under Kyaxares or under
Astyages.
Almost nothing is known about the organization of the kingdom, but it must
have been divided into provinces as administrative units, as the title satrap,
provincial governor, was taken over medically by the subsequent Persian
dynasty. Some of the chiefs probably also had the title of king, as the fellow
kings were called "the king of kings".
Achaimenids
With Astyages, the Middle Kingdom collapsed when another Iranian tribe,
the Persians, led by Cyrus II the Great defeated them. The Persians first
appear in history in 834 BC, when Salmanassar III received tribute from kings of
Parsua, which is located on the plateau north of Kermanshah. In 692
BC. King Sennacherib made a campaign to the southeast against Parsumash, a
Persian-dominated area that must have been the present Fars. This area was the
starting point for Cyrus' expansion. He was of the Achaemenidsgenealogy, but
there is no historical evidence of the founder of the dynasty,
Achaimenes. Tradition (Herodotus and the Bisutun inscription) tells of three
rulers between Achaimene and Cyrus: Teispes, Cyrus I and Cambyses I. In Cyrus'
cylinder inscription found in Babylon, Cyrus II mentions his predecessors as
great kings of Anshan. This was the Elamite name for Fars, so it is likely that
the Achaemenids had power there from around 700 BC. approximately 640 BC defeated the
Assyrian king Assurbanipal Elam, and Cyrus I became vassal of the Assyrian
Empire until it fell to the medical advance, and the father became a medical
vassal state.
When Cyrus II had succeeded his father, Cambyses I, he defeated in 550
BC. with the concurrence of the other Persian tribes his grandfather,
Astyages. Thus, Cyrus had united several Iranian tribes under his
authority. This was the beginning of the Achaemenid dynasty approximately 200-year
dominance of the Near Orient. In 547 BC. King Croesus of Lydia attempted an
attack on the new great power, but was defeated by Cyrus, who thus became lord
of Asia Minor, including the Greek states here. In 539 BC. the Babylonian Empire
fell and Cyrus kept his entrance into Babylon, greeted as a deliverer by the
priests of Marduk, because the last Babylonian king, Nabu-naid, had wrecked
Marduk in favor of the moon-god Sin. To the east, Cyrus had expanded its
territory to include Bacteria, Gandhara, and the highlands west of the Indus. To
the northeast, Jaxartes (Syr Darja) formed the border, but here the country was
ravaged by attacks from the Saks, who were a Scythian nomadic people. In the
battle against one of these tribes, the Massage Therapists, Cyrus fell after
creating the first superpower the world has ever seen.
The administration of the empire continued largely according to the medical
principles of statehood of the provinces, but Cyrus added a new dimension to his
rule by pursuing an extensive policy of tolerance towards the subjugated peoples
who could retain their own customs, including the religious ones, provided they
paid their taxes and on demand provided military assistance. Thus, he won the
gratitude of the Jews by allowing them to move home from the Babylonian exile
and by contributing financially to the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem. It
is therefore understandable that Cyrus as the only non-Jew is called the Messiah
in the Old Testament. Cyrus' son, Cambyses 2., completed in 525 BC. his father's
planned conquest of Egypt, which was the last independent superpower in the Near
East. In 522 BC. revolt broke out in Fars, but on the way home to fight the dead
Kambyses by accident. According to the Bisutun inscription and Herodotus,
Cambyses had secretly had his brother Bardiya (Gr. Smerdis) killed before the
voyage to Egypt, but a medical priest, the skinny Gaumata, knew the secret, and
acting as Bardiya, he seized power on Cambyses' death. Seven Persian princes,
including Darius, killed the usurper, and Darius seized the kingdom. Recent
research, however, has pointed out the improbability of the tradition of the
fake Bardiya. Most scholars today believe that Dareios with this story obscured
the fact that he himself was the usurper and had come to power by the
assassination of Cambyses' brother, the rightful heir to the throne.
Darius became king in 522 BC. and spent a year fighting the revolts that
followed his accession to the throne throughout the kingdom. Thereafter, Darius
used his powers to consolidate the kingdom inwardly and secure the borders to
the east. He was an excellent organizer and politician, but his success suffered
a scorching defeat during the Revenge and Conquest of Greece at the Battle of
Marathon in 490 BC (see Persian Wars). Under Darius 'rule, Zarathustra became a
state religion, although he continued Cyrus' policy of tolerance of the occupied
territories. Xerxes, Darius 'son with Cyrus' daughter Atossa, succeeded in 486
BC. his father and successfully defeated Egyptian and Babylonian revolts; the
planned uplift of honor by a campaign against Greece, on the other hand, turned
into a catastrophic defeat, after which the Persian ambitions to rule Greece
ceased. Xerxes spent the rest of his reign in the capitals
of Ekbatana, Susa, and Persepolis, until he was murdered as a result of harem
intrigue. The following three kings, Artaxerxes I, Xerxes II, and Darius II,
were all rather weak, and it was only because of the prior efforts of Cyrus,
Cambyses, and Darius that the kingdom was resilient enough to survive. During
this period, the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta fell, and the
Persian kings intervened by supporting soon one party, soon the other
financially.
Artaxerxes II had many difficulties to contend with. His brother, Cyrus,
revolted and led Greek mercenaries right into the heart of the Persian Empire,
but himself fell in the Battle of Kunaxa in 401 BC. The Greek writer Xenophon
participated in Cyrus' campaign and has described it in Anasasis. Egypt
revolted and seceded. The conflict with the Greeks flared up again, but the
Persians consolidated their power in Asia Minor and in Cyprus at the Peace of
Antalkidas in 387 BC. Artaxerxes' son, Artaxerxes 3. Ochos, took power after a
brief succession, after which he assassinated all possible rivals. He succeeded
in suppressing revolts in Asia Minor and Phenicia and re-establishing rule over
Egypt, but in relation to Philip II, the expanding king of Macedonia, he made
the mistake of not supporting Athens' resistance. Artaxerxes was assassinated by
the eunuch Bagoas, who put Arses (338-336 BC) on the throne in hopes of becoming
the power behind him. But Arses became too independent and therefore also
murdered. Bagoas then made Darius III king, and he immediately cleared Bagoas of
the way. Darius fought a new revolt in Egypt, but the beginning to the end came
when he lost to Alexander at the Battle of Granikos in 334 BC. Persepolis fell
to Alexander in 331 BC, whereupon Darius fled, but was killed by the Bactrian
satrap Bessos.
Community building
The Achaemenid community was a mixture of many peoples and tribes, each
retaining their religious, cultural, and linguistic distinctiveness. The
Persians' own language, the so-called Old Persian, had no written form until
Darius I had a cuneiform developed for the account in Bisutun of his actions as
regent. As a working language in the administrative centers of Fars, it was
mainly used in Elamite, while Aramaic was probably used in the rest of the
bureaucratic system and as a letter language.
The traditional Indo-Iranian caste system consisted of three classes:
warriors, priests, and peasants or shepherds, but the system was crossed by clan
and tribal affiliations. The kingdom's noblest posts, including the
governorships, were occupied by members of the highest nobility, while less
important satrapies were led by native chiefs. The organization of the kingdom
was pyramidal. The common people enjoyed personal freedom, as the labor force
was largely free, although slaves also existed. The women participated in
working life and could even be chairmen of chess with male workers.
The individual territories also largely retained their own laws, although the
Grand King's decrees had precedence in the event of contradictions. The main
duty of the satrapies was to pay the taxes levied by the central government. But
these were more reasonable than in the Assyrian or Babylonian period, as Darius
I had instituted an assessment of farm performance as a basis for calculating
taxes. All except the Persians themselves paid taxes to the administrative
centers, where wealth piled up, even though there were large expenditures on
administration, army, court, road system, etc., and further significant funds
were used to support irrigation projects and agricultural expansions. The latter
was entirely in Zarathustrianismspirit. This religion was also of the
Achaemenids, at least from the time of Darius. The Zoroastrian god Ahura
Mazda is mentioned as the only god in the inscriptions of Darius and stands as
the one who endowed Darius with power, that is, as a legitimation of royal
power.
Alexander the Great and the Seleucids
In 330 BC. Alexander had completed the conquest of the entire Achaemenid
kingdom, but he did not change the organization of the kingdom. In the Persian
tradition, the tradition of the Achaemenids was falsified or disappeared due to
the great upheavals and destruction, so that only Darius I and Darius III appear
here. In the Pahlavil literature, Alexander was nicknamed "the cursed" because
of the mischief he caused. His ideas of a fusion of Greek and Persian culture
led to large settlements of Greek and Macedonian soldiers, especially in Iran
and Mesopotamia, the creation of Greek cities and mixed marriages. A new age,
the Hellenistic, began. Alexander died in 323 BC, and the vast empire he had
amassed quickly split in the power struggle between his generals.
Seleucus I gained power over the entire eastern part of the kingdom, but as
early as 304 BC. he lost control of the eastern provinces of the Indus
to Chandragupta Maurya. From then on, Seleucus concentrated his attention on the
western parts of his empire, which at his death included Iran, Mesopotamia,
northern Syria, and western and southern Asia Minor. The Seleucids pursued a
distinctly Hellenistic policy, but despite numerous urban foundations and
large-scale allocations of crown estates, the immigration of Greeks and
Macedonians remained meager and even declined significantly from about 200
BC. Growing discontent among the indigenous peoples led to uprisings; thus the
Parthia seceded approximately 245 BC, and in Bacteria was established in 239 BC. an
independent kingdom under a Greek king. With Rome's beginning expansion to the
east, the Asia Minor possessions were also lost in 190 BC.
Partherriget
The Parthian Empire was created when the Iranian tribe the Parnians under the
leadership of Arsakes invaded the Parthian satrapi. The Parnassians assimilated
into the population and took over the Parthian language, a Northwest Iranian
dialect, and Zarathustraism as religion. During the first kings of the Arsacid
dynasty, the struggle against the Seleucid Empire was waged with varying degrees
of success, but during Mithradate's I succeeded in bringing together almost all
of Iran and Mesopotamia under Parthian rule. During the reign of Mithradate II
(124-87 BC), Parthia experienced its heyday with economic and power stability
and peaceful diplomatic relations with the two world powers, Rome and the Han
Dynasty in China. An attack from the Saks to the east was averted, and the Saks
instead settled in Sistan (Sakastene).
The Parthians retained the Iranian traditions of state administration, but
were more loosely organized, with the individual vassal kings and princes having
greater independence and the central government correspondingly less power. The
religion of the Arsacids was Zarathustraism, but like the Achaemenids they
showed great tolerance for other faiths and were very open to Greek culture,
which exercised considerable influence until 10 AD, when a sideline from the
Atropaths (Azarbaidjan) replaced the ancient Arsacid mainline, and an Iranian
reaction to Philhellenism ensued.
After the Roman victory in 190 BC. over the Seleucid Antiochus 3.
Megas became Asia Minor's area of interest, resulting in a conflict with
Parthia. It lasted as long as the Parthian Empire lasted, and was mainly about
the supremacy of Armenia. One of the great successes of the Parthians in the
wars that flared up from time to time was when in 53 BC. under Orodes (56-37 BC)
defeated the Roman army at Carrhaeunder the leadership of Crassus, who himself
was killed. In 20 BC. a peace was established in which the Euphrates was
recognized as a border, but the Armenian question was not resolved, and the wars
were renewed under the emperors Tiberius, Nero, Trajan, and Septimius Severus,
with a weakening of the empire as a result. At the same time, there was a slow
dissolution of the already not very powerful central government. The last
Parthian king, Artabanos V, admittedly had a not insignificant success in the
battle against the hereditary enemy Rome, but was defeated and killed in 224
when the Persian great king Ardashir rose up against him.
The Sasanids
With Ardashir replaced the Sasanidsthe Arsakid dynasty, whereby the Persians,
after almost 500 years of Parthian domination, again became the ruling Iranian
tribe. The new empire was expanded to include the land from the Tigris in the
west to the former Kushana Empire to the east. The Romans attacked the state,
but they were defeated, and Emperor Valerian captured in 260 by Ardashir's son,
Shapur. A description of these events can be found in a contemporary inscription
on an Achaemenid building, Kabe-i Zardusht. The same source describes the extent
of the Sasanid Empire and provides an overview of the Zarathustrian fire temples
that Shapur had built. Zarathustraism was now the state religion; Orthodoxy was
formed under the great theologian Kartir, who also built a well-organized
ecclesiastical system that was closely associated with the state. The loosely
organized Parthian state apparatus was replaced by a centralized regime in which
the main governorships were occupied by members of the Sasanid dynasty who were
directly accountable to the king, who assumed the title "king of kings of Iran
and non-Iran". The first two Sasanian kings built many cities and supported
irrigation and agricultural projects, and the cultivated land thus had an extent
that has not been surpassed either before or since. Mht. the social structure
the people were divided into four classes: priests, warriors, scribes and the
common people, and this structure was supported by the church. The first two
Sasanian kings built many cities and supported irrigation and agricultural
projects, and the cultivated land thus had an extent that has not been surpassed
either before or since. Mht. the social structure the people were divided into
four classes: priests, warriors, scribes and the common people, and this
structure was supported by the church. The first two Sasanian kings built many
cities and supported irrigation and agricultural projects, and the cultivated
land thus had an extent that has not been surpassed either before or
since. Mht. the social structure the people were divided into four classes:
priests, warriors, scribes and the common people, and this structure was
supported by the church.
Shapur was known for its religious tolerance, but during Vahram I (273-276)
religious persecutions began, promoted by Kartir, during which Mani, the founder
of Manichaeism, was killed along with many of his followers. His religion,
however, secretly gained many proselytes, mainly in northeastern
Iran. Christianity, especially in the form of Nestorianism, also gained ground
in the empire and gained considerable influence, especially when Shapur II
settled Roman prisoners around the country after defeating the Romans and
regaining northern Mesopotamia and Armenia, which were temporarily lost by
Narseh (293-303). Shapur II resumed the persecution of Christians, presumably
for political reasons, as the Roman Empire had adopted Christianity as a
religion under Constantine the Great. After Shapur II, the power of the nobility
and the churches increased at the expense of the monarchy, and kings were
installed and deposed on the initiative of the nobility. At the same time, the
kingdom was plagued by nomadic attacks from the north. Shapur 2. had stopped the
Kidarites, but in the 400-t. pushed forth a new powerful tribe, the
Heftalites. Only during Kavad (488-531) were they stopped. During his reign,
Mazdak appeared, preaching a religious-revolutionary system. The king first
favored Mazdak and was therefore deposed by the nobility, but regained his
throne with the help of the Heftalites. However, the Mazdak movement became
dangerous to him as well, and so he had Mazdak and numerous of his followers
killed. who preached a religious-revolutionary system. The king first favored
Mazdak and was therefore deposed by the nobility, but regained his throne with
the help of the Heftalites. However, the Mazdak movement became dangerous to him
as well, and so he had Mazdak and numerous of his followers killed. who preached
a religious-revolutionary system. The king first favored Mazdak and was
therefore deposed by the nobility, but regained his throne with the help of the
Heftalites. However, the Mazdak movement became dangerous to him as well, and so
he had Mazdak and numerous of his followers killed.
Kavad's son, Khusrau 1. Anoshirvan, fought with varying degrees of success
with the Byzantine Empire, but a peace treaty set him free to finally destroy
the aggression of the Heftalites. Inwardly, the country experienced a cultural
renaissance; the spiritual life flourished and was open to influences from both
the Byzantine Empire and India. Khusrau also reformed the tax and military
system, strengthening infrastructure by building roads and building bridges, and
supporting agriculture. His son Hormizd IV (579-590) was overthrown by the army
commander Vahram Chobin because he was in conflict with both the nobility and
the church, but Chobin was overthrown on his side by Khusrau 2. Abarvez with the
help of the Byzantine emperor Mauritios.
After him followed four years with 12 rulers and a tangle of palace
revolutions. It was not until Yazdgard III in 632 that there was calm about the
succession to the throne, but he could not resist the advancing Arabs, and in
636 the Persian army surrendered at Qadisiyya, where the famous general Rustam
fell. The empire came piece by piece into the power of the Arabs, the Sasanian
army was annihilated in 642, and Yazdgard, still trying to gather forces for
resistance, was assassinated in 651. Under Arab occupation, the Islamization of
the empire began, but for centuries Zarathustra congregations remained. To
pass. However, people converted en masse to Islam partly to avoid special
taxation and partly to be freed from the constricting caste system.
Iran - history after Islamization
The decades after the fall of the Sasanian Empire were marked by unrest and
the absence of central control. Persian nobles and former governors fought back
and made agreements with Arab warlords who led raids into Iran.
At the end of 600-t., Ie. after the end of the muslim civil wars,
the umayyads managed to establish effective control of iraq from their capital
in damascus. A large number of stubborn and unruly Arab warriors from here were
sent east to Merv and Sistan, where they could engage in war against the
Gentiles of Transoxania and the Afghan highlands.
Dissatisfaction with the deportation policy, the reluctance to carry out
dangerous expeditions and persistent strife between veterans,
newcomers, mawlawers, ie. Persian converts, and Persian landowners in
particular made the Merv oasis the center of resistance against the
Umayyads. From here emanated in 749 the Abbasid rebellion, which overthrew the
Umayyad dynasty.
The Abbasid Empire
The fact that the Abbasids then moved the capital of the Muslim Empire
to Mesopotamia (Baghdad) showed that the new rulers considered themselves the
heirs of the Sasanian Empire.
The Iranian countries consequently attracted more attention. A number of
existing settlements, such as Qazvin, Isfahan, Merv and Shiraz, were expanded
and fortified as administrative and military bases for the empire. These cities
seem to have attracted Persian converts, so that a marked urbanization came to
characterize the time under Abbasid rule.
However, the ambition for more centralized control was difficult to
realize. The distances were great, and in a time without mechanized
transportation and communication, deserts and mountains set limits to the degree
of centralization. In addition, the suppression of a number of uprisings,
notably the Khorramiyeh uprising in Azarbaidjan (816-837) and the Zanj uprising
in Khuzistan and southern Iraq (868-883), cost the Abbasid caliphate many
resources.
Like former Persian empires, the Abbasid Empire had its economic base in
Iraq. Already in Sassanid times, Iraq had been hit by population and production
declines as a result of repeated plague epidemics (541-750) and the ecological
damage that large-scale irrigation inevitably caused. Until the beginning of the
800-t. the Abbasids managed to maintain real control over most of Iran, but
dwindling resources and consequent political instability in the center of the
empire loosened the grip. Governors and warlords, who admittedly formally
recognized Abbasid supremacy, took power over major areas as autonomous
rulers. It first happened in Khorasan and to the east, where a Persian general,
Abdullah ibn Tahir, and his successors, the Tahirids, ruled 821-873
with Nishapur as its capital. Between 867 and 901 conqueredthe Sappharians from
Sistan most of Iran, but were themselves defeated by the Samanids (892-999),
a princely family from Bukhara in Transoxania. One of the Turkish generals of
the Samanids established around 975 an independent principality in the city of
Ghazna in Afghanistan; hence the name of the dynasty Ghaznavids. This
general's son, Mahmud of Ghazna (998-1030), conquered much of eastern Iran and
led a series of large-scale raids into northern India. In Muslim historiography
he is therefore remembered as the great fighter of faith. In contemporary Iran,
he was hated because of the tax burden of his military adventures.
On the western plateau, the Abbasid caliphate maintained some control until
the first half of the 900's, when power struggles between various generals as
well as ever-shrinking resource base led to political disintegration in the
Abbasid core country, Iraq. In 945, the Buyids, a family federation of
mercenaries from the Daylam Mountains south of the Caspian Sea, managed to make
themselves masters of both Iraq and western Iran.
In the early 1000-t. Iran was thus divided between two major and conflicting
states, the Buyids in the west and the Ghaznaids in the east. In the middle of
1000-t. they were both crushed in connection with barbarian incursions from the
east. The Turkish nomads the Seljukswas on the run from the
Karakhanids, a Turkish dynasty in Transoxania that had followed the Samanids,
and they invaded Ghaznavid territory, where they successfully managed to defeat
the professional Ghaznavid field army. The unpopular Ghaznaids then withdrew to
their possessions in India, while the Seljuks Toghril Bey and Alp Arslan, at the
urging of the Abbasid caliph, continued west, expelling the Buyids in 1055. The
Seljuks thus reunited Iraq with the Iranian lands; unruly nomads were sent west,
where Alp Arslan's victory over the Byzantines at Manzikert in 1071 had opened
Anatolia to immigration, and under Malik Shah (1072-92) and his famous
vizier, Nizam al-Mulk, a fairly effective control and administration was
established.
Alongside the outlined political upheavals, there was a gradual conversion of
the entire population to Islam. Around the year 1000, the process seems
complete. At the same time, sectarian strife began in most Iranian oases, partly
between Sunnis and Shiites, partly between the supporters of the various Sunni
law schools. The strife is believed to reflect social contradictions between
early and later converts. In several major cities such as Nishapur, Rayy and
Isfahan, the strife sometimes assumed the character of a direct civil war with
extensive destruction as a result.
In the 900's and 1000's. found a Shiite sect, the Ismailis, many
followers in Iran. The social background for this is not known. Despite
energetic persecution by the Seljuks, the Ismailis managed to establish a number
of independent small states in rugged desert and mountainous regions, from which
they waged an ongoing petty war against the surrounding community (see
also Assassins). Together with the succession wars after Malik Shah's death,
this contributed to the weakening of Seljuk rule.
The Ilkhanid Dynasty
In 1153, new Turkish nomadic groups invaded eastern Iran, defeating the
Seljuk sultan. In the following decades, they exploited the chaotic political
situation to plunder far and wide, until they were eventually defeated by local
rulers or absorbed by the nomadic economy on the plateau. After the fall of the
Seljuks, the rulers of Khwarezm (the land at the delta and lower reaches of the
Amu Darja) made an attempt to extend their dominion over Iran, but were still
exposed to increasing pressure in the east from the new Mongol Empire. In
1220-21, two of Genghis Khan's generals carried out a lightning campaign through
Iran, which was followed up the following year with the conquest of Khorasan. In
1256-68 Hulagu completedthen the conquest of the rest of Iran as well as
Iraq. The strongholds of the Ismailites were systematically defeated, while Fars
and Kerman, to which the local princes submitted in time, remained untouched by
the invasion. The Ilkhanids, i.e. Hulagu's successors, ruled Iran
until 1353. There is a tradition of seeing the Mongol conquest as a disaster for
Iran, because medieval sources report systematic massacres and extensive
destruction of cities, especially in Khorasan and the east. However, the reports
are exaggerated. Cities like Rayy and Nishapur were in decline even before the
Mongol invasion, probably due to earthquakes and persistent sectarian strife.
During the invasions of 1000-1200-t. however, there had been a significant
immigration of nomads from Central Asia. Some seeped further west to Anatolia,
others established themselves in northwestern Iran, where the best grazing areas
were found. After irrigation using underground canals, with qanates, in
Sasanian times had become widespread on the Iranian plateau, technological
innovations in agriculture do not seem to have taken place since. The resources
were therefore constant and unable to carry a large administrative apparatus or
professional armies. In return, the growing nomadic population could be easily
mobilized. They were cheap because they themselves largely brought horses and
equipment and in peacetime provided their own maintenance. They therefore
increasingly formed the military basis of Iranian state formation, shifting
Iran's political and economic center of gravity northwest of Azarbaidjan during
the Middle Ages, where the main grazing areas were located. The development can
be seen of the fact that Tabriz from the Ilkhanid era became the capital
and attracted international trade. Conversely, those in power lost interest in
the ancient but small oases of the south. The lack of public investment as well
as the reorganization of trade routes was the reason why the cities in the south
stagnated during the Middle Ages. Predecessors and ambitious tribal leaders
generally had no difficulty in finding disgruntled warriors, and thus the
military potential of the nomads intensified the political instability in Iran.
After the dissolution of the Ilkhanid Empire, Iran was ruled by various local
princes, until another conqueror from Transoxania, Timur Lenk, attacked Khorasan
in 1380. On incessant campaigns over the following decades, he ravaged and
burned not only Iran but most of the Middle East. The majority of the Iranian
plateau, with the exception of Azarbaidjan, in turn, escaped the plague
epidemic, the black death that spread across the Middle East to Europe in the
late 1340's. Nor do the subsequent plague epidemics, which continued to rage in
the Middle East until the 1830's, seem to have gained a foothold on the plateau.
The Safavids
After Timur's death in 1405, his son consolidated his rule over Khorasan and
Transoxania. Despite several campaigns, he could not maintain western Iran,
which was conquered by Turkmen nomadic leaders from eastern Anatolia and
northern Syria, first the short-lived Kara Qoyunlu dynasty (1436-67), then Ak
Qoyunlu (1467-1501), who under Uzun Hasan took the struggle with the Ottomans
for control of Anatolia and therefore made diplomatic contact with Venice for
joint action. Uzun Hasan was decisively defeated by the Ottomans at Bashkent
(1473), and after his death in 1478, the Ak Qoyunlu dynasty was challenged by a
messianic movement among the Turkmen nomads, called kızılbaş'redheads'
after their red headgear. The spiritual leaders of the movement were a family of
Sufisheiks, the Safavids, in Ardabil, who increasingly had political and
military ambitions. In 1501, the charismatic leader of the movement, Ismail
I, defeated Ak Qoyunlu and then proclaimed himself the Shah of Tabriz. In the
following decade, he conquered Iran, expelled the Uzbek Shaybanids from
Khorasan, and sought to gain control of the Turkmen lands in Anatolia. Here he
was defeated at Chaldiran (1514) by the Ottomans, and the Safavid expansion
ceased. Ismail's successors then concentrated on stabilizing their dominance
over the Iranian countries.
One consequence of the victory of the Kızılbaş movement was that Shia Islam
was spread at the expense of Sunni Islam in the areas conquered by Ismail
I. Shiite ulamas, i.e. theologians and jurists, were favored and
generally worked closely with both the Safavids and their Shiite successors and
took part in the staffing of the central administration. That there should have
been a centuries-old antagonism between the Ulamas and the state in Iran is a
myth that has sprung from the political upheavals of the 1900's.
After the death of Ismail I in 1524, his successor, Tahmasp,
successfully defended the borders of the new kingdom against the Ottomans in the
west and the Uzbeks in the east, and under Shah Abbas I.energetic government
(1588-1629) the Safavids sought to free themselves from the powerful Turkmen
nomadic leaders who had brought the dynasty to the throne. The capital was moved
from the Turkmen-dominated Tabriz first to Qazvin and later to the Persian
Isfahan (1598), and after the Ottoman model, a standing army of musket-armed
infantry was built. In periods when trade routes were not closed due to wars,
exports of textiles and raw silk from the Caspian provinces (Gilan and
Mazandaran) to Europe gave the Safavids increased income, but in the long run
centralization exceeded the resources of the dynasty. The tradition of allowing
the heirs to the throne to grow up in isolation in the harem (as in the Ottoman
Empire) did not help to produce competent rulers who could counter the fierce
opposition of the tribal leaders to centralization.
The fall of the Safavids was followed by a long period of political
instability. The Afghan conquerors were already defeated and driven out in 1730
by a Turkmen coalition led by Nadir Shah (1736-47), who also recaptured areas of
western Iran that the Ottomans had occupied during the Afghan invasion. Nadir
Shah was a warlord in the classical tradition, who built his position on
lucrative raids, among other things. in India, where Delhi was ravaged in 1739,
but he failed to create a lasting political system. After his death, various
warlords fought again for dominance in the Iranian countries. One of them, Karim
Khan Zand (1750-79), secured southern and central Iran and managed to create
quite peaceful and stable conditions. After his death, succession wars broke
out, which weakened the Sand Dynasty,
Qajarerne
After defeating the Zand family in 1791, Aga Muhammad systematically and
harshly began to subjugate all the territories that had been part of the Safavid
Empire. He moved the capital to Tehran near the ancient city of Rayy and was
crowned shah in 1795, but was assassinated on a campaign in Transcaucasia in
1797. Under his successor, Fath Ali Shah (1797-1834), the Qajars clashed with
the Russians, who expanded from the north. Faced with disciplined European
infantry, the nomadic army showed its limitations, and the Qajars therefore
began, with the help of French and British advisers, to build a modern army
following the European model. It was defeated by the Russians in 1812, and after
a new war 1826-28, the Qajars had to give up all land north of the river
Araks. The new army, however, especially by virtue of its artillery, was strong
enough to defeat the tribes and various semi-independent local rulers. In the
1830's, Khorasan and Kuhistan were subdued, and the turn then came to the Khan of
Khuzistan. Only the sheikh of Muhammerah (Khorramshahr) could, by virtue of
British protection, retain some independence. Fath Ali Shah's successor,
Muhammad Shah (1834-48), then attacked Herat and the Afghan lowlands, but had to
withdraw after strong pressure from Britain, which for the sake of the defense
of India wanted an independent Afghanistan. A new attack on Herat in 1856 led to
a British attack on the Gulf Coast and new Iranian withdrawal. By a series of
border conventions (1871-72, 1881), the European powers established Iran's
borders, allowing the Qajars to give up territory,
Greater luck had the Qajars consolidating their power inwardly. As the
military importance of the nomadic armies waned, tribal leaders were displaced
by prominent urban families. The state's areas of competence were expanded,
e.g. in the field of justice, which went beyond the traditional functions of the
ulama in society. The introduction of the telegraph in 1865 made it easier for
the central administration to control local officials. However, like their
predecessors, the Qajars lacked the resources to finance centralization. They
increased the tax burden through the 1800's, but large sums never reached the
state treasury, and in the cities, dissatisfaction with taxes and foreign
economic influence grew. During the 1800's. more and more cheap European
industrial goods came to Iran and inflicted fierce competition on craft
production. The hardest hit was textile production, which for centuries had been
one of the cities' economic foundations. Influence from the Russian market led
in the northern provinces (Azarbaidjan and Gilan) to a shift in agriculture from
subsistence crops to export crops such as silk, cotton and opium, which exposed
farmers to world price fluctuations but also provided greater earning
potential. The divide between the economically strong north and the stagnant
south was deepened. whereby the farmers were exposed to price fluctuations on
the world market, but at the same time also had greater earning
opportunities. The divide between the economically strong north and the stagnant
south was deepened. whereby the farmers were exposed to price fluctuations on
the world market, but at the same time also had greater earning
opportunities. The divide between the economically strong north and the stagnant
south was deepened.
During the long reign of Nasir al-Din (1848-96), the Qajar sought to
supplement tax revenues by selling concessions to European enterprises. In
1891-92, it triggered an extensive wave of protests in the cities with the
participation of prominent ulamas. The opposition between the dynasty and
its former supporters in the cities was now obvious.
The Qajars began taking out loans in Russia and Britain. The amounts were
small and not comparable to the large loans taken out by the Ottoman Empire and
Egypt, but they were accompanied by strict political conditions. Iran was
formally independent, but actually had to add the great powers.
Anger over foreign influence and new tariffs triggered a new widespread wave
of protests in 1905, and again a number of prominent ulamas gave support and
thus legitimacy to the protests. In 1906, the Shah, Muzaffar al-Din (1896-1907),
met the demands of the protesters and signed a constitution that made Iran a
constitutional monarchy. In future, the real power should lie with a
parliament, Majlis. This demand had been formulated by Western-oriented
intellectuals, and when the Ulamas realized that Iran should be modeled on the
European model, they withdrew their support. Parliament never came to function,
and in 1908-09 the Shah, Muhammad Ali (1907-11), tried with Russian support to
regain power. In the ensuing civil war he was defeated. The Russians took the
opportunity to occupy Tabriz, and in the years leading up to World War I, the
country went into political disintegration.
During World War I, the British intervened in southern Iran, German agents
helped establish a nationalist counter-government in Western Iran (Kermanshah),
and in the last phase of the war, the Ottomans occupied Azarbaidjan. By the end
of the war, separatist movements had seized power in Azarbaidjan and Gilan. In
Azarbaidjan, the control of the central government was re-established without
much difficulty in 1920, but in Gilan, the rebel movement had considerable
support. In 1920, with the unofficial support of Soviet troops, the Soviet
Republic of Gilan was proclaimed.
Pahlavidynastiet
In Tehran, younger politicians with the support of Reza Khan (see Reza Shah
Pahlavi) seized power in a regular coup, and Reza Khan vomited into a military
dictator. He defeated the rebels in Gilan and re-established control of
Khuzistan. After considering making Iran a republic, Reza Khan deposed the last
qajarshah in 1925 and allowed himself to be crowned shah. At the same time, he
adopted the surname Pahlavi (the Iranian language that preceded modern
Persian), referring to Iran's glorious pre-Islamic history.
The basis of Reza Shah's power was the military, which he consistently
strengthened with new revenues from the oil industry in Khuzistan. Political
opponents were severely suppressed and the influence of the Ulamas limited,
legislation further secularized and religious courts abolished. Reza Shah
expanded the school system, founded Tehran University, banned women from wearing
veils, and legislated for appropriate clothing for men. Finally, he began the
construction of the Trans-Iranian Railway.
Due to its many initiatives, Reza Shah is considered the founder of modern
Iran, but the reforms were characterized by superficiality and arbitrariness and
did not change the population majority, ie. the conditions of the peasants,
notably.
In 1941, Reza Shah was overthrown by the Allies, who did not unreasonably
suspect him of being pro-German. He was succeeded by his son Muhammad Reza
Pahlavi, but during the rest of World War II, Iran remained under Allied
control. Under the guise of relative freedom, parliament regained power, and
after the war there was broad political agreement that a new Pahlavi
dictatorship should be prevented. Opponents of the Shah (and the army) gathered
in the National Front, led by one of Reza Shah's opponents, Muhammad Mossadeq.
A British company had begun oil extraction in Khuzistan in 1908, and in 1914
the British state bought the majority stake to secure the fleet's supplies. The
nationalists had long agitated for Iran itself to take over production, so in
1951 Mossadeq nationalized the oil industry and triggered a crisis in relations
with both the United States and Britain. When the Iranians themselves were
unable to produce and market the oil, state revenues fell drastically and
Mossadeq's political foundations crumbled. He allied himself with Tudeh,
the Iranian Communist Party, but thus also got the Ulamas against him. The army
could therefore, with the active support of the CIAtrap him in a coup in 1953
and reinstate the shah. Nationalization was abolished, new taxes were
negotiated, and American companies gained a share in Iranian production.
The White Revolution
The United States considered the shah a guarantor against communism and
therefore provided him with significant financial and military assistance, for
example in building the infamous secret police, SAVAK. A condition for further
loans, however, was social reforms, and hard pressure proclaimed the Shah in
1962 the White Revolution. Its most important point was a land reform,
which, however, favored the affluent part of the rural population at the expense
of the many millions of small farmers and farm workers. They applied to the
cities, but there was neither housing nor the need for unskilled
labor. Urbanization was further exacerbated by strong population growth, and in
1956-76 Tehran grew from 1.5 million. residents to 5 million, some of whom
lived in deep poverty in the vast rural areas south of the city.
The White Revolution also gave women the right to vote, and it openly led
religious scholars to criticize the Shah for undermining Islam. Clashes between
police and protesters in the holy city of Qom triggered in 1963 the so-called
Muharram uprising in Tehran, Shiraz and other cities. The military took action
against the protesters, and several thousand must have lost their lives during
the street fights. One of the shah's harshest critics, Ayatollah Ruhollah
Khomeini, was arrested and sent into exile in al-Najaf, Iraq. From here he
directed a stubborn and ever harsher critique of the Shah and demanded that the
secular authorities be subject to a supreme religious authority (the velayat-i
faqih doctrine). His popularity in Iran grew, and his radicalism appealed
not only to the traditional followers of the Ulamas among the bazaar traders and
artisans, but also to the subproletariat of the slums, who until then had had
little contact with the institutionalized Islamic faith. Non-religious
opposition groups began to see him as a possible ally.
Ironically, the Shah's grip was weakened by the so-called oil crisis in the
early 1970's, when Iran's oil revenues in 1972-75 nearly doubled. The industry
was nationalized, this time without any problems, and huge sums were invested in
the military and unrealistic development projects. Imports increased,
because the better-off in the cities had changed their eating habits. The
result was galloping inflation, which particularly affected the lower
proletariat.
The Islamic Revolution
In 1978, clashes between police and students in Qom triggered an ever-growing
wave of protests and demonstrations in all major cities. Under pressure from the
United States, which wanted to see human rights improved in Iran, the shah
wavered between repression and compromise, but when oil workers and government
employees also went on strike, it turned out that his regime had no social
basis. Even in the army, there were signs of disloyalty. In 1979, the Shah fled
and Khomeini returned home as Iran's leader.
The years immediately following the revolution were marked both by the fierce
power struggle between the groups that had been in opposition to the Shah and by
the resource - intensive Iran-Iraq War.1980-88. Khomeini sought to stay above
the internal strife, but his sympathies lay with the younger radical religious
scholars who wanted to bring state and society into line with Muslim law. Their
opponents were the Western-oriented technocrats and intellectuals who had
liberal views, and the Leninist guerrilla organizations such as the Mujahedin-i
khalq, who recruited their members among middle-class students and youth. The
radical ulamas, who especially enjoyed the support of the urban poor and the
bazaar merchants, first outmaneuvered their older, more conservative
counterparts, after which they gained control of the Revolutionary Guard, set up
as a counterweight to the regular army.
Selected dynasties, kings and presidents |
Meder (approximately 700-549 BC) Sort |
approx. 700-647 BC |
Deiokes |
647-625 |
Fraortes |
625-approx. 585 |
Kyaxares |
approx. 585-549 |
Astyages |
Achaemenids (approximately 705-331 BC) |
approx. 645-602 BC |
Cyrus 1. |
558-529 |
Cyrus II the Great |
529-522 |
Kambyses 2. |
522-486 |
Dareios 1. the Great |
486-465 |
Xerxes 1. |
404-359 |
Artaxerxes 2. |
336-331 |
Dareios 3. |
331-323 |
BC Alexander the Great |
Seleucids (312-64 BC) |
321-281 BC |
Seleucus 1. |
280-262/61 |
Antiochus 1. |
223-187 |
Antiochus 3. |
Arsacids (Parthian Empire) (approximately 150 BC-224 AD) |
124-87 BC |
Mithradates 2. |
Arsacids (Parthian Empire) (approximately 150 BC-224 AD) |
224-41 AD |
Ardashir 1. |
241-72 |
Shapur 1. |
309-79 |
Shapur 2. |
531-79 |
Khusrau 1. |
590-628 |
Khusrau 2. |
632-651 |
Yazdgard 3. |
Abbasider (749-900-t. (1258)) |
754-75 |
al-Mansur |
786-809 |
Harun al-Rashid |
Saffarides (approximately 860-approx. 900) |
Samanids (864-999) |
Buyider (932-1062) |
977-983 |
Adud al-Dawlah |
Rare (1055-1153) |
1055-63 |
Toghril Bey |
1063-72 |
Alp Arslan |
1072-92 |
Malik Shah |
Ilkhanids (1258-1353) |
1258-65 |
Hulagu |
1295-1304 |
Ghazan Khan |
Timurider (approximately 1380- ca.1450) |
approx. 1380-1405 |
Timur Lenk |
1405-47 |
Shah Rukh |
Kara Qoyunlu (1436-67) |
Ak Qoyunlu (1467-1501) |
1453-78 |
Uzun Hasan |
Safavider (1501-1722) |
1501-24 |
Ismail 1. |
1588-1629 |
Abbas 1. the Great |
1629-42 |
Safi |
1642-66 |
Abbas 2. |
1666-94 |
Sulaiman |
1694-1722 |
Husayn |
1736-47 |
Nadir Shah Afshar |
Sand Dynasty (1750-94) |
1750-79 |
Karim Khan Zand |
1779-81 |
Sadeq |
1779-85 |
Ali Morad |
1785-89 |
Jafar |
1789-94 |
Lotf Ali |
Qajard Dynasty (1795-1925) |
1795-97 |
Aga Muhammad |
1797-1834 |
Fath Ali Shah |
1834-48 |
Muhammad |
1848-96 |
Nasir al-Din |
1896-1907 |
Muzaffar al-Din |
1907-11 |
Muhammad Ali |
1911-25 |
Ahmad |
Pahlavi Dynasty (1925-79) |
1925-41 |
Reza Shah Pahlavi |
1941-79 |
Muhammad Reza Pahlavi |
Republic, Presidents (since 1980) |
1980-81 |
Abu Hassan Bani-Sadr |
1981 |
Muhammad Ali Rajai |
1981-89 |
Ali Khamenei |
1989-97 |
Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani |
1997-2005 |
Muhammad Khatami |
2005-13 |
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad |
2013- |
Hassan Rohani |
In December 1979, Iran adopted in a referendum a new constitution enshrining
the velayat-i faqih doctrine, according to which the country's supreme authority
is the most recognized by jurists. After the constitutional amendment, the
Ulamas began to eliminate their other opponents. Thus, the dramatic occupation
of the US Embassy in Tehran (Nov. 1979-Jan. 1981) was not only intended to
humiliate the hated Americans, but also to discredit the liberal
politicians. The war against Iraq was used to purge the corps of officers and to
ban a number of political organizations accused of disloyalty. In 1980, the
universities were closed for two years for to weaken the guerrilla
organizations. These responded again with a series of bombings and other
terrorist acts, but during 1981 the resistance was defeated by the Revolutionary
Guards.
Since 1982, religious scholars have been in power. Opposition activities are
poorly tolerated and political discussions take place mainly among the
Ulamas. The so-called pragmatists disagree with the radicals about relations
with foreign countries and about land reforms, the degree of state control of
the economy, etc. In comparison with the political triumphs, the result of the
economic and social policy of the religious regime is poor. Until 1988, the war
against Iraq devoured enormous resources, but also disagreement over how
long-term economic reforms, including a land reform, can be brought into line
with Muslim law, has led to the practice of policies that required resources and
were characterized by short-term solutions and strong government control. Iran
has remained highly dependent on oil exports and is therefore vulnerable to
fluctuating world market prices. The revolution, which was originally driven by
a strong social commitment, has not led to significantly improved living
conditions due to the failed economic policy.
After the revolution, Iran was isolated both regionally and internationally
for fear that the new rulers would actively work to export the Islamic
revolution. Distrust of the new regime increased when a group of students
occupied the US Embassy in November 1979 and took 53 hostages (see Iran hostage
affair). They were first released in January 1981. Following the Israeli
invasion of Lebanon in 1982, Iran helped form Hezbollah, a militia inspired by
the Iranian revolution. Militant Islamist groups in the Arab world also felt
inspired by developments in Iran and established links with the new regime. This
applied to Islamist groups in Egypt, Algeria, Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait and Saudi
Arabia. But only in Lebanon did Iran really succeed in securing some
influence. When Khomeini in 1989 issued a death sentence on the British
author Salman Rushdie, as in the novel The Satanic Verses had
allegedly written blasphemously about Islam and the Prophet, it led to
international condemnation and further isolation as well as the weakening of the
religious scholars and politicians who wanted to normalize relations with the
outside world.
In 1980-88, Iran was involved in a very bloody war with Iraq, which in
September 1980 had invaded Iran (see The Iran -Iraq War). However, neither
party was able to enforce a military decision, and in the summer of 1988 a
ceasefire was concluded with subsequent negotiations on a peace agreement. The
long war caused large sections of the Iranian population to support the new
leaders, but the ceasefire in 1988 was soon to show that there were new and
unresolved conflicts in Iranian society.
The Islamic Republic after Khomeini
Ayatollah Khomeini died in 1989 and was succeeded as spiritual leader by Ali
Khamenei. That same year, Rafsanjani was elected president, a position he held
until 1997; under his leadership, a policy of reconciliation with Europe was
launched. A privatization and a liberalization of the industry were initiated,
which has since been maintained. In other areas as well, the development through
the 1990's was characterized by more liberal tendencies, partly in the public
debate, partly in the rules for the interaction between the two sexes in public
space and partly in cultural life. However, the greater freedom was in many
cases counteracted by violent abuses, e.g. murder, of journalists and
intellectuals. The 1997 presidential election was surprisingly won by Muhammad
Khatami, who had gone to the polls on a promise of adjustments to the political
system. Khatami received widespread support from the young section of the
population who had not experienced the time of the Shah themselves and who
increasingly felt locked in by conservative religious forces. The new president
tried to realize his reform promises, but even though the first local elections
were held in 1999, he did not have the strength to decisively crack the power
gathered at Khamenei. Khatami had to give up passing bills aimed at reducing the
constitutional power of the religious leader and strengthening the executive
functions of the elected president. Khatami's election in 1997 and re-election
in 2001 were interpreted by the outside world as a showdown with Khamenei's more
conservative line, but Khatami never advocated a fundamental change in the
political system.
In relation to the outside world, Khatami launched the so-called "dialogue of
civilizations" in order to ensure that Iran rejoined international
cooperation. It succeeded in part in relation to Europe, but repeated attacks on
the press and intellectuals made it seriously difficult to promote
dialogue. After September 11, 2001, Khatami turned against international terror,
but the growing U.S. military presence in the region made it difficult to get on
well with the United States. The US military involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq
is perceived by those in power in Tehran as a real threat to the country. In a
speech in early 2002, US President George W. Bush referred to Iran as part of
the "axis of evil". This view was strengthened in the United States after the
election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejadin June 2005 to Iran's new president. Ahmadinejad
maintained a rhetorically harsh course in relation to the West in general and
Israel and the United States in particular, as well as emphasizing Iran's right
to develop nuclear power for peaceful purposes. In early 2006, he announced in a
speech to the outside world that Iran had begun enriching uranium in order to
build nuclear power. The announcement was met with demands for international
sanctions against Iran in an effort to ensure that the plan does not
materialize.
Ahmadinejad became increasingly unpopular among reformist circles in Iran,
and in the run - up to the June 2009 presidential election, opinion polls spoke
of a very close race between Ahamdinejad and the leading reform politician, Mir
Hossein Mousavi. However, according to official counts, Ahmadinejad won big,
leading to persistent rumors of widespread electoral fraud. Supporters of the
reform took to the streets in the largest demonstrations in Iran since the
revolution in 1979. During clashes with police and security forces, several were
killed. The unrest demonstrated the growing dissatisfaction with the regime of
the middle class, the educated and among many women. Many opposition supporters
took to the streets again in large demonstrations after Hussein Ali
Montazerisdied in December 2009. This led to serious clashes with many killed
and to Mousavi being threatened with the death penalty. Ahmadinejad and the
religious leadership under Ali Khamenei tried to regain the initiative, by
convening large counter-demonstrations and by threatening serious reprisals
against the opposition.
During Ahmadinejad's second term, diplomatic crisis and isolation, a
consequence of the country's nuclear program, continued, and economic sanctions
gradually led to crisis and severe inflation. The growing problems for the
Iranian people certainly contributed to the fact that the moderate candidate for
the presidential election in 2013, Hassan Rohani, won and was installed in
August 2013. Rohani immediately embarked on a more conciliatory foreign policy
line. In November 2013, Iran entered into an agreement to limit uranium
reprocessing in return for easing economic sanctions against the country. The
radical Sunni Muslim movement ISIS 'progress in neighboring Iraq in 2014 led
Iran to become more directly involved in supporting the Iraqi government.
|