Detailed Description of Iran

Contents:-

I. INTRODUCTION
II. LAND AND RESOURCES
    A. Rivers and Lakes
    B. Climate
    C. Natural Resources
    D. Plants and Animals
III. POPULATION
    A. Population Characteristics

    B. Principal Cities
    C. Religion
    D. Ethnic Minorities
    E. Language
    F. Education
    G. Culture
IV. ECONOMY
    A. Petroleum
    B. Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishing
    C. Mining
    D. Manufacturing
    E. Energy
    F. Currency and Banking
    G. Foreign Trade
    H. Transport
    I. Communications
   J. Labour
V. GOVERNMENT
   A. Executive and Legislature
   B. Judiciary
   C. Local Government
   D. Political Parties
   E. Health and Welfare
   F. Defence
   G. International Organizations
VI. HISTORY
    A. Media and Persia
    B. The Sassanids
    C. The Advent of Islam
    D. Turks and Mongols
    E. The Safavids
    F. Nadir Shah and European Intervention
    G. Nationalism and Constitutional Government
    H. Rise of the Pahlavi Dynasty
    I. World War II
    J. Battle over Oil
    K. Nationalization
    L. Mossadegh’s Fall
    M. New Oil Agreements
    N. The Shah’s Growing Power
    O. The White Revolution
    P. Coronation and Changing Policies
    Q. Opposition to the Shah
    R. Islamic Republic
    S. The Iran-Iraq War
    T. Post-War Reconstruction
    U. Further Isolation and Trade Embargoes
    V. 1997 Elections
    W. Unrest Between Conservatives and Reformists
    X. Victory for the Reformists

Description:-

I  INTRODUCTION

Iran, officially Islamic Republic of Iran, republic in the Middle East, bordered to the north by Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, and the Caspian Sea; to the east by Afghanistan and Pakistan; to the south by the Gulf of Oman, the Strait of Hormuz, and the Persian Gulf; and to the west by Iraq and Turkey. The country was a constitutional monarchy ruled by a shah from 1906 until 1979, when a popular uprising led by Islamic religious leaders resulted in the establishment of an Islamic republic. The area of Iran is 1,648,000 sq km (636,300 sq mi). Until the 1930s Iran was known abroad as Persia. The capital and largest city is Tehran.

II  LAND AND RESOURCES

Most of Iran is made up of rugged terrain. The country contains enormous mineral wealth, much of which has yet to be exploited. Iran is subject to some of the world’s most severe earthquakes, and the geological instability has frequently resulted in major physical damage and great loss of life.

Iran is dominated by a central plateau that is about 1,220 m (4,000 ft) high and is almost ringed by mountain chains. In the north are the Elburz Mountains, paralleling the southern shore of the Caspian Sea. The highest peak in Iran, Mount Damavand (5,604 m/18,386 ft), is part of this mountain system. The Caspian Sea, at 28 m (92 ft) below sea level, is the lowest point in Iran. Along the western border the complex Zagros Mountains extend south-east, running parallel to the Persian Gulf. Mountains of lower elevation lie to the east of the central plateau. Except for the relatively fertile plateaux of the northern Iranian provinces of East and West Azerbaijan, the mountain soils are thin, heavily eroded, and infertile. The narrow Caspian coastal plain, in contrast, is covered with rich brown forest soil. The only other generally flat area is the plain of Khuzestan in the west.

Two great deserts extend over much of central Iran. The Dasht-e Lut, running from the centre of the plateau towards the south, is covered largely with sand and rocks; and the Dasht-e Kavir, running across the north of the central plateau, is covered mainly with salt. Both deserts are inhospitable and virtually uninhabited. In the winter and spring small streams flow into the Dasht-e Kavir, creating small, seasonal lakes and permanent swamps. At other times of the year both deserts are extremely arid.

A  Rivers and Lakes

Most of Iran’s rivers are seasonal, flowing only during the part of the year when precipitation is heaviest. The country’s principal permanent rivers flow off the mountains on the slopes facing the Caspian Sea, the Persian Gulf, or the Gulf of Oman. The River Karun, flowing from the Zagros Mountains to the Shatt Al Arab at Khorramshahr, is the country’s main navigable river. Besides the Caspian Sea, Iran has few large lakes. Most shrink in size during the hot, dry summer and have a high salt content because they have no outlet to carry away the salt left when the water evaporates. The largest water body entirely within Iran is Lake Orumiyeh, a salt lake in the north-west. It varies in area between 3,900 sq km and 6,000 sq km (1,506 sq mi and 2,317 sq mi) depending on the season.

B  Climate

Iran is divided climatically into four main regions: the extremely hot and humid coast along the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman; the arid central plateau, with cold winters and baking summers; the Elburz and Zagros mountain chains, with cold winters, mild summers, and high precipitation; and the narrow Caspian Plain, a fertile, semi-tropical area, with a very warm and humid microclimate.

Winter brings very cold weather and snow to the west and interior of the Iranian plateau; low pressure over the warm waters of the Caspian Sea and the Persian Gulf brings mild sub-tropical weather to those regions. The Shamal wind blows from Pakistan from February to October, north-westerly through to the Tigris-Euphrates valley, while a “120-day” summer wind with a velocity of up to 40 km per hour (24 mph) scorches the Sistan region near the border with Pakistan.

Temperatures range from a high of 51° C (123° F) in summer in Khuzestan in the west to a low of -37° C (35° F) in winter in the north. The average temperatures for the months of January and July in Tehran are 2° C (36° F) and 29° C (85° F), respectively. The average temperatures during the same months in Abadan are 12° C (54° F) and 36° C (97° F).

Precipitation also varies widely, from less than 50 mm (2 in) in the south-east to 1,950 mm (77 in) in the Caspian Sea coastal region. The annual average for the country is about 350 mm (14 in). Average annual precipitation in Tehran and Abadan is 246 mm (10 in) and 204 mm (8 in) respectively.

C  Natural Resources

The most valuable mineral resources of Iran are its great deposits of petroleum and natural gas. The principal oilfields are in Khuzestan. Other mineral resources include iron ore, copper, lead, zinc, coal, bauxite, and chromite.

D  Plants and Animals

On the semi-humid plateaux of Iran, grass cover is used for grazing livestock. Approximately 11 per cent of the country is forested. The Zagros Mountains have a semi-humid forest cover dominated by oak, elm, pistachio, and walnut trees. On the seaward slopes of the Elburz Mountains and on the Caspian plain, vegetation is abundant. In these areas broadleaf deciduous trees such as ash, elm, oak, and beech flourish, along with some broadleaf evergreens, ferns, and shrubs. On the arid plateaux, scrub and cactus growth dominate.

Iran has a wide variety of indigenous wildlife. Fauna includes the rabbit, fox, wolf, hyena, jackal, leopard, deer, porcupine, ibex, bear, badger, weasel, lion, and the now-rare tiger. Pheasant and partridge are found inland; pelican and flamingo breed along the Persian Gulf. There are sturgeon, whitefish, and herring in the Caspian Sea.

III  POPULATION

About half (51 per cent) of the people of Iran are Persian-speaking Farsi, the descendants of the original Indo-European peoples who entered the country from Central Asia in the 2nd millennium bc. The remainder of the population consists of various ethnic and linguistic groups, including: Azeri Turks (about 20 per cent), Kurds (about 8 per cent), Gilakis, Lurs, Mazandaranis, Turkmans, Balochis, Arabs, Qashqai’is, and Bakhtiaris. During the 20th century there has been a sharp decline in Iran’s nomadic population, which now numbers about 1 million. Refugees, mainly from Afghanistan, account for over 20 per cent of the population.

A  Population Characteristics

Iran has a population (2001) of 66,128,965. The average density is about 40 people per sq km (104 people per sq mi), but concentrations are much higher in the northern and western parts of the country. The population is about 61 per cent urban; the proportion of city dwellers having increased dramatically in the 1970s and 1980s. The birth rate declined much less steeply than the death rate between the mid-1960s and the mid-1980s; in 2001 Iran had a population increase of about 1 per cent, following a government campaign to encourage smaller families. The infant mortality rate was 29 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2001.

B  Principal Cities

Tehran has a population (1996) of 6,758,845. The country’s most important urban centres after Tehran are: Mashhad (1996, 1,887,405), a shrine city and a grain-marketing and important commercial and transport centre; Esfahan (1996, 1,266,072), an industrial and commercial centre noted for its fine architecture; and Tabriz (1996, 1,191,043), an industrial centre. Qom (1996, 777,677) is a shrine city and the chief centre of religious learning.

C  Religion

Masjed-e Emam, Iran

The official religion of Iran is Ithna-Ashari (Arabic, “Twelver”) Shiism, a major sectarian division of Islam, which is followed by more than 90 per cent of the population. Some of the most sacred Shiite places are in Iran; the city of Qom, south of Tehran, is a noted place of pilgrimage. Sunni Muslims form about 9 per cent of Iran’s population, and the country also has dwindling communities of Christians and Jews (0.5 per cent together), as well as followers of Zoroastrianism and Bahai. Except for the followers of the Bahai faith, these religious minorities have inferior, but protected, status in law. As a Muslim reformist sect, those admitting to Bahai sympathies are subject to the death penalty.

D  Ethnic Minorities

The periphery of Iran is inhabited by ethnic minorities, who at times have been perceived to hold greater allegiance to their individual ethnic groups than to the national government. The Turkomans in the north-east, and the Kurds in the west are Sunni Muslims, as are about half of the Balochis in the south-east. Shiite Arabs inhabit the south-west. The Azeris, although they are Shiites, came into conflict with the politically active Iranian Shiite clergy in the late 1970s and the 1980s, but at other times have found common cause with Iran.

E  Language

The official language of Iran is Modern Persian, or Farsi, one of the Indo-Iranian languages, a subfamily of the Indo-European languages. Farsi emerged from the Middle Persian phase of the Persian language. The written form uses the Arabic alphabet, with many Arabic loan words. Several minority groups in Iran retain their own languages.

F  Education

Following the change in government in 1979, Iran’s educational system and its cultural life were altered to conform with precepts of revolutionary Shiite Islam. Certain approaches borrowed from the West were not allowed to continue, although most of the education system continues in its old form. However, staff and students are obliged to take additional courses in Islamic studies.

Education is compulsory for children between the ages of 6 and 14; enforcement has been lax, however, because of a shortage of teachers and schools and problems caused by the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s. About 95 per cent of the adult population was literate in 2001. In 1996, about 9.24 million pupils attended 63,101 primary schools, and some 8.78 million students were enrolled annually in secondary schools. In addition, around 1,000 teacher-training and vocational schools together had about 375,000 students annually. Higher education is provided by more than 100 universities, colleges, and other institutions, which had an aggregate yearly enrolment of some 579,070 students in 1996-1997. The system, modelled on that of France, obliges students who fail one subject to repeat a whole year. Many students therefore graduate after the official age of 18; this partly explains the maturity of many university students.

Major institutions included the University of Tehran (established 1934), University of Esfahan (1950), and the English-language medium University of Shiraz (1945). Some universities were closed or renamed in the early 1980s during the cultural revolution. A quota of university places is reserved for those wounded in the Iran-Iraq war and the families of the war dead. Otherwise, admission is by nationwide exams followed by an ideological screening interview. In 1995, 4 per cent of the country’s gross national product (GNP) was spent on education.

G  Culture

The culture of Iran is heavily influenced by Shiism, as is evident in the art, literature, and social structure of the country. There are great traditions of Persian literature, particularly of poetry, and Iranian art and architecture. After the change of government in 1979, the Shiite clergy led a drive for renewed Islamization. Women were encouraged to return to more traditional roles, and initially cinemas were closed and radio stations were prohibited from broadcasting music. These restrictions were subsequently somewhat relaxed. The segregation of men and women at certain social functions was reinstituted. Many women protested against the wholesale acceptance of Western values in the late 1970s by again wearing the traditional chador, a long black cloth draped over the head and body. “Islamic dress” was made compulsory by the government of the Islamic republic. In recent years there has been a renewed interest in many aspects of Iranian culture, even those of the pre-Islamic period.

Iran has a number of notable museums. These include the Iran Bastan Museum, with displays on archaeology, and the Negarestan Museum, with exhibits of Iranian art, both in Tehran; the Qom Museum; and the Pars Museum, in Shiraz. The National Library is in Tehran; other important book collections are housed in university libraries.

IV  ECONOMY

The enormous income from the petroleum industry led in the late 1960s and 1970s to the rapid growth of the entire economy of Iran. Economic planning during this period aimed to create rapidly a modern economy based on heavy industry; however, it was also heavily dependent on the injection of foreign capital, technology, and advisers. Economic growth was, however, accompanied by the neglect of the agricultural sector, massive inflation, an urban population explosion, and wider social divisions, leading to widespread discontent.

The influx of foreign capital and the rate of establishment of new industries dropped sharply after the change in government in 1979. Despite the new government’s revolutionary aims of self-sufficiency, social equity, diversification away from oil, and agricultural improvements, only the latter aim has really met with much success. The economy remains heavily dependent on both oil revenues and imports. Despite austerity measures, inflation (above 50 per cent in 1996) and unemployment (30 per cent, 1996) remain key sources of public discontent. By 1996 Iran was servicing the interest on debts of US$25,000 million to US$30.000 million. Iran is subject to a US trade embargo, and has been threatened with similar action by the EU, unless it can prove that it is not a sponsor of international terrorism. As an oil-producer Iran does not receive any significant amount of aid, and there is opposition to Western aid even in times of urgent need, such as in the 1990 earthquake.

The GNP of Iran (World Bank figure; 1999) is about US$113,729 million, or US$1,810 per capita. The budget for 1998 included revenues of about US$34,956 million and expenditure of US$45,797 million.

A  Petroleum

Iran is noted for the production of petroleum, but oil revenues have declined since US sanctions were imposed in 1995. The principal oilfields, located at the head of the Persian Gulf in the south-western region, are considered among the richest in the world. Reserves are estimated at 92.8 billion barrels, sufficient to maintain present production levels for over 70 years. Iran also has one of the largest reserves of natural gas of any country, amounting to 12.6 per cent of world reserves. The oil industry was nationalized in 1951; petroleum production is controlled by the national Ministry of Petroleum. About 3.6 billion barrels per day of oil were produced in the mid-1990s; in 1999 53 billion cu m (1,870 billion cu ft) of natural gas were also produced, about 20 per cent of which was exported to central Asia. Petroleum output dropped in the late 1970s as part of an effort by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) of which Iran is a leading member, and its second largest oil producer, to keep oil prices from declining. They fell for a second time in the 1980s because the principal oil-producing regions were the scene of warfare with Iraq. Much of the oil is normally exported by supertankers loaded at facilities on Kharg Island in the Persian Gulf.

B  Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishing

Most of the best farmland is in the north, south, and west. Under a land-reform programme begun in the 1950s, about 800,000 hectares (2 million acres) were redistributed among peasant farmers. Iran was self-sufficient in agricultural terms until the late 1960s. That decade saw the start of industrially oriented economic development programmes and the neglect of agriculture by the government. However, since the mid-1980s the government has concentrated more on the agricultural sector, encouraging small-scale projects and traditional agrarian systems, including the restoration of traditional irrigation techniques, such as ganats (underground water tunnels). About 40 per cent of agricultural land is irrigated. In 1999 the agricultural sector contributed some 21 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).

In 2000, the annual production of Iran’s principal crops included about 9.25 million tonnes of wheat, 2 million tonnes of barley, 2.35 million tonnes of rice, and 2 million tonnes of grapes. Other important crops include sugar beet, sugar cane, maize, pulses (legume seeds), tobacco, tea, oilseeds, and pistachio nuts, of which Iran is the world’s largest producer. Iran is also particularly noted for its fruit. The Caspian region produces citrus fruits; the Persian Gulf region, dates and bananas; and the central plateau, apples, pears, peaches, grapes, and cherries. Livestock includes an estimated 53.9 million sheep, 25.8 million goats, 8.05 million cattle, 1.40 million donkeys, and 235 million chickens (2000).

Because of concern over excessive cutting, commercial timber-harvesting in Iran was not expanded during the 1970s. Production in 1994 was 6.9 million cu m (243 million cu ft). Commercial fishing is important to the Iranian economy, but it has not been fully developed. As part of efforts to improve returns a US$1.4 million canning plant was opened in 1993 on the island of Qeshm in the Persian Gulf. The Caspian Sea and the Persian Gulf yield trout, carp, sturgeon, salmon, whitefish, shrimp, and herring. The annual fish catch was about 380,200 tonnes in 1997. Pollution of the seas as a result of the 1990-1991 Gulf War led to a 66 per cent drop in the shrimp catch. Iranian caviar (sturgeon eggs) is considered among the best in the world; caviar sales are strictly regulated to maximize hard currency earnings.

C  Mining

Substantial quantities of iron ore, copper, coal, lead, zinc, chromite, salt, bauxite, and decorative stone are also produced. Production in 1999 was around 6 million tonnes of iron ore and 134,000 tonnes of copper.

D  Manufacturing

Large-scale manufacturing in Iran developed during the 1970s. Major products include petrochemicals, textiles (especially cotton and wool from the Esfahan area, wool from Tabriz, and silk from the Mazandaran region), processed food, electronic equipment, construction materials, steel, and motor vehicles. One of the world’s largest petroleum refineries, at Abadan, suffered severe war damage in the early 1980s. Iran is known for its finely crafted rugs, which are its second most important export. After 1991 heavy industry was opened to foreign investors, with limited take-up, mainly because of government resistance to increased contact with the West. Private industry accounts for 20 to 30 per cent of total output.

E  Energy

Around 92 per cent of Iran’s electricity is generated in thermal plants burning petroleum products, natural gas, or coal (1998); almost all the rest is produced in hydroelectric facilities. In 1999 electricity production was about 103 billion kWh.

F  Currency and Banking

The monetary unit of Iran is the Iranian rial of 100 dinar (1,755 Iranian rial equal US$1, official rate; 2001). The currency unit used in daily transactions is the tuman, equal to 10 rials. The Bank Markazi, established in 1960 and operated by the government, is the central bank and bank of issue. Commercial banking was nationalized and reorganized in 1979. Private banks were permitted to operate in 1994. However, under laws introduced in the 1980s, all banks must conform to Islamic law, which outlaws interest from operations, replacing it with “service charges”.

G  Foreign Trade

About 90 per cent of Iran’s export earnings typically come from sales of crude oil and petroleum products; most of the country’s imports consist of manufactured goods such as machinery, transport equipment, chemicals, iron and steel, textiles, mineral products, and basic consumer goods. In 1999 Iran’s exports earned about US$17,375 million, and its imports cost some US$12,448 million. The overall balance of payments was in surplus until the mid-1980s. Thereafter, it was in deficit until 1994, since when a surplus has been regained. The country’s leading trade partners include Japan, United Arab Emirates, Germany, Belgium, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands.

H  Transport

In 1997 there were more than 1.5 million passenger cars in Iran, with a ratio of 30 cars per 1,000 people, and around 588,000 commercial vehicles; about 42 per cent of passenger cars belong to Tehran residents, contributing to the city’s congestion and pollution. The country is served by some 167,157 km (103,867 mi) of roads, of which 56 per cent are paved (1998). In addition, Iran has approximately 5,093 km (3,165 mi) of operated railway track. Major Iranian ports on the Caspian Sea include Bandar-e Anzali (Bandar-e Pahlavi) and Bandar-e Torkeman (Bandar-e Shah). Seaports on the Persian Gulf include Khorramshahr, Bandar-Khomeini (Bandar-e Shahpur), and Bandar-e ‘Abbas as well as the oil-shipping facilities on Kharg Island. Iran Air, the state-run airline that was formed in 1962, operates both domestic and international flights; its sister airline Iran Asseman operates on domestic routes. The main airports serve Tehran and Abadan.

I  Communications

Postal, telegraph, and telephone services, as well as radio and television broadcasting, are administered by the Iranian government. Approximately 3.5 million telephones were in use in 1993 while, in 1997, radios numbered 17 million and television sets about 5 million. Satellite television receiver dishes were banned in 1994, although the ban has not been strictly enforced providing dishes are discreetly sited. Nearly all the nation’s daily newspapers and most of the weeklies are published in Tehran. Dailies with large circulations include Kayhan and Ettelaat, both published in Tehran. There are two English-language dailies, the Tehran Times and Kayhan International.

J  Labour

In 1997,  the Iranian labour force totaled some 19.3 million people. The unemployment rate exceeded 30 per cent in 1994.

V  GOVERNMENT

Iran’s constitutional monarchy, founded in 1906, was ended in 1979. In the same year a new constitution, approved by referendum, established an Islamic republic in which the principles of Islam were to be the foundation for social, political, and economic relations. It gives supreme authority to the Spiritual Leader, or wali faqih, making the country a theocracy. This position was held by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini until his death in 1989. He was succeeded by Ayatollah Ali Khaman’i. The constitution was amended in 1988 restricting the powers of the Council of Guardians, who advise the wali faqih, who oversees the operations of the government. The principle of uelyat-e-faqih, or the guardianship of the wise, is Ayatollah Khomeini’s legacy to Islamic government.

A  Executive and Legislature

The chief executive and head of state of Iran is a president, who is popularly elected to a four-year term. The president appoints a Cabinet. The post of prime minister was abolished in 1989 following a referendum, enhancing the authority of the presidency, which had hitherto been largely ceremonial.

Legislative authority in Iran is vested in a unicameral parliament called the Majlis. Its 270 members, popularly elected for terms of four years, can dismiss the country’s president by a no-confidence vote. There are two reserved seats for Armenian Christian members of parliament, and one each for members representing Assyrian Christians, Jews, and Zoroastrians. Laws enacted by the Majlis must be approved by the Council for the Protection of the Constitution. All citizens over age 16 are entitled to vote.

B  Judiciary

The highest regular tribunal in Iran is the Supreme Court, the president of which is appointed by the wali faqih. In addition, Islamic revolutionary courts were established in 1982, and codes following Islamic shari’ah law introduced to provide for speedy punishment, including amputation and execution. Islamic punishments, such as limb amputation for theft and stoning for adultery, are rare but well reported.

C  Local Government

Iran consists of 25 provinces (ostans), which are divided into 195 counties and 500 districts; districts are subdivided into villages and municipalities. Provincial and district officials are appointed by the central government. Municipalities elect their own mayors, who may hold views opposed to those of the central government.

D  Political Parties

After the 1979 revolution the Islamic Republican Party (IRP) and its allies dominated the national legislature. In 1987, however, the IRP was disbanded and no political parties were allowed to contest the 1988 parliamentary elections. Political parties were also banned in the 1996 parliamentary balloting, but two rival Islamic factions became apparent: the Servants of Construction, the more reform-minded faction, loyal to President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani; and the Militant Clergy Association led by the Speaker of the Majlis Nareq Nouri, which is more anti-Western and concerned with social justice. The election of Mohammad Khatami to the presidency in May 1997 raised hopes that the ban on political parties would be lifted.

E  Health and Welfare

Average life expectancy at birth in 2001 was 69 years for men and 71 years for women. Health care in Iran is overseen by the national department of health. Programmes have been undertaken to combat tuberculosis, smallpox, trachoma, and, more successfully, malaria. Opium addiction, once in decline, has again become a major social problem. In 1996 there were 1,250 people per doctor; more than 25 per cent of doctors are in Tehran. The shortage of doctors in other parts of the country has been a serious problem, exacerbated by the exodus of professionals after 1979. In 2001, Iran had an infant mortality rate of 29 deaths per 1,000 live births, while in 1998, 7 per cent of the country’s GDP was spent on health care.

F  Defence

A two-year period of military service is required of all male citizens of Iran. In 1999 the regular Iranian armed forces comprised an army of 325,000 men (around 75 per cent conscripts), a navy of 18,000, and an air force of 45,000. There is also the Revolutionary Guard corps of around 140,000 divided into army (120,000) and naval (20,000) units. The Revolutionary Guard’s duties include ensuring that revolutionary Islamic values are practised by the domestic population. Iran is believed to be in the process of developing chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons.

G  International Organizations

Iran is a charter member of the UN, as well as a member of OPEC and the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC).

VI  HISTORY

Archaeological evidence reveals a human presence on the Iranian plateau prior to 10,000 bc; by Neolithic times the region was evidently well settled, developing early agriculture around 7000 bc. The first Iranian civilization, which arose some 2,000 years later in lowland Khuzestan, was Elam. The plateau region remained largely Neolithic at this time and did not participate in the early civilizations of Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley. A powerful and long-lasting monarchy, Elam fought successively with Ur and Babylonia, before being finally extinguished by Assyria in the 7th century bc.

A  Media and Persia

While Elam dominated the Iranian lowlands, the Iranian plateau was settled about 1500 bc by Aryan tribes from central Asia who spoke Indo-European tongues. One group, the Medes, settled in the north-west and founded the Kingdom of Media, at first an Assyrian vassal state. A Median king called Khshathrita (reigned c. 675-653 bc), known to the Greek historian Herodotus as Phraortes, subjugated the other Aryan groups, including the Parsa (Persians). The Parsa had emigrated from Parsua west of Lake Orumiyeh into the southern plateau, which they named Parsamash or Parsumash. Khshathrita attempted a revolt against Assyria but failed. His successors were subjected briefly to invading forces of nomadic Scythians.

Once the Scythians had withdrawn, Media allied with Babylonia against Assyria and by 612 bc had toppled the Assyrian capital Nineveh. Within their kingdom the new religion of Zoroastrianism preached by the prophet Zoroaster was spreading alongside native pantheism. For a short time Media dominated the area of contemporary Iran and Anatolia, until the accession in 558 BC of the Persian vassal King Cyrus the Great, who was the first of the great Achaemenids. In 550 bc Cyrus toppled his masters and turned Media into the Kingdom of Persia.

Cyrus and his successors, Cambyses II and Darius I, conquered an empire reaching from Egypt and the Black Sea in the west to the Indus Valley in the east, with its capital at Persepolis. However, the defeats at Marathon in 490 bc and Salamis in 480 bc kept Greece from Persian rule. In the 4th century bc Alexander the Great struck back and added Persia to his empire. Succession struggles after his death in 323 bc were resolved by Seleucus I, first of the Seleucids, who seized Persia and Babylon.

Seleucid supremacy lasted unchallenged until around 250 bc, when a Persian Scythian nomadic group invaded Parthia, establishing a new kingdom there. Recognized as independent by the Seleucid Antiochus III, the Parthians defeated his successor Antiochus IV in around 164 bc and united the eastern Seleucid provinces under their rule. The Persian empire of the Parthians, presenting itself as successor to the Achaemenids, was centred on Seleucia on the Tigris, Ctesiphon, and Hecatompylos. At its zenith it stretched from the frontier with Rome in Armenia and along the Euphrates (fixed in 92 BC), to Indo-Parthian client states in Bactria and the Hindu Kush. Caravan traffic along the Silk Routes linked Parthia to India and China, where Parthian converts helped propagate Buddhism.

In the west the Parthian empire fought several notable wars with Rome, vanquishing such great Roman generals as Marcus Licinius Crassus and Mark Antony. Later the empire started to disintegrate. Provinces began splitting off, and more destructive wars were fought with Rome, which sacked Ctesiphon in ad 114, 164, and 193, but was unable definitively to defeat Parthia. Though recently victorious against Rome, the Parthia ruling house was finally toppled in ad 224 by a revolt led by Ardashir I, a Persian vassal king and founder of the Sassanid dynasty.

B  The Sassanids

Ardashir and his son Shapur deemed themselves successors of the Achaemenids and aimed to restore their glory, extending Parthian dominion over many eastern territories (including India), and in the west taking on Rome in Armenia and Syria. Zoroastrianism was made the Persian state religion, and Sassanid rulers took the title of “king of kings”. Intermittent wars with Rome, and with its successor, the Byzantine Empire, occurred not least because the growth of Christianity in Mesopotamia and Babylonia fostered pro-Byzantine subversion and provoked Zoroastrian persecution. Manichaeism, founded by the Persian sage Mani, was also persecuted. In the 4th century the Sassanids overran Armenia. However, towards the end of the 5th century the Ephthalites or “White Huns”, steppe nomads driven west from central Asia, ravaged the empire.

Sassanid Persia experienced a final resurgence in the 7th century under two great kings, Khosrau I and Khosrau II. Khosrau I defeated the Ephthalites in the 560s with the help of the new Turkish nation in the east. Khosrau II, though restored to his throne in 591 with Byzantine help when threatened by rebellious subjects, attacked the Byzantine Empire when the emperor was assassinated in 602. By 619 he had taken Syria, Jerusalem, and Egypt. His court was famed for its magnificence, but his wars had decisively weakened Sassanid Persia and his triumphs were short lived. By 628 the Byzantines under the emperor Heraclius had rebuilt their forces and penetrated Iran; Khosrau II had been overthrown and killed by his son. The last Sassanid king, Yazdegerd III (ruled 632-641) was driven from his throne by the forces of the Arab caliphate, and finally murdered ten years later.

C  The Advent of Islam

The fall of the Sassanid Empire to Muslim Arabs in 641 fundamentally changed Iran. The lands were incorporated into the caliphate, ruled at first from Medina and later from Damascus and Baghdad. Zoroastrianism, although officially tolerated by the new Muslim rulers, could not withstand the force of the new religion, which was backed by state authority. The number of adherents gradually decreased, and Zoroastrianism almost disappeared; today a few thousand Zoroastrians remain. Iran was henceforth a Muslim country.

Cultural influences, however, were not all one-sided; the old Iranian traditions exerted their fascination over the new rulers. The Umayyad caliphs at Damascus imitated Sassanid court etiquette, and the succeeding Abbasids at Baghdad were even more enmeshed, giving up the simple ways of the desert for the luxury of palace life. Nonetheless, Iran remained submerged in the new Arab empire of the caliphate until the 9th century, when the general Ya’qub ebn Leys rejected the Abbasid caliphs’ claims of political suzerainty and seized the fertile Iranian lowlands. After his death in 879, his successors lost power to the caliphs through internal feuding and were replaced by the Samanid dynasty of governors. However, the Iranian national spirit had been reawoken and in the 10th century the first great age of Persian literature began with the poetry of Rudaki and Firdawsi. Iranian political power followed with the advent of the Buyids, a Shiite mountain group from northern Iran. In 945 they seized Baghdad, made puppets of the Abbasids, and became rulers of Iran and Iraq. Buyid expansion ceased in the 980s, but their power endured until the advent of the Turkish Seljuks in the mid-11th century.

D  Turks and Mongols

In 1055 Baghdad was conquered by the Seljuks under Togrul Beg, and Iranian power over the Abbasid caliphate ended. The Seljuk sultans established their capital in the Iranian city of Esfahan, where they attracted such luminaries as Omar Khayyam. Their rule was generally benign, though they rewarded their soldiers with tax-collection rights over lands which turned the latter into grasping landlords as central authority failed. After a century Seljuk power lapsed, and their empire was partitioned between former vassals and servants. Shiraz in the province of Fars became a notable cultural centre, home to Sadi and later Hafiz. Finally, the divided region was invaded in 1220 by Genghis Khan, whose emissaries had been murdered by the Iranian sultan of the Amu Darya (Oxus) region (modern Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan). Neyshabur within Iran, and other Iranian cities further afield such as Samarqand were sacked and their inhabitants slaughtered. The Mongols withdrew, but returned in 1256, pillaging Baghdad and slaying the last Abbasid caliph in 1258. Iran was incorporated into the Mongol Empire.

The Mongol Il-Khans proved tolerant and capable rulers, fostering the economy and administration, employing talented Christians and Jews, and growing closer to their Muslim subjects. Shiism, persecuted under the Abbasids, grew in popularity. After the 1330s the Il-Khans lost control over regional vassals, and these feuding princedoms fell to Tamerlane when he invaded in 1393. His sons, the Timurids, failed to hold Iran and Azerbaijan together, and Turkomans dominated the west after 1400. Defeated in 1473 by the new Ottoman Empire, the Turkomans finally fell in 1501 before Iranian Shiite uprisings under Sheikh Ismail I, who claimed descent from Ali ibn Abi Talib, the fourth caliph. He was regarded as a saint by the Iranians and proclaimed himself shah, marking the founding of the Safavid dynasty (1501-1736) and the establishment of the Shiite doctrine as the official Iranian religion.

E  The Safavids

Ismail’s reign marked the advent of modern Iran, the greatest Shiite state. Recognized as an imam, Ismail owed fealty to no caliph, and ruled Iran, Azerbaijan, Armenia, the Kurdish cultural region, parts of Afghanistan, and other territories. His armies soon overran large parts of Iraq and Turkey, including Baghdad and Mosul, but in 1514 he lost Diyarbakir to the Ottomans. His successors lost Baghdad and Tabriz in 1534 to the great Ottoman sultan, Suleiman I (the Magnificent), and the Safavid capital had to be moved to Qazvin. Meanwhile, Uzbeks seized territories in the north-east.

On his accession in 1588, Shah Abbas I, greatest of the Safavid rulers, gave up lands to both opponents, buying time to organize a European-style standing army with the help of English experts. He used this to expel Portuguese traders from the island of Hormuz in 1602, to defeat the Turks in 1603, and to take Baghdad in 1623. He won back all the territory lost to the Turks, and extended his dominion eastwards through Afghanistan and northern India as far as the Indus valley. Abbas made Esfahan his capital and reformed the bureaucracy and economy; his reign is also notable for the commencement of trade with the English East India Company. However, his successors were far weaker figures. During the century following his reign, Iran steadily declined. In 1722 the country was conquered by a rebel Afghan army under Mir Mahmud and the Safavids were overthrown.

F  Nadir Shah and European Intervention

Two years later Russia and Turkey, taking advantage of the confusion within Iran, concluded an agreement for its dismemberment. Within those provinces not seized by these two powers, an Iranian national army was formed under a Turkoman warrior chief who drove out the Afghans in 1729. At first he installed surviving Safavids as puppets, becoming governor of eastern Iran and then regent in 1732. However, after a series of victories he ascended the throne himself in 1736 as Nadir Shah. Two years later, driven by lack of money, he invaded Afghanistan and India, capturing and sacking Delhi in 1739. The plunder seized from the Mughal Empire was so rich that Nadir stopped taxation in Iran for three years. Russia, meanwhile, had given up its Iranian conquests; Nadir later succeeded in freeing Iran from all foreign occupation by driving out the Turks. However, he grew increasingly cruel and unstable, and was finally assassinated in 1747.

His empire fragmented after his death, but for southern Iran there followed a period of relative peace and prosperity under the Zand dynasty, regents for another Safavid puppet. Karim Khan, the greatest Zand ruler, died in 1779. On his death Agha Muhammad Khan, the eunuch chief of the dominant Qajar clan of northern Iran, escaped from Shiraz where he had been held hostage. Making Tehran his capital, he hunted down the remaining Zands; after his final victory in 1794 he proclaimed himself Shah and founded the Qajar dynasty (1794-1925). A cruel ruler whose actions at Kerman were among his most infamous crimes, Agha Muhammad Khan subjugated Christian Georgia but was finally assassinated. He was succeeded in 1797 by his nephew Fath Ali Shah, during whose reign (1797-1834) the British were allowed to extend their influence over Iranian trade and finances.

In 1840 Aga Khan I, head of the Ismaili sect and Governor of Kerman, fled to India after a failed rebellion against the shah. However, the 19th century was chiefly marked by the struggle between Britain and Russia for hegemony in Iran. The British fought and defeated the Iranians in 1856 and 1857, and compelled them to evacuate Afghanistan and to recognize its independence. During the 1880s the Russians gradually established a sphere of influence in northern Iran, while Britain gained control in the Persian Gulf area. Between 1900 and 1902 the Russian government made substantial loans to Iran, receiving as security all the country’s customs receipts except those of the Gulf ports. In 1901 the British were granted a 60-year concession to exploit the newly discovered oil resources of Iran.

G  Nationalism and Constitutional Government

The rise of foreign influence in Iran and the weakness and corruption of the country’s rulers led early in the 20th century to the development of a nationalist movement that demanded the establishment of a constitutional government. In 1906 the reigning shah, Muzaffar al-Din, was forced by popular demand to convene the first Majlis, or national assembly, which drew up a liberal constitution. His son and successor, Muhammad Ali, attempted to destroy the constitutional movement by force, but was defeated and deposed. His 12-year-old son was placed on the throne as Ahmad Shah and a regency was established. In 1911 the American financier William Morgan Shuster arrived in Iran at the invitation of the Majlis and was given full power to reorganize the national finances. His reforms were, however, frustrated by the hostility of Russia; Shuster was dismissed and Russian power subsequently became dominant in Iran.

H  Rise of the Pahlavi Dynasty

During World War I Iran was neutral, but was the scene of several battles for control of the oilfields between the British and Russian allies and the Turks. In 1919 the government signed an agreement whereby Britain was to exercise a controlling influence in Iranian affairs, but the Majlis refused to ratify it. Two years later the British began to withdraw their forces from the country. Soon afterwards Reza Khan, commander of an Iranian cossack force, led a coup d’état and established a new independent government, with himself as Minister of War. He became Prime Minister in 1923; two years later he was elected Shah by the Majlis, which had deposed Ahmad Shah, the last of the Qajar dynasty. Initially a republican, he came to feel that the monarchy was the most likely force to unite Iran; he chose the dynastic surname of Pahlavi.

During his reign the judiciary was modernized, transport and communication facilities were improved, and a broad programme of Westernization was begun. One decree ordered all men to wear European-style hats and clothes. New civil codes accorded women more rights. Most of the population obeyed without protest but there were intermittent riots, mostly led by Muslim clergy in the shrine cities. There were fatalities when troops quelled the riots. Early in 1936 the shah’s wife and daughters appeared in public without veils, breaking the ancient tradition of the country. Thereafter, most Iranian women gradually stopped wearing their veils. The government next abolished all feudal titles and began a long-range programme for the economic modernization of the country. Despite superficially successful economic and social reform Reza Shah Pahlavi’s rule became increasingly autocratic and the centralization of power was achieved by ruthless measures to crush ethnic rebellion. In 1936 Iran signed a treaty of friendship and non-aggression with Iraq, Turkey, and Afghanistan.

I  World War II

At the beginning of World War II, Germany, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) attempted unsuccessfully to form alliances with Iran. In 1941, however, both the United Kingdom and the USSR occupied areas of the country to protect the oilfields from possible German seizure. As a result of the Allied invasion, all nationals of the Axis powers were expelled and all Axis consulates and legations were closed. The Allies assumed control of all Iranian communication facilities, and Reza Shah Pahlavi, who had been friendly to Axis interests, was forced to abdicate.

The shah’s 22-year-old son, Muhammad Reza Pahlavi, adopted a pro-Allied policy when he succeeded his father and granted the parliament’s demand for liberal reforms. In January 1942, Iran, the United Kingdom, and the USSR signed a treaty guaranteeing Anglo-Soviet respect for Iranian territorial integrity and military aid to fulfil this pledge. The Allies also agreed to consult the Iranian government on all economic, political, and military measures affecting the domestic policy of the country, to withdraw the occupation forces as soon as possible, and to provide economic assistance.

By 1943 the USSR and the United Kingdom, with the assistance of US military forces and lend-lease funds, had made extensive improvements to Iran’s transport facilities in order to strengthen the country’s usefulness in the transfer of military supplies to the Soviet front. Iran complained, however, that the USSR had completely isolated its occupation zone from outside contact. The Soviet government defended its action by explaining that it was protecting itself against possible Anglo-American expansion in Iran. This dispute was resolved in November 1943 at the Tehran Conference attended by President Franklin D. Roosevelt of the United States, the British prime minister, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin, premier of the Soviet Union. The Declaration on Iran, produced by this conference, and issued on December 1, stated that the three governments were “at one with the government of Iran in their desire for the maintenance of the independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity of Iran”.

By the early months of 1945 it became safe for Allied shipping to use the Bosporus and the Dardanelles to send war matériel to the USSR, eliminating the need for an overland route through Iran. In May the government of Iran requested the occupying countries to withdraw their troops. The United States agreed, but neither the USSR nor the United Kingdom would consent. After prolonged negotiations the two Allied powers agreed to withdraw from Iran by March 2, 1946. The Iranian government nevertheless became increasingly concerned over the Soviet occupation. Iranian officials claimed that they were not permitted to enter Soviet-occupied Azerbaijan and Kurdish regions to quell anti-Iranian disturbances provoked by pro-Soviet forces.

By mid-November, Azerbaijan was the site of an independence movement supported by Soviet authorities. This movement led to the establishment of two quasi-autonomous city-states, one in Russian-occupied Tabriz, the other the Kurdish Repubic of Mahabad to the south of the Soviet zone. In less than a year both “republics” fell to Iranian troops, following the Soviet troop withdrawal.

J  Battle over Oil

Iran signed the UN charter in San Francisco on June 26, 1945, becoming one of the founder members of that organization. In the latter part of 1946 the USSR began to press for immediate action on the part of Iran for the formation of a Soviet-Iranian oil company. Iran, counting on US aid, announced in October 1947 the rejection of the Soviet oil plan and the establishment of a five-year oil programme whereby Iran would develop its own oil resources. On July 29, 1948, the United States made a US$26-million loan to Iran for the purchase and repair of surplus American army equipment.

In the realm of domestic politics, notable developments during 1949 included the outlawing of the pro-Soviet Tudeh (Masses) Party, the enactment of legislation making parliament a bicameral body, and the growth of widespread resentment over foreign oil concessions. In response to public sentiment on the oil question, the government in July obtained from the British-owned Anglo-Iranian Oil Company an agreement to double royalty payments on oil taken from Iranian fields. Parliament, however, failed to ratify the agreement, which was characterized as unsatisfactory by various members.

Severe economic difficulties developed during the first half of 1950, causing several political crises. In June General Ali Razmara accepted the premiership. A vigorous executive, he succeeded in improving the economic situation. He strongly opposed nationalization of the oil industry, however; on March 7, 1951, he was assassinated by a nationalist fanatic.

K  Nationalization

Within a week of Razmara’s assassination the Majlis passed a bill nationalizing the oil industry. However, the new prime minister, Hasain Ala, did nothing to take over the property of the Ango-Iranian Oil Company. As a result his government fell on April 27. He was succeeded by Dr Muhammad Mossadegh, leader of a coalition of nationalist groups (the National Front) and a supporter of oil nationalization. On April 29, a law evicting the company was approved by the Majlis.

Attempts to settle the ensuing crisis in British-Iranian relations through direct negotiation between the two countries ended in failure. The efforts of the United States to mediate the dispute were to no avail. On October 3, 1951, the United Kingdom, deciding against the use of force, acceded to an Iranian ultimatum and withdrew the company’s technical staff from the Abadan refinery. Later in the month, when the United Kingdom brought the dispute before the UN Security Council, Mossadegh flew to New York to present the case for Iran. The council agreed to postpone debate until the International Court of Justice decided on its own competence to deal with the dispute. On December 26 Iran rejected a proposal made by the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (World Bank) that the oil industry be administered by the bank or by some other international authority pending final settlement. In May 1952 Mossadegh appeared before the International Court of Justice at The Hague and argued that it had no jurisdiction in the case.

Parliamentary (lower-house) elections had been completed meanwhile, and early in July Mossadegh, having resigned in accordance with constitutional procedure, was requested by the shah to resume his office. Mossadegh’s acceptance was based on various conditions, notably that he be given control of the army and the right to rule by decree for six months. The shah, Constitutional Head of the Army, rejected the former condition, and on July 16 Mossadegh resigned. Former prime minister Ahmad Qavam agreed the next day to form a new government. The public responded to this development with riotous demonstrations and a general strike (July 21), which forced Qavam’s resignation. On July 22 Mossadegh was designated Prime Minister; the same day the International Court of Justice ruled that it had no jurisdiction in the Anglo-Iranian dispute. The lower house, supported by a popular referendum, subsequently granted Mossadegh unlimited power for six months.

L  Mossadegh’s Fall

On August 30, 1952, Iran turned down a joint Anglo-American proposal designed to break the oil deadlock. Under the proposal the United Kingdom for the first time accepted the Iranian nationalization law as valid, but still insisted that compensation be based on potential revenue losses as well as on the physical assets of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company. Iran broke off diplomatic relations with the United Kingdom on October 22. Early in 1953 parliament extended Mossadegh’s emergency powers for another year. The prime minister demanded that the shah’s powers be reduced to those of a constitutional monarch.

The dissension between pro- and anti-Mossadegh forces reached a climax during the summer of 1953. The premier dissolved the lower house of the Majlis on the basis of a plebiscite (August 3-10), in which he suspended the secret ballot. The shah, who opposed many of Mossadegh’s policies, including his uncompromising stand on the oil question, dismissed the prime minister in mid-August. Mossadegh refused to yield his office, his followers rioted against the royalists, and on August 16 the shah fled to Rome. After three days of bloody riots the royalists, supported by the army and police, won control of Tehran; Mossadegh and several aides were placed under arrest.

On August 22 the shah returned in triumph; the next day General Fazullah Zahedi, who had been previously designated Prime Minister by the shah, formed a government. On September 5 the US government granted a much-impoverished Iran an emergency loan of US$45 million. Two months later Iran resumed diplomatic relations with the United Kingdom. Mossadegh was sentenced on December 2 to three years’ solitary confinement for leading a revolt against the shah.

M  New Oil Agreements

The Iranian electorate went to the polls in March 1954 to elect a new lower house of parliament. During the voting, which reportedly was attended by widespread fraud, government supporters assaulted hundreds of alleged communists and opponents of the Zahedi regime near polling stations in Tehran. Beginning on April 14, the Iranian government and representatives of an eight-company petroleum consortium, including the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company and three US firms, conducted discussions on the terms for the reactivation of the nationalized oil industry. On August 5 the conference concluded a pact, under which the consortium agreed to operate the industry, market the oil output, share the profits equally with Iran, and compensate Anglo-Iranian for its seized property.

International interest in Iran’s petroleum resources remained strong, and in July 1957 Iran announced the formation of an Iranian-Italian oil company; the transaction aroused interest, for it guaranteed Iran a margin of profit greater than any previously obtained by Middle Eastern countries in their dealings with Western firms. The following year the Iranian government and American oil interests in Iran concluded an agreement for an unprecedented 25-75 per cent division of profits in favour of Iran.

N  The Shah’s Growing Power

After he was restored to his throne with the aid of the United States in 1953, Shah Muhammad Reza Pahlavi became increasingly confident and secure in his ruling position and began to devote more attention to his dynastic aspirations. He had divorced his first wife, the daughter of King Farouk of Egypt, in 1948 because she had borne him no male heir; in 1959 he dissolved his second marriage for the same reason. He remarried in 1959, and the new queen, Fara Diba, who was much younger than him, gave birth to a son, Prince Reza Pahlavi, in 1960.

At the same time he began to exercise more and more control over the government, keeping it closely aligned with the United States. In March 1959 Iran signed a defence agreement with the United States. On July 23, 1960, Iran recognized Israel; the step led to difficulties with Egypt, and the Arab League announced an extension of its boycott of Israel to include Iran. The shah’s power base was composed of the armed forces and a fearsome security apparatus, and of the small upper class and a slowly increasing middle class. This support base acted as a buffer between the government and the mass of the population.

Elections for the lower house of the parliament were held in August 1960. They were annulled by the shah on September 1, after the opposition charged that they had been rigged by the government. New elections were held in January 1961, but the deputies appointed held office only until May 9, when both houses of parliament were dissolved. The shah was pressurized by the United States to appoint as his prime minister Ali Amini and to give him the power to rule by decree. Opposition elements shortly thereafter resurrected Mossadegh’s National Front.

On October 5, 1961, the shah created the Pahlavi Dynasty Trust with a donation equal in value to US$133 million, the bulk of his remaining fortune; the income from the trust was to be used for social and educational purposes.

O  The White Revolution

The American-influenced Amini initiated socio-economic reforms which were the basis of the shah’s ambitious 1963 White Revolution. They were approved by public referendum and backed by American aid. Aimed at increased economic and political stabilization, the programme consisted of a wide range of economic and social reforms, notably: land reform; the public sale of state factories; workers’ profit-sharing; electoral reforms; women’s emancipation; and a corps of volunteers to disseminate education, health advice, and agricultural developments, particularly in rural areas.

In the 1970s five more objectives were added to these six initial aims, including: free education; universal health insurance; child welfare provisions; and a reform of family law, giving women new domestic rights, and the right to divorce and to custody of their children following divorce.

The land reform programme was aimed at abolishing the large landowner class by reducing individual land holdings, and was supported by agricultural cooperatives. The first transfers of land from large estates to peasant farmers under a newly enacted law took place on March 3, 1962. By 1966 all large and middle-sized estates had been broken up, aiding some 4 million farming families. Land reform was officially completed in three phases by 1971. The radicalism of the first phase was blunted in the second and third phases. In 1979 one quarter of prime land was in disputed ownership, and half of all productive land was still in the hands of 20,000 absentee landlords. More than a quarter of peasant families were still trying to make a living on less than the minimum amount of land needed for subsistence.

The economic reforms stimulated industry and trade, but Iran was still dangerously dependent on oil revenues. Many of the social reforms benefited their target groups, in an attempt to mobilize government support from women, the young, and the peasantry. Economic growth led to an impressive rise in the national standard of living. However, it also led to a polarization of the social classes, as the newly rich displayed increasing tendencies to conspicuous consumption, as well as a capacity for corruption. Opposition to the reforms, which did not extend to the political sphere, came mostly from the religious and conservative groups, whose uprisings had been crushed in June 1963.

P  Coronation and Changing Policies

The shah was formally crowned on October 26, 1967 in an elaborate ceremony at Persepolis, the ancient Iranian capital. Although he had ruled the country for 26 years, the coronation had been postponed until he had a male heir and he felt confident that Iran had attained social stability and economic development.

By the time of his coronation the shah’s rule had become virtually absolute, and he was pursuing a foreign policy less dependent on the United States than it had been before. Thus, in the late 1960s and early 1970s, he strengthened Iran’s international relations with communist countries as well as with the West. In the early 1970s Iran also drew closer to the Arab bloc, except for Iraq, with which it was in dispute over territorial rights in the Shatt Al Arab and possession of several islands in the Persian Gulf.

In 1971 Iran occupied these islands, and Iraq broke off diplomatic relations. Iran, with tacit American agreement, supported the Iraqi Kurdish liberation movement, only to withdraw its aid abruptly when the two countries temporarily resolved their differences and signed a pact in March 1975. In that same month a major change took place in Iranian domestic politics.

On March 2, the shah announced the end of the multi-party system and the formation of a single party, the Iran National Resurgence Party. Elections were held in June, and a new National Assembly was formed.

Q  Opposition to the Shah

Despite growing prosperity during the 1970s, owing to greatly increased oil revenues, opposition to the shah was widespread, especially among intellectuals and students, and was fanned by conservative religious leaders. The shah’s responses to such opposition were increasingly repressive; he relied heavily on his secret police, the Savak, who were much dreaded for their harsh methods.

In the late 1970s there were anti-government demonstrations, both in Iran and abroad, where there were many Iranian students, over alleged human rights violations, most of which could be traced to the Savak. In 1978 riots in several Iranian cities were led by the conservative Shiite Muslims, who wanted the nation governed by Islamic law. They were directed—from his refuge in France—by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, a revered Muslim clergyman and longtime foe of the Pahlavi regime who had been exiled to Iraq in 1963. A charismatic personality, he became the figurehead for the many anti-shah groups, partly because he had never collaborated with the regime. By the late autumn of 1978, Iran was virtually in a state of civil war. In January 1979 the Ayatollah’s followers forced the shah to flee abroad, ending his 37-year reign. Shortly afterwards, Khomeini returned to Iran in triumph.

R  Islamic Republic

Having toppled the shah, Khomeini, supported by the clergy and a large segment of the population, presided over the establishment of an Islamic republic. The leftist and democratic elements of the revolutionary government were soon ruthlessly purged. The new regime ended the country’s close relationship with the United States, and executed scores of Savak members and other supporters of the shah.

In November 1979, after the shah had been allowed entry into the United States for medical treatment, militant Iranians stormed the US Embassy in Tehran, taking 66 US personnel as hostages. Soon after 13 of these were released, but in return for the other 53 Iran demanded a US apology for acts committed in support of the shah, his personal return to face trial (a moot point after his death in July 1980), and the return of the fortune that he was said to have illicitly hoarded abroad.

As the hostage dispute dragged on until the final hostage release in January 1981, the regime tried to create a new governmental machinery, while coping with economic chaos, internal unrest, and external threats.

A new constitution was approved by referendum in December 1979, and presidential elections were held in January 1980. The voters chose Abolhassan Bani-Sadr, a Western-educated liberal economist and Khomeini collaborator. Parliamentary elections, however, were won by the clergy, who opposed Bani-Sadr; parliament chose a fundamentalist prime minister, Muhammad Ali Rajai, who also was at odds with the president. This rift greatly weakened the regime, while some of Iran’s minorities—the Kurds in the west, the Azerbaijanis in the north, and the Arabs in Khuzestan—took up arms against the government in an attempt to win autonomy.

S  The Iran-Iraq War

In September 1980 Iraq demanded a revision of the agreement of March 1975 and autonomy for the Arab minority. When these demands were rejected, Iraq unilaterally abrogated the 1975 agreement and invaded Iran, capturing much of oil-rich Khuzestan by December and inaugurating the Iran-Iraq War.

By June 1981, the clergy-dominated parliament and Prime Minister Rajai had managed to outmanoeuvre President Bani-Sadr, who was removed from office and went into exile; Rajai succeeded him to the presidency. A week after Bani-Sadr’s ousting, a bomb blast killed 74 of Iran’s political and religious leaders. President Rajai and his successor as Prime Minister were killed in another explosion in August.

The government then embarked on a campaign of severe reprisals against opposing political organizations, which stemmed the tide of assassinations. After general elections were held in October 1981, Ayatollah Ali Khaman’i became Iran’s third president in a year. The Mojaheddin organization, which had been one of the main forces behind the revolution against the shah, went into exile and operated military bases from Iraq. Left-wing groups went underground or were disbanded.

In late 1981 Iran went on the offensive in the war with Iraq. By May 1982 Iraqi forces had been driven out of much of the territory overrun in 1980. In the ensuing stalemate, both sides attacked shipping in the Persian Gulf, indirectly drawing other Gulf nations—and later world powers—into the conflict. Iran and Iraq reluctantly agreed to a UN-brokered ceasefire as of August 20, 1988, suspending a war that had cost the two nations an estimated total of 1 million dead and 1.7 million wounded.

T  Post-War Reconstruction

Shortly before his death on June 3, 1989, Ruhollah Khomeini declared a fatwa against the Indian-born British author Salman Rushdie over his supposedly blasphemous novel The Satanic Verses (1988), decreeing death for Rushdie and anyone else involved in the book’s publication. After Khomeini’s death, President Khaman’i was elected to succeed him as Iran’s spiritual leader, the wali faqih. In July Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, former speaker of parliament, was elected President.

Iran’s relations with the West began to improve under Rafsanjani’s leadership. This was due in part to Rafsanjani’s role in obtaining the release of Western hostages held by pro-Iranian Shiite groups in Lebanon, the last of whom was released in 1992. In June 1990 a massive earthquake in north-western Iran took at least 35,000 lives.

Iran condemned both Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait in August and the subsequent deployment of US troops in Saudi Arabia, but resumed diplomatic relations with Iraq, which dropped its territorial claims against Iran. In the Gulf War, Iran remained officially neutral, but provided refuge for more than 100 Iraqi warplanes, which it later seized. After hostilities between Allied and Iraqi forces ended, Iran offered limited help to Shiite rebels in southern Iraq fighting against the Baghdad government. Iran also provided shelter for more than 1 million Kurds fleeing the Iraqi forces who had crushed their rebellion at the end of the Gulf War. Iran received little outside help in caring for the refugees, who swelled an existing refugee population of more than 2 million, mostly Afghanis and Iraqis. Rafsanjani supporters won a parliamentary majority in 1992. The following year he was elected to serve a second presidential term.

U  Further Isolation and Trade Embargoes

The Iranian economy fared poorly under Rafsanjani as the national debt grew and inflation rose sharply; free market reforms were introduced in an attempt to improve the situation. In January 1993, under pressure from hardliners, Rafsanjani reaffirmed the 1989 fatwa against Salman Rushdie, although he stressed that it was a point of law, not government policy. Iran also continued to deny that it was an international sponsor of terrorism and turned aside accusations by both Algeria and Egypt that Iran sponsored terrorist groups in their countries. In June 1993 Rafsanjani was re-elected President. In 1994 the Rafsanjani government sponsored the launch of privately owned banks.

On April 30, 1995, US president Bill Clinton imposed a total ban on trade with Iran to compel the government to abandon its nuclear programme and its alleged sponsorship of international terrorism. In early 1996 the EU warned Iran that it would also impose sanctions unless Iran condemned international terrorism. As this action was not supported by all member states, negotiations continued in an attempt to provide Iran with a face-saving exit from the impasse.

The March 1996 general election was greeted mostly with apathy by the voters. A ban on both political parties and campaigning, plus the failure of many would-be parliamentary candidates to meet the Islamic credentials required, meant that electioneering was very subdued. Despite a low turnout at the polls, those loosely allied to the pro-Rafsanjani Servants of Construction fared extremely well, gaining about 70 per cent of the seats. This group consists of many high-profile technocrats, favouring economic reform following free-market principles, reduced economic subsidies, and increased contact with the West. Their electoral success was viewed as implying that the Iranian public was growing tired of revolutionary rhetoric and the country’s perilous economic situation. The opposition wing, the Militant Clergy Organization, led by the Speaker of Parliament, Nateq Nouri, has been blamed for many of Iran’s economic ills. The daughter of Rafsanjani was one of the successful parliamentary candidates.

Tensions between Iran and Europe continued with the raising, by the Khordad Foundation, of the reward for the assassination of Salman Rushdie in February 1997. Two months later, a German court implicated the Iranian government in the killing of Kurdish dissidents residing in Germany. Iran denied involvement.

V  1997 Elections

Presidential elections in May 1997 became a contest between the conservative Nateq Nouri, and the relatively moderate Mohammad Khatami. Khatami, who had relaxed restrictions on publishing and entertainment during his years as Cultural Minister (1982-1992), was favoured by the intelligentsia and by women and the young in general. In an election that saw a turnout of more than 90 per cent, Khatami scored a convincing victory, winning 69 per cent of votes cast. His success raised hopes among many within and outside Iran of liberalization of social and political restrictions and improvement of foreign relations, particularly with the United States. Nevertheless, radical change would seem to be unlikely while the conservative clergy remain powerful and the government continues to be under the ultimate control of Khaman’i as wali faqih.

In July, further US sanctions were put in place to prevent third-party investment in Iran’s weapons programmes, or in its oil industry. The sanctions were met with widespread international opposition. At the eighth summit of the OIC held in Tehran in December 1997, a clear split between moderates and conservatives was evident.

Iran’s foreign minister issued a statement in September, which appeared to end ten years of confrontation surrounding the fatwa declared against the author Salman Rushdie in 1989. It is not possible to lift a fatwa, as according to Islamic law only the person who issues a fatwa is able to lift it and Ayatollah Khomeini died soon after proclaiming the fatwa against Rushdie. The statement declared that the government threatened no harm to the author or anybody associated with his work. This led to the renewal of full diplomatic links between Iran and the United Kingdom, in May 1999.

W  Unrest Between Conservatives and Reformists

The power struggle between the conservatives and the reformists came into focus with the attack on US nationals in November 1998, and the murder in December of several dissident writers and intellectuals who were opposed to censorship and associated with secularism. This led to a number of arrests within the Information Ministry, which controls intelligence issues. A trial before a military court opened in Tehran in December 2000. Eighteen people stand accused.

The first local elections to be held in Iran since the 1979 revolution took place in February 1999, with supporters of the reformist president doing well in the elections, particularly in Tehran.

President Khatami became the first Iranian leader to visit Europe since the 1979 revolution, when he made a three-day visit to Italy in March. He met Pope John Paul II in the Vatican, in an unprecedented meeting between the Roman Catholic Church and the head of an Islamic state.

X  Victory for the Reformists

Pro-reform students, long opposed to hard-line politicians and cleric-led authorities, began a campaign of protests, which culminated, in July 1999, in the worst riots since the revolution. Demonstrations continued until a landmark parliamentary election was held in February 2000. This sixth general election in the Islamic Republic produced a landslide victory for the reformists and created a legislature committed to democracy and civil liberties. The results were well received internationally (the United States relaxed some of the sanctions against Iran in March, extending, however, the ban on American oil contracts). Within Iran the reaction was rather different: angered by the success of reformist candidates, conservative factions were reported to have made attempts to delay the formation of the new reformist-dominated Majlis.

In a rare address to parliament in March 2001, Khatami remained committed to the future of democratic government, despite the thwarting of his attempts to implement his programme of reforms by conservative hardliners in control of important state institutions. He did not indicate whether he would stand again in the presidential elections to be held in early June.