History of the Islamic Republic of Iran
Encyclopedia
One of the most dramatic changes in government in Iran's history was seen with the 1979 Iranian Revolution
where Shah
(monarch
) Mohammad Reza Pahlavi
was overthrown and replaced by Ayatollah
Ruhollah Khomeini
. Autocratic monarchy was replaced by an Islamic Republic
based on the principle of rule by Islamic jurists, (or "Velayat-e faqih"), where clerics serve as head of state
and in many powerful governmental roles. A pro-Western
, pro-American
foreign policy was exchanged for one of "neither east nor west", said to rest on the three "pillars" of mandatory veil (hijab
) for women, and opposition to the United States
and Israel
. A rapidly modernizing, capitalist economy was replaced by populist
and Islam
ic economic and cultural policies.
The leader of the revolution and founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah
Ruhollah Khomeini
, was Iran's supreme leader
until his death in 1989. He was followed by Ali Khamenei
.
Some things remain much as they were under the monarchy. Iran has retained its status as a major regional power — it is far larger than any of its gulf neighbors, and possesses large reserves of gas and oil. Its national cohesion brought by a long history as a nation, strong central state government and its oil export revenues have brought it "respectable" levels of income, literacy, college enrollment, infant mortality, and infrastructure. Modern trends found under the monarchy, such as urbanization, growing enrollment in higher education and literacy, continued.
headed by a Supreme Leader
. Its constitution was approved in 1979 and amended in 1989. Jaafari (Usuli) school of thought is the official religion. It has an elected president and elected governmental bodies at the national, provincial and local levels for which all males and females from the age of 18 on up may vote, which are supervised by theocratic bodies, particularly the Council of Guardians which had veto power over who can run for parliament (or Islamic Consultative Assembly) and whether its bills can become law. Nonetheless the elected organs have more power than equivalent ones in the Shah's government.
in Iran, the Islamic revolutionary regime of Ayatollah Khomeini dramatically reversed the pro-Western foreign policy of the regime it overthrew. Since then Iran has oscillated between the two opposing tendencies of revolutionary ardour (promoting the Islamic revolution and struggling against western non-Muslim tendencies abroad) and moves towards pragmatism (economic development and normalization of foreign relations). Iran's initial post-revolutionary idealistic and hard-line foreign policy and ambitious goals during the Iran–Iraq War. Ayatollah Khomeini's 1989 fatwa calling for the killing of British citizen Salman Rushdie for his allegedly blasphemous book The Satanic Verses
, demonstrated the willingness of the Islamic revolutionaries to sacrifice trade and other ties with western countries to threaten an individual citizen of a foreign country living thousands of miles away. After the Imam
's death in 1989 more pragmatic policies came to the fore. Relations improved with its non-Revolutionary-Islamic neighbours — i.e. all its neighbors — particularly Saudi Arabia
. Following the 2005 election of President Ahmedinejad, Iran has returned to more Islamic revolutionary policies.
The Islamic Republic's sponsorship of Hezbollah in Lebanon has been a major success, however in other areas it has seen setbacks. Author Olivier Roy describes the Islamic Republic's as having "lost most of its allure among non-Iranian Shia's," giving as examples the 1995 house arrest in Qom of the two sons of Grand Ayatollah Shirazi, spiritual leader of the Bahraini Shia; and the close cooperation between the Afghan Shia party Wahdat and the U.S. Army after November 2001.
The Islamic Republic strongly supports the Palestinian cause. Government aid goes to everything from Palestinian hospitals to arms supplies. There is vigorous media publicity, an official "Quds (Jerusalem) Day", and squares and streets named after Palestine crisscross Iranian cities. Some question whether the issue has domestic grassroots support, arguing that Iranians "lack emotional and cultural ties to Palestinians," or has been too costly in terms of opportunity cost
compared to peaceful coexistence.
rating (including life expectancy, literacy, education, and standard of living) improved significantly in the years after the revolution, climbing from 0.569 in 1980 to 0.759 in 2007/8. It now ranks 94th out of 177 countries with data. This is approximately the same rate, as neighbor Turkey which has a somewhat higher HDI rating (0.775). One factor in the HDI rise has been literacy rates among Iranian women which "rose from 28% to 80% between 1976 and 1996."
Although the Shah's regime had created a popular and successful Literacy Corps and also worked to raise literacy rates, the Islamic Republic based its educational reforms on Islamic principles. The Literacy Movement Organization (LMO), replaced the Literacy Corps following the revolution and is credited with much of Iran's continued success in reducing illiteracy from 52.5 per cent in 1976 to just 24 per cent, at the last count in 2002. The movement has established over 2,000 community learning centers across the country, employed some 55,000 instructors, distributed 300 easy-to-read books and manuals, and provided literacy classes to a million people, men as well as women. The increase in literacy "meant that for the first time in history most of the population, including Azeris, Kurds, Gilakis, and Moazanderanis, could converse and read in Persian."
In the field of health, maternal and infant mortality rates have been cut significantly. Infant mortality per 1000 dropped from 104 to 25.
In particular conditions improved in the countryside. The Reconstruction Jihad "extended roads, electricity, piped water, and most important of all, health clinics into villages. ... turning peasants into farmers. Soon most farmers had access not only to roads, schools, ... but also ... radios, refrigerators, telephones, televisions, motorbikes, even pickup trucks. ...on the eve of the revolution, life expectancy at birth had been less than 56; by the end of the century, it was near 70."
's economy is the large size of the religious foundations, or Bonyad
s, whose combined budgets are said to make up as much as half that of the central government.
Iran's economy has stagnated since the revolution — gross national income
per capita
was $2,160 in 1981 and had only grown to $2,770 in 2005 (for comparison the UK's GNI quadrupled in the same time period)
Economic problems include the shattering of the Iranian oil sector and consequent loss of output from the revolution and Iran–Iraq War (Iran sustained economic losses estimated at $500 billion), a soaring population over the same period, inefficiency in the state sector, dependence on petroleum exports, and corruption.
The constitution of the Islamic Republic calls for the state sector "to include all large-scale and mother industries, foreign trade", natural resources and communication; and calls on the private sector to "supplement the ... state and cooperative sectors."
Complaining about the economy is said to have become "a national pastime" among Iranians. According to international economic consultant Jahangir Amuzegar, as of 2003:
Per capita income declines when the price of oil declines (per capita income reportedly fell at one point (1995) to 1/4 of what it was prior to the revolution); Accumulated assets of the Iranian middle class - carpets, gold, apartments - that were acquired in the four-year boom after the 1973 oil price rise and served to cushion the fall in standards of living, have now reportedly "largely been sold off."
The poor have also exhibited dissatisfaction. Absolute poverty rose by nearly 45% during the first 6 years of the Islamic revolution and on several occasions the mustazafin have rioted, protesting the demolition of their shantytowns and rising food prices. Disabled war veterans have demonstrated against mismanagement of the Foundation of the Disinherited. Hardship has compelled some children to take odd jobs rather than go to school.
A 2002 study leaked from Iran's Interior Ministry, reported nearly 90% of respondents dissatisfied with the present government according to Amuzegar. Of this total, 28% wanted "fundamental" changes, 66% "gradual reforms." 10% expressed satisfaction with the status quo.
According British-Iranian scholar, Ali M. Ansari, "Iranians joke" that with the world's second or third largest reserves of oil
and natural gas, extensive deposits of copper
, gold
, uranium
, as well as an educated and cohesive workforce, "they are blessed with all the facilities to be the industrial engine of the region, except good governance."
Corruption is a problem in the Islamic Republic. According to some observers, its level compares unfavorably with pre-revolutionary days. Foreign journalist Robin Wright quotes a bazaari
as saying "The clergy tries to keep itself clean. But you can't do anything anymore without paying off this mullah's son or that mullah's brother-in-law - and these days usually both."
Bribery "in Iran... was increasingly becoming the biggest part of a business deal - and a lot of other transactions too. Iranians called it bribery
, or "oiling the mustache," was commonly practiced before the revolution, but payoffs then "were usually a one-time thing of a known amount. Two decades after the revolution, even the smallest service called for bribes to several different parties.
is estimated to come to almost $6 billion a year in growth opportunities, based on the average Iranian professional contributiong $40,000 per year to gross capital formation.
Emigration from Iran, starting with young males fleeing from the Iran–Iraq War draft, is thought be some to be the feature of the Islamic Republic most resented by Iranians. According to Shirin Ebadi, "If you ask most Iranians what keeneh, what grievance, they nurture most bitterly against the Islamic Republic, it is the tearing apart of their families ... had the revolutionaries tempered their wild radicalism, had they not replaced then shah with a regime that prompted mass flight, their families would still be whole."
Despite the lowering of the legal age of marriage for women fell to 9, and the Ayatollah Khomeini's support for early marriage for females,
the actual average age of marriage for women rose to 22 by 1996.
Thus the age difference between husbands and wives in Iran actually fell between 1980 and 2000, from 7 to 2.1 years. (The man's average age at marriage has remained around 24.4 over the past 20 years, which means greater educational equality between spouses.)
Nor has Islamisation of family law lead to an increase in the number of polygamous families or more frequent divorces. Polygamy has remained at about 2% of permanent marriages during the past 40 years and the divorce rate has decreased slightly since the 1970s.
Population growth was encouraged for the first nine years of the revolution, but in 1988 youth unemployment concerns prompted the government to do "an amazing U-turn" and Iran now has "one of the world's most effective" family planning programs.
After the Iranian revolution, Iranian women have continued to occupy high positions in political system. In late 1990s, Iranians sent more women to Iranian parliament than Americans sent to U.S. senate.
Gharbzadegi
("westoxification") or western cultural influence stubbornly remains, entering via (illegal) music recordings, videos, and satellite dishes, despite government efforts. Conpulsory hijab
(veiling) for women has been given extensive police enforcement, Shorts, necklaces, “glamorous” hairstyles, and neckties (in government buildings) are forbidden for men. Western music is banned even more thoroughly, but observors note it is nonetheless popular and widespread. One post-revolutionary opinion poll found 61% of students in Tehran chose "Western artists" as their role models with only 17% choosing "Iran's officials."
In the first five years of the Islamic Republic, during its consolidation, approximately 8000 political opponents were executed. Thousands of political prisoners were also executed in 1988. Like other revolutions before it, the Iranian Revolution took a higher toll on those who had participated in the revolution than those in the regime it overthrew.
In recent years the killing of dissidents has been much less frequent
and reported abuses are more likely to include harsh penalties for crimes; punishment of fornication, homosexuality, apostasy, poor hijab
(covering of the head for women); restrictions on freedom of speech
, and the press
, including the imprisonment of journalists; unequal treatment according to religion and gender
; torture to extract repudiations by prisoners of their cause and comrades on video for propaganda purposes, and allowing prisoners to die by withholding medical treatment.
For religious minorities life has been mixed under the Islamic Republic. Khomeini also called for unity between Sunni and Shi'a Muslims (Sunni Muslims are the largest religious minority in Iran). Pre-revolutionary statements by Khomeini were antagonistic towards Jews, but shortly after his return from exile in 1979, he issued a fatwa ordering that Jews and other minorities (except Baha'is
) be treated well.
Non-Muslim religious minorities do not have equal rights in the Islamic Republic (For example senior government posts are reserved for Muslims and Jewish, Christian and Zoroastrian schools must be run by Muslim principals) but four of the 270 seats in parliament are reserved for three non-Islamic minority religions.
The 300,000 members of the Bahá'í Faith
, are actively harassed. "Some 200 of whom have been executed and the rest forced to convert or subjected to the most horrendous disabilities." Starting in late 1979 the new government systematically targeted the leadership of the Bahá'í community by focusing on the Bahá'í leadership.
in SE Iran, killed more than 26,000 people in Dec 2003.
A major earthquake
hit N Iran on June 21, 1990, killing nearly 40,000 people.
, surgery
, pharmacology
, stem cell
research and theoretical physics
(e.g. string theory
), Iranian scientists have found international reputation since the Iranian revolution. Nuclear technology and stem cell research were the two fields that have enjoyed special support from the central government and Iranian leadership since the revolution.
In 2005 Iran's national science budget was less than $1 billion and had not been subject to any significant increase since 15 years ago. But according to Science-Metrix, since 1990 Iran's scientific production has had a rapid build up, and Iran currently has the fastest growth rate in science and technology worldwide.
Iran is among the international leaders of stem cell technology and was the 10th country to produce embryonic human stem cell, although in terms of articles per capita basis, it reportedly ranked 16th in the world.
republic under Khomeini, and Iran was fighting a costly and bloody war with Iraq.
. The first major demonstrations to overthrow Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi
began in January 1978. The new theocratic Constitution — whereby Khomeini became Supreme Leader
of the country — was approved in December 1979. In between, the Shah fled Iran in January 1979 after strikes and demonstrations paralyzed the country, and on February 1, 1979 Ayatollah Khomeini returned to Tehran to a greeting by several million Iranians. The final collapse of the Pahlavi dynasty
occurred shortly after on February 11 when Iran's military declared itself "neutral" after guerrillas and rebel troops overwhelmed troops loyal to the Shah in armed street fighting. Iran officially became an Islamic Republic on April 1, 1979 when Iranians overwhelmingly approved a national referendum to make it so.
In the non-Muslim world it has changed the image of Islam, generating much interest in the politics and spirituality of Islam, along with "fear and distrust towards Islam" and particularly the Islamic Republic and its founder. In the Mideast and Muslim world, particularly in its early years, it triggered enormous enthusiasm and redoubled opposition to western intervention and influence. Islamist insurgents rose in Saudi Arabia (the 1979 week-long takeover of the Grand Mosque
), Egypt (the 1981 machine-gunning of the Egyptian President Sadat), Syria (the Muslim Brotherhood rebellion in Hama
), and Lebanon (the 1983 bombing of the American Embassy and French and American peace-keeping troops
).
In the West some were very supportive. Marvin Zonis
, director of the University of Chicago's Middle East Institute concluded:
An event that helped pass the constitution, radicalize the revolution and strengthen its anti-American stance, was the Iran hostage crisis. On November 4, 1979, Iranian students seized the U.S.
embassy in Tehran
holding 52 embassy employees hostage for a 444 days. The Carter administration severed diplomatic relations and imposed economic sanctions
on April 7, 1980 and later that month unsuccessfully attempted a rescue that further enhanced Khomeini's prestige in Iran. On May 24 the International Court of Justice
called for the hostages to be released. Finally the hostages were released 20 January 1981, by agreement of the Carter Administration, see Algiers Accords
Jan. 19, 1981. The crisis also marked the beginning of American legal action, or sanctions, that economically separated Iran from America. Sanctions blocked all property within US jurisdiction owned by the Central Bank and Government of Iran.
In succession the National Democratic Front
was banned in August 1979, the provisional government was disempowered in November, the Muslim People's Republican Party banned in January 1980, the People's Mujahedin of Iran
guerrillas came under attack in February 1980, a purge of universities was begun in March 1980, and leftist President Abolhassan Banisadr
was impeached in June 1981.
Explanations for why Khomeini supporters were successful in crushing the opposition include lack of unity in the opposition. According to Asghar Schirazi, the moderates lacked ambition and were not well organised, while the radicals (such People's Mujahedin of Iran
or PMOI) were "unrealistic" about the conservatism of the Iranian masses and unprepared to work with moderates to fight against theocracy. Moderate Islamists, such as Banisadr, were "credulous and submissive" towards Khomeini.
On 28 June 1981, bombs were detonated at the headquarters of the since-dissolved Islamic Republic Party. Around 70 high-ranking officials, including Chief Justice Mohammad Beheshti (who was the second most powerful figure in the revolution after Ayatollah Khomeini at the time), cabinet members, and members of parliament, were killed. The PMOI never publicly confirmed or denied any responsibility for the deed, but only stated the attack was `a natural and necessary reaction to the regime's atrocities.` Khomeini did accuse them of responsibility and, according to BBC journalist Baqer Moin
, the PMOI were "generally perceived as the culprits" for it in Iran. Two months later on August 30, another bomb was detonated killing President Rajai and Premier Mohammad Javad Bahonar
. A member of the PMOI, Mas'ud Kashmiri, was announced as the perpetrator, and according to regime reports came close to killing the entire government including Khomeini. The reaction following both bombings was intense with thousands of arrests and hundreds of executions of PMOI and other leftist groups, but "assassinations of leading officials and active supporters of the regime by the PMOI were to continue for the next year or two."
Shortly after the success of the revolution, revolutionary leader Ruhollah Khomeini
began calling for Islamic revolutions across the Muslim world, including Iran's Arab neighbor Iraq,
the one large state besides Iran in the Gulf with a Shia Muslim majority population.
The war began with Iraq
's invasion of Iran, in an attempt by Iraq's dictator Saddam Hussein
to take advantage of the perceived post-revolutionary military weakness in Iran and the Revolution's unpopularity with Western governments. Much of the top leadership of Iran's once-strong Iranian military had been executed. Saddam sought to expand Iraq's access to the Persian Gulf
and the oil reserves in Khuzestan
(which also only has a substantial Arab
population), and to undermine Iranian Islamic revolutionary attempts to incite the Shi'a majority of his country. Many Iranians believe Saddam invaded with the encouragement of the United States, Saudi Arabia
and other countries.
A combination of fierce resistance by Iranians and military incompetence by Iraqi forces soon stalled the Iraqi advance and by early 1982 Iran regained almost all the territory lost to the invasion. The invasion rallied Iranians behind the new regime, enhancing Khomeini's stature and allowed him to consolidate and stabilize his leadership. After this reversal, Khomeini refused an Iraqi offer of a truce, declaring "the regime in Baghdad must fall and must be replaced by an Islamic Republic."
The war continued for another six years under the slogans `War, War until Victory,` and `The Road to Jerusalem Goes through Baghdad,` but other countries, particularly the United States, gave crucial aid to Iraq. As the costs mounted and Iranian morale waned, Khomeini finally accepted a truce called for by UN Security Council Resolution 598. Although neither borders nor regimes were changed the war helped to `awaken the people and to fight the problems that threaten the revolution,` according to future president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani
. An estimated 200,000 Iranian were killed and the war is estimated to have cost Iran $627 billion in total direct and indirect charges (in 1990 dollars).
). In the next four years from June 1981 until June 1985, the courts sentenced more than 8000 opponents to death. After a relative lull, thousands of political prisoners were executed in 1988. Like other revolutions before it, the Iranian Revolution took a higher toll on those who had participated in the revolution than those in the regime it over threw.
from that of Shia marja
, (the `highest source of religious emulation`), since he found none of marja to be suitable successors as none had given strong support for his policies. The amendments were drafted and approved by the public about one month after Khomeini's death (1989 July 9). They paved the way for Ali Khamenei
- a long time lieutenant of Khomeini, but a relatively low ranking cleric - to be Khomeini's successor as Supreme Leader
, but to critics they undermined the "intellectual foundations" of the Islamic Republic theocracy, braking "the charismatic bond between leader and followers."
The first post-war decade in Iran has been described as a time of pragmatism, and an `economy-first` policy. According to Shirin Ebadi, "about two years into the postwar period, the Islamic Republic quietly changed course. ... It was fairly clear by then that the Shia revolution would not be sweeping the region."
Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani
was elected president shortly after Khomeini's death, and has been described as less revolutionary and "isolationist" than his rivals — "economically liberal, politically authoritarian, and philosophically traditional." (He served from August 17, 1989 to August 1997.) While Leader Khamane'i and the Council of Guardians generally supported these policies, in the parliament radical deputees initially had control, outnumbered Rafsanjani's "pragmatic-conservative camp" 90 to 160.
The two groups differed strongly over economic and foreign policy, with radicals tending to support mass political participation and state control of the economy, and oppose normalization of relations with the West. Conservatives used the power to disqualification candidates from running for office to deal with this problem. "The council of Guardians disqualified nearly all radical candidates from the fall 1990 Assembly of Experts elections because they had failed to pass written and oral tests in Islamic jurisprudence." In the winter and spring of 1992 nearly one-third of the 3150 candidates for the 1992 election for the parliament were rejected, including 39 incumbents. Leading radicals such as Khalkhali, Nabvi, Bayat, and Hajjat al-Eslam Hadi Ghaffari were sent packing because they lacked the "proper Islamic credentials."
In late 1992 Minister of Islamic Guidance Seyed Mohammad Khatami
and director of the Voice and Vision Broadcasting company Mohammad Hashemi
Rafsanjani (brother of the president) were both forced out. By 1994 "hundreds of intellectuals and supposed dissidents were in prison and some had been executed." These purges cleared the regime of opponents but are thought to have set the stage for the reform movement, as exiled radicals warmed to the "liberal" values of freedom of speech, assembly, due process, etc.
invaded Kuwait
in Aug., 1990, Iran adhered to international sanctions against Iraq. However, Iran condemned the use of U.S.-led coalition forces against Iraq during the Persian Gulf War
(1991). As a result of the war and its aftermath, more than one million Kurds crossed the Iraqi border into Iran as refugees.
Despite the "economy first" focus, Iran suffered serious economic problems during the Rafsanjani era. According to economist Bijan Khajehpour, economic growth in Iran between 1989 and 1994 was "mainly financed through the accumulation of some $30 billion in foreign debt. In 1993, the ratio of Iran's foreign debt to the country's GDP reached 38%, which was alarming." A lack of foreign investment along with a fall in oil prices from $20 to $12 per barrel added to this external debt, and triggered an economic recession. The Iranian rial
pummeted from 1749 to 6400 to the dollar in 1995. Unemployment reached 30%. The price of sugar, rice and butter rose threefold, and that of bread sixfold.
In part this economic downturn came from American economic sanctions leveled in 1995
, when America suspended all trade with Iran, accusing Iran of supporting terrorist groups and attempting to develop nuclear weapons. The sanctions in turn may be traceable to the earlier hostage crisis
and the enmity of the US government which continued to see Iran as a major regional threat both to America and Israel.
's two terms as president from 1997-2005 are sometimes called Iran's Reform Era.
Khatami based his campaign on a reform program promising a more democratic and tolerant society, promotion of civil society, the rule of law and improvement of social rights. This included city council elections, adherence to Iran's constitution, freedom to criticize high ranking authorities - including the supreme leader
, permission to operate newspapers of a wide range of political views, reopening the embassies of all European countries, reorganizing the Ministry of Intelligence of Iran after the Iran's Chain Murders of Intellectuals
, initiating a dialogue between people of different faith inside and outside Iran, also called "Dialogue Among Civilizations
."
Iran's large youth demographic (by 1995, about half of the country's 60.5 million people had not been born after the Islamic Revolution) is one of Khatami's bases of support.
In 1999, new curbs were put on the press. Courts banned more than 60 newspapers. Important allies of President Khatami
were arrested, tried and imprisoned on what outside observers considered "trumped up" or ideological grounds. Tehran
mayor
, Gholamhossein Karbaschi
was tried on corruption charges and Interior Minister Abdollah Nouri for "sacrilege" - despite their credentials as activists in the Islamic revolution. In 2002 history professor and reformist activist Hashem Aghajari
was sentenced to death for apostasy for calling for "Islamic Protestantism" and reform in Islam.
In July 1999 conservatives closed the reformist newspaper, Salam, and attacked a Tehran University student dormitory after students protested the closing. Prodemocracy student demonstrations erupted at Tehran University and other urban campuses. These were followed by a wave of counter demonstrations by conservative
factions.
Reform
ers won a substantial victory in the Feb., 2000, parliamentary elections, capturing about two thirds of the seats, but conservative
elements in the government forced the closure of the reformist press. Attempts by parliament to repeal restrictive press laws were forbidden by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei
. Despite these conditions, President Khatami was overwhelming reelected in June, 2001. Tensions between reformers in parliament and conservatives in the judiciary
and the Guardian Council
, over both social
and economic changes, increased after Khatami's reelection.
Khatami worked to improve relations with other countries visiting many other countries and holding a dialogue between civilizations, and encouraged foreigners to invest in Iran. He announced Iran would accept a two-state solution for Palestine if Palestinians agreed to one, relaxed restrictions on the Bahais
, and assured Britain Iran would not implement the fatwa against Salman Rushdie
. Several European Union
countries began renewing economic ties with Iran in the late 1990s and trade and investment increased. In 1998 Britain reestablished diplomatic relations with Iran broken since the 1979. The United States loosened its economic embargo, but it continued to block more normalized relations, arguing that the country had been implicated in international terrorism and was developing a nuclear weapons capacity.
in his State of the Union Address
United States President George W. Bush
labeled Iran, along with Iraq
, and North Korea
as an "Axis of evil
"
Tensions with the United States increased after the Anglo-America
n invasion of Iraq in March, 2003, as U.S. officials increasingly denounced Iran for pursuing the alleged development of nuclear weapons.
named Iran as a major threat to world peace, part of an "Axis of Evil
," despite Iranian cooperation with America in Afghanistan against the Taliban. The speech sparked widespread demonstrations
all across Iran.
A number of Western analysts and journalists described the move as putting the reformists on the defensive and splitting them, while "rescuing" Islamist conservatives, and even being a major cause of the demise of the reform movement.
The reform era ended with the conservatives defeat of Iranian reformists in the elections of 2003, 2004 and 2005 - the local, parliamentary, and presidential elections. According to at least one observer, the reformists were defeated not so much by a growth of support for conservative Islamist policies as by division within the reformist movement and the banning of many reform candidates which discouraged pro-reform voters from voting.
and 2009
. Ahmadinejad ran for office as a conservative populist pledging to fight corruption, defend the interests of the poor, and strengthen Iran's national security. In 2005 he defeated former president Rafsanjani by a wide margin in the runoff, his victory credited to the popularity of his economic promises and a very low reformist voter turnout compared to the 1997 and 2001 elections. This victory gave conservatives control of all branches of Iran's government.
His administration has been marked by controversy over his outspoken pronouncements against American "arrogance" and "imperialism," and description of the state of Israel as a “fabricated entity … doomed to go,” and over high unemployment and inflation opponents blamed on his populist economic policies of cheap loans for small businesses, and generous subsidies on petrol and food.
In 2009 Ahmadinejad's victory was hotly disputed and marred by large protests
that formed the "greatest domestic challenge" to the leadership of the Islamic Republic "in 30 years", as well as clashes with parliament. Despite high turnout and large enthusiastic crowds for reformist opponent Mir-Hossein Mousavi
, Ahmadinejad was officially declared to have won by a 2-1 margin against three opponents. Allegations of voting irregularities and protest by Mousavi his supporters were immediate, and continued off and on into 2011. Some 36-72 were killed and 4000 arrested. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei
declared Ahmadinejad's victory a "divine assessment" and called for unity. He and others Islamic officials blamed foreign powers for fomenting the protest.
However by late 2010 several sources detected a "growing rift" between Ahmadinejad, and Khamenei and his supporters, with talk of impeachment of Ahmadinejad. The dispute centered on Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei
, a top adviser and close confidant of Ahmadinejad, and accused leader of a "deviant current" opposing greater involvement of clerics in politics.
and not by Iran's president, Ahmadinejad has gained much international publicity for his foreign policy. Under Ahmadinejad Iran's strong ties with the republic of Syria and Hezbollah of Lebanon have continued, and new relationships with predominately Shia neighbor Iraq and fellow opponent of US foreign policy Hugo Chavez
of Venezuela have been developed.
Ahmadinejad's outspoken pronouncements in foreign affairs (see below) included personal letters to a number of world leaders including one to American president George W. Bush
inviting him to "monotheism and justice", an open letter to the American people, the delcaration that there were no homosexuals in Iran,
an expression of happiness at the 2008 global economic crisis which would "put an end to liberal economy".
Hezbollah's dependence on Iran for military and financial aid is not universally supported in Iran. The 2006 Israel-Hezbollah War exposed the world to the amount of weapons in Hezbollah possession said to be Iranian imports.
wanted to see Israel
"wiped off the map," saying "Ahmadinejad had been misunderstood." It was asserted that the correct translation of Ahmadinejad's remark was, "the regime currently occupying Jerusalem will be erased from the pages of time." Reviewing the controversy over the translation, New York Times deputy foreign editor Ethan Bronner
observed that "all official translations" of the comments, including the foreign ministry and president's office, "refer to wiping Israel away".
His comments were strongly criticized by a number of foreign leaders.
Iran's stated policy on Israel is to urge a one-state solution through a countrywide referendum
in which a government would be elected that all Palestinians and all Israelis would jointly vote for; which would normally be an end to the "Zionist state". Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei, rejecting any attack on Israel, called for a referendum
in Palestine
. Ahmadinejad himself has also repeatedly called for such solution. Moreover Khamenei’s main advisor in foreign policy, Ali Akbar Velayati
, said that Holocaust was a genocide and a historical reality.
into gas
, a necessary step for enrichment, the IAEA passed a resolution that accused Iran of failing to comply with the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and called for the agency to report Iran to the UN Security Council. The timetable for the reporting, however, was left undetermined. Iran's stated position is that it is in full compliance with the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, that it has allowed the IAEA inspections beyond what is required, and that it has no ambitions to build atomic weapons.
In the February, 2004, elections, conservatives won control of parliament, securing some two thirds of the seats. Many Iranians, however, were unhappy with the failure of the current parliament to achieve any significant reforms or diminish the influence of the hardliners.
In mid-2004 Iran began resuming the processing of nuclear fuel
as part of its plan to achieve self-sufficiency in civilian nuclear power production, stating that the negotiations with European Union
nations had failed to bring access to the advanced nuclear technology
that was promised. The action was denounced by the United States as one which would give Iran the capability to develop nuclear weapons. The IAEA said that there was no evidence
that Iran was seeking to develop such arms. However, the IAEA also called for Iran to abandon its plans to produce enriched uranium
. In Nov., 2004, Iran agreed to suspend uranium enrichment, but subsequently indicated that it would not be held to the suspension if the negotiations the EU nations failed.
In October, however, Iran agreed, in negotiations with several W European nations, to toughen international
inspections of its nuclear installations. Concern over Iran's nuclear program nonetheless continued.
According to Farda newspaper, the difference between President Ahmadinejad administration's revenues and the amount deposited with the Central Bank of Iran exceeds $66 billion dollars. This is a large number as it is equal one-tenth of Iran's total oil revenues since the 1979 revolution
. This amount is broken down as follows:
Vice President for Executive Affairs Ali Saeedlou said in 2008 that "mafia
groups" in Iran are trying to divert public opinion away from the government's determination to fight economic corruption by creating impediments, spreading rumors and promoting despair in the society.
In 2010, more than 230 lawmakers
in a letter to Judiciary Chief Ayatollah Sadeq Larijani
said it is the duty of his organization to start from the top echelons of power in the drive against corruption. The letter added,
In July 2007, Ahmadinejad ordered the dissolution of the Management and Planning Organisation of Iran
, a relatively independent planning body with a supervisory role in addition to its responsibility to allocate the national budget, and replaced it with a new budget planning body directly under his control, a move that may give him a freer hand to implement populist policies.
In November 2008, a group of 60 Iranian economists condemned Ahmadinejad's economic policies, saying Iran faces deep economic problems, including stunted growth, double-digit inflation and widespread unemployment, and must drastically change course. It also criticized Ahmadinejad's foreign policy calling it "tension-creating" and saying it has "scared off foreign investment and inflicted heavy damage" on the economy. Ahmadinejad replied that Iran has been "least affected by this international financial crisis."
, mismanagement, kleptocracy
, rapid increases in demand and limited refining capacity has forced the country to import about 40% of its gasoline
, at an annual cost of up to $7 billion.
, Iran’s human rights record "has deteriorated markedly" under the administration of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Beginning in 2005, the number of offenders executed increased from 86 in 2005 to 317 in 2007. Months-long arbitrary detentions of "peaceful activists, journalists, students, and human rights defenders" and often charged with “acting against national security,” has intensified.
" in more than a decade. In the capital Tehran thousands of Iranian women were cautioned over their poor Islamic dress and several hundred arrested. In 2011, an estimated 70,000 police in Tehran alone, patroled for clothing and hair infractions. As of 2011, men are barred from wearing necklaces, “glamorous” hairstyles, pony tails, and shorts. Neckties are forbidden in the holy city of Qom
. After a leading cleric (Hojatoleslam Gholamreza Hassani
) issued a fatwa against keeping dogs as pets, a crackdown on dog ownership commenced.
Several controversial proposals by President Ahmadinejad and conservatives have not come to fruition. Plans to encourage larger families,
to encourage polygamy by permitting it despite the opposition of a huband's first wife; and to put a tax on Mahriyeh - a stipulated sum that a groom agrees to give or owe to his bride which is seen by many women "as a financial safety net in the event a husband leaves the marriage and is not forced to pay alimony" - have not gone anywhere.
that formed the "greatest domestic challenge" to the leadership of the Islamic Republic "in 30 years". Despite high turnout and large enthusiastic crowds for reformist opponent Mir-Hossein Mousavi
, Ahmadinejad was officially declared to have won by a 2-1 margin against three opponents. Allegations of voting irregularities and protest by Mousavi his supporters were immediate, and by 1 July 2009 1000 people had been arrested and 20 killed in street demonstrations. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei
and others Islamic officials blamed foreign powers for fomenting the protest. However, according to World Public Opinion (a US poll), the protest does not mean Iran is in a "pre-revolutionary" situation as a WPO poll of Iranians taken in early September 2009 found high levels of satisfaction with the regime. 80% of the Iranians respondents said President Ahmadinejad was honest, 64% expressed a lot of confidence in him, and nine in ten said they were satisfied with Iran's system of government.
's 2010-poll conducted in Persian
by a representative sample of the Iranian people:
Iranian Revolution
The Iranian Revolution refers to events involving the overthrow of Iran's monarchy under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and its replacement with an Islamic republic under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the...
where Shah
Shah
Shāh is the title of the ruler of certain Southwest Asian and Central Asian countries, especially Persia , and derives from the Persian word shah, meaning "king".-History:...
(monarch
Monarch
A monarch is the person who heads a monarchy. This is a form of government in which a state or polity is ruled or controlled by an individual who typically inherits the throne by birth and occasionally rules for life or until abdication...
) Mohammad Reza Pahlavi
Mohammad Reza Pahlavi
Mohammad Rezā Shāh Pahlavi, Shah of Iran, Shah of Persia , ruled Iran from 16 September 1941 until his overthrow by the Iranian Revolution on 11 February 1979...
was overthrown and replaced by Ayatollah
Ayatollah
Ayatollah is a high ranking title given to Usuli Twelver Shī‘ah clerics. Those who carry the title are experts in Islamic studies such as jurisprudence, ethics, and philosophy and usually teach in Islamic seminaries. The next lower clerical rank is Hojatoleslam wal-muslemin...
Ruhollah Khomeini
Ruhollah Khomeini
Grand Ayatollah Sayyed Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini was an Iranian religious leader and politician, and leader of the 1979 Iranian Revolution which saw the overthrow of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran...
. Autocratic monarchy was replaced by an Islamic Republic
Islamic republic
Islamic republic is the name given to several states in the Muslim world including the Islamic Republics of Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan, and Mauritania. Pakistan adopted the title under the constitution of 1956. Mauritania adopted it on 28 November 1958. Iran adopted it after the 1979 Iranian...
based on the principle of rule by Islamic jurists, (or "Velayat-e faqih"), where clerics serve as head of state
Head of State
A head of state is the individual that serves as the chief public representative of a monarchy, republic, federation, commonwealth or other kind of state. His or her role generally includes legitimizing the state and exercising the political powers, functions, and duties granted to the head of...
and in many powerful governmental roles. A pro-Western
Western culture
Western culture, sometimes equated with Western civilization or European civilization, refers to cultures of European origin and is used very broadly to refer to a heritage of social norms, ethical values, traditional customs, religious beliefs, political systems, and specific artifacts and...
, pro-American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
foreign policy was exchanged for one of "neither east nor west", said to rest on the three "pillars" of mandatory veil (hijab
Hijab
The word "hijab" or "'" refers to both the head covering traditionally worn by Muslim women and modest Muslim styles of dress in general....
) for women, and opposition to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
. A rapidly modernizing, capitalist economy was replaced by populist
Populism
Populism can be defined as an ideology, political philosophy, or type of discourse. Generally, a common theme compares "the people" against "the elite", and urges social and political system changes. It can also be defined as a rhetorical style employed by members of various political or social...
and Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
ic economic and cultural policies.
The leader of the revolution and founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah
Ayatollah
Ayatollah is a high ranking title given to Usuli Twelver Shī‘ah clerics. Those who carry the title are experts in Islamic studies such as jurisprudence, ethics, and philosophy and usually teach in Islamic seminaries. The next lower clerical rank is Hojatoleslam wal-muslemin...
Ruhollah Khomeini
Ruhollah Khomeini
Grand Ayatollah Sayyed Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini was an Iranian religious leader and politician, and leader of the 1979 Iranian Revolution which saw the overthrow of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran...
, was Iran's supreme leader
Supreme leader
A supreme leader typically refers to a figure in the highest leadership position of an entity, group, organization, or state, who exercises strong or all-powerful authority over it. In religion, the supreme leader or supreme leaders is God or Gods...
until his death in 1989. He was followed by Ali Khamenei
Ali Khamenei
Ayatollah Seyed Ali Hoseyni Khāmene’i is the Supreme Leader of Iran and the figurative head of the Muslim conservative establishment in Iran and Twelver Shi'a marja...
.
General trends
During the era of the Islamic Republic, Iran has grown from 39 million (1980) to 70 million people.Some things remain much as they were under the monarchy. Iran has retained its status as a major regional power — it is far larger than any of its gulf neighbors, and possesses large reserves of gas and oil. Its national cohesion brought by a long history as a nation, strong central state government and its oil export revenues have brought it "respectable" levels of income, literacy, college enrollment, infant mortality, and infrastructure. Modern trends found under the monarchy, such as urbanization, growing enrollment in higher education and literacy, continued.
Politics and government
The Islamic Republic of Iran is an Islamic theocracyTheocracy
Theocracy is a form of organization in which the official policy is to be governed by immediate divine guidance or by officials who are regarded as divinely guided, or simply pursuant to the doctrine of a particular religious sect or religion....
headed by a Supreme Leader
Supreme leader
A supreme leader typically refers to a figure in the highest leadership position of an entity, group, organization, or state, who exercises strong or all-powerful authority over it. In religion, the supreme leader or supreme leaders is God or Gods...
. Its constitution was approved in 1979 and amended in 1989. Jaafari (Usuli) school of thought is the official religion. It has an elected president and elected governmental bodies at the national, provincial and local levels for which all males and females from the age of 18 on up may vote, which are supervised by theocratic bodies, particularly the Council of Guardians which had veto power over who can run for parliament (or Islamic Consultative Assembly) and whether its bills can become law. Nonetheless the elected organs have more power than equivalent ones in the Shah's government.
Foreign affairs
Following the 1979 revolutionIranian Revolution
The Iranian Revolution refers to events involving the overthrow of Iran's monarchy under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and its replacement with an Islamic republic under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the...
in Iran, the Islamic revolutionary regime of Ayatollah Khomeini dramatically reversed the pro-Western foreign policy of the regime it overthrew. Since then Iran has oscillated between the two opposing tendencies of revolutionary ardour (promoting the Islamic revolution and struggling against western non-Muslim tendencies abroad) and moves towards pragmatism (economic development and normalization of foreign relations). Iran's initial post-revolutionary idealistic and hard-line foreign policy and ambitious goals during the Iran–Iraq War. Ayatollah Khomeini's 1989 fatwa calling for the killing of British citizen Salman Rushdie for his allegedly blasphemous book The Satanic Verses
The Satanic Verses controversy
The Satanic Verses controversy was the heated and sometimes violent Muslim reaction to the publication of Salman Rushdie's novel The Satanic Verses. Many Muslims accused Rushdie of blasphemy or unbelief and in 1989 Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini of Iran issued a fatwa ordering Muslims to kill Rushdie...
, demonstrated the willingness of the Islamic revolutionaries to sacrifice trade and other ties with western countries to threaten an individual citizen of a foreign country living thousands of miles away. After the Imam
Imam
An imam is an Islamic leadership position, often the worship leader of a mosque and the Muslim community. Similar to spiritual leaders, the imam is the one who leads Islamic worship services. More often, the community turns to the mosque imam if they have a religious question...
's death in 1989 more pragmatic policies came to the fore. Relations improved with its non-Revolutionary-Islamic neighbours — i.e. all its neighbors — particularly Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...
. Following the 2005 election of President Ahmedinejad, Iran has returned to more Islamic revolutionary policies.
The Islamic Republic's sponsorship of Hezbollah in Lebanon has been a major success, however in other areas it has seen setbacks. Author Olivier Roy describes the Islamic Republic's as having "lost most of its allure among non-Iranian Shia's," giving as examples the 1995 house arrest in Qom of the two sons of Grand Ayatollah Shirazi, spiritual leader of the Bahraini Shia; and the close cooperation between the Afghan Shia party Wahdat and the U.S. Army after November 2001.
The Islamic Republic strongly supports the Palestinian cause. Government aid goes to everything from Palestinian hospitals to arms supplies. There is vigorous media publicity, an official "Quds (Jerusalem) Day", and squares and streets named after Palestine crisscross Iranian cities. Some question whether the issue has domestic grassroots support, arguing that Iranians "lack emotional and cultural ties to Palestinians," or has been too costly in terms of opportunity cost
Opportunity cost
Opportunity cost is the cost of any activity measured in terms of the value of the best alternative that is not chosen . It is the sacrifice related to the second best choice available to someone, or group, who has picked among several mutually exclusive choices. The opportunity cost is also the...
compared to peaceful coexistence.
Human development
Despite stagnation in the economy, Iran's Human Development IndexHuman Development Index
The Human Development Index is a composite statistic used to rank countries by level of "human development" and separate "very high human development", "high human development", "medium human development", and "low human development" countries...
rating (including life expectancy, literacy, education, and standard of living) improved significantly in the years after the revolution, climbing from 0.569 in 1980 to 0.759 in 2007/8. It now ranks 94th out of 177 countries with data. This is approximately the same rate, as neighbor Turkey which has a somewhat higher HDI rating (0.775). One factor in the HDI rise has been literacy rates among Iranian women which "rose from 28% to 80% between 1976 and 1996."
Although the Shah's regime had created a popular and successful Literacy Corps and also worked to raise literacy rates, the Islamic Republic based its educational reforms on Islamic principles. The Literacy Movement Organization (LMO), replaced the Literacy Corps following the revolution and is credited with much of Iran's continued success in reducing illiteracy from 52.5 per cent in 1976 to just 24 per cent, at the last count in 2002. The movement has established over 2,000 community learning centers across the country, employed some 55,000 instructors, distributed 300 easy-to-read books and manuals, and provided literacy classes to a million people, men as well as women. The increase in literacy "meant that for the first time in history most of the population, including Azeris, Kurds, Gilakis, and Moazanderanis, could converse and read in Persian."
In the field of health, maternal and infant mortality rates have been cut significantly. Infant mortality per 1000 dropped from 104 to 25.
In particular conditions improved in the countryside. The Reconstruction Jihad "extended roads, electricity, piped water, and most important of all, health clinics into villages. ... turning peasants into farmers. Soon most farmers had access not only to roads, schools, ... but also ... radios, refrigerators, telephones, televisions, motorbikes, even pickup trucks. ...on the eve of the revolution, life expectancy at birth had been less than 56; by the end of the century, it was near 70."
Economy
Under the Islamic Republic, Iran's economy has been dominated by oil and gas exports which constituted 70% of government revenue and 80% of export earnings as of 2008. It has a large public sector, with an estimated 60% of the economy directly controlled and centrally planned by the state. A unique feature of IranIran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
's economy is the large size of the religious foundations, or Bonyad
Bonyad
Bonyads are charitable trusts in Iran that play a significant role in Iran's non-petroleum economy, controlling an estimated 20% of Iran's GDP. Exempt from taxes, they have been called "bloated", and "a major weakness of Iran’s economy", and criticized for reaping "huge subsidies from government",...
s, whose combined budgets are said to make up as much as half that of the central government.
Iran's economy has stagnated since the revolution — gross national income
Gross National Income
The GNI consists of: the personal consumption expenditures, the gross private investment, the government consumption expenditures, the net income from assets abroad , and the gross exports of goods and services, after deducting two components: the gross imports of goods and services, and the...
per capita
Per capita
Per capita is a Latin prepositional phrase: per and capita . The phrase thus means "by heads" or "for each head", i.e. per individual or per person...
was $2,160 in 1981 and had only grown to $2,770 in 2005 (for comparison the UK's GNI quadrupled in the same time period)
The constitution of the Islamic Republic calls for the state sector "to include all large-scale and mother industries, foreign trade", natural resources and communication; and calls on the private sector to "supplement the ... state and cooperative sectors."
Complaining about the economy is said to have become "a national pastime" among Iranians. According to international economic consultant Jahangir Amuzegar, as of 2003:
Despite a 100 percent rise in average annual oil income since the revolution, most indicators of economic welfare have steadily deteriorated. … Average inflation in the years after the revolution has been at least twice as high as during the 1970s, unemployment has been three times higher, and economic growth is two-thirds lower. As a result, Iran's per capita income has declined by at least 30 percent since 1979. By official admission, more than 15 percent of the population now lives below the absolute poverty line, and private estimates run as high as 40 percent.
Per capita income declines when the price of oil declines (per capita income reportedly fell at one point (1995) to 1/4 of what it was prior to the revolution); Accumulated assets of the Iranian middle class - carpets, gold, apartments - that were acquired in the four-year boom after the 1973 oil price rise and served to cushion the fall in standards of living, have now reportedly "largely been sold off."
The poor have also exhibited dissatisfaction. Absolute poverty rose by nearly 45% during the first 6 years of the Islamic revolution and on several occasions the mustazafin have rioted, protesting the demolition of their shantytowns and rising food prices. Disabled war veterans have demonstrated against mismanagement of the Foundation of the Disinherited. Hardship has compelled some children to take odd jobs rather than go to school.
A 2002 study leaked from Iran's Interior Ministry, reported nearly 90% of respondents dissatisfied with the present government according to Amuzegar. Of this total, 28% wanted "fundamental" changes, 66% "gradual reforms." 10% expressed satisfaction with the status quo.
According British-Iranian scholar, Ali M. Ansari, "Iranians joke" that with the world's second or third largest reserves of oil
Oil reserves
The total estimated amount of oil in an oil reservoir, including both producible and non-producible oil, is called oil in place. However, because of reservoir characteristics and limitations in petroleum extraction technologies, only a fraction of this oil can be brought to the surface, and it is...
and natural gas, extensive deposits of copper
Copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; an exposed surface has a reddish-orange tarnish...
, gold
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
, uranium
Uranium
Uranium is a silvery-white metallic chemical element in the actinide series of the periodic table, with atomic number 92. It is assigned the chemical symbol U. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons...
, as well as an educated and cohesive workforce, "they are blessed with all the facilities to be the industrial engine of the region, except good governance."
Corruption
Bazaari
Bazaari is the name given to the merchants and workers of bazaars, the traditional marketplaces of Iran. Bazaaris are involved in "petty trade of a traditional, or nearly traditional, kind, centered on the bazaar and its Islamic culture." Bazaari have been described as "the class of people who...
as saying "The clergy tries to keep itself clean. But you can't do anything anymore without paying off this mullah's son or that mullah's brother-in-law - and these days usually both."
Bribery "in Iran... was increasingly becoming the biggest part of a business deal - and a lot of other transactions too. Iranians called it bribery
Bribery
Bribery, a form of corruption, is an act implying money or gift giving that alters the behavior of the recipient. Bribery constitutes a crime and is defined by Black's Law Dictionary as the offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting of any item of value to influence the actions of an official or...
, or "oiling the mustache," was commonly practiced before the revolution, but payoffs then "were usually a one-time thing of a known amount. Two decades after the revolution, even the smallest service called for bribes to several different parties.
Emigration
Journalists report complaints that, "these days, if a student is lucky enough to study in the West, he will rarely come home. There are so few good jobs that everyone, from students to middle-aged engineers, is looking for a way out." An estimated "two to four million entrepreneurs, professionals, technicians, and skilled craftspeople (and their capital)" emigrated to other countries following the revolution, and continue to do so at a rate of more than 150,000 a year. This flight of intellectual capitalIran's brain drain
According to the International Monetary Fund, the Islamic Republic of Iran ranks first in "brain drain" among 61 "developing" and "less developed" countries it measured....
is estimated to come to almost $6 billion a year in growth opportunities, based on the average Iranian professional contributiong $40,000 per year to gross capital formation.
Emigration from Iran, starting with young males fleeing from the Iran–Iraq War draft, is thought be some to be the feature of the Islamic Republic most resented by Iranians. According to Shirin Ebadi, "If you ask most Iranians what keeneh, what grievance, they nurture most bitterly against the Islamic Republic, it is the tearing apart of their families ... had the revolutionaries tempered their wild radicalism, had they not replaced then shah with a regime that prompted mass flight, their families would still be whole."
Society
While the revolution brought about some re-Islamisation of Iran, particularly in terms of personal appearance—beards, hijab—it has not prompted a reversal of some modernizing trends or a return to traditional patterns of family life, (such as polygamy and the extended family with numerous children).Despite the lowering of the legal age of marriage for women fell to 9, and the Ayatollah Khomeini's support for early marriage for females,
It is recommended that one hurries in giving husband to a daughter who has attained puberty, meaning that she is of the age of religious accountability. His Holiness, Sadegh [the 6th Imam] salutations to him, bade that it is one of a man's good fortunes that his daughter does not see menses in his own house.
the actual average age of marriage for women rose to 22 by 1996.
Thus the age difference between husbands and wives in Iran actually fell between 1980 and 2000, from 7 to 2.1 years. (The man's average age at marriage has remained around 24.4 over the past 20 years, which means greater educational equality between spouses.)
Nor has Islamisation of family law lead to an increase in the number of polygamous families or more frequent divorces. Polygamy has remained at about 2% of permanent marriages during the past 40 years and the divorce rate has decreased slightly since the 1970s.
Population growth was encouraged for the first nine years of the revolution, but in 1988 youth unemployment concerns prompted the government to do "an amazing U-turn" and Iran now has "one of the world's most effective" family planning programs.
After the Iranian revolution, Iranian women have continued to occupy high positions in political system. In late 1990s, Iranians sent more women to Iranian parliament than Americans sent to U.S. senate.
Gharbzadegi
Gharbzadegi
Gharbzadegi is a pejorative Persian term variously translated as "Westoxification," "West-struck-ness" "Westitis", "Euromania", or "Occidentosis"...
("westoxification") or western cultural influence stubbornly remains, entering via (illegal) music recordings, videos, and satellite dishes, despite government efforts. Conpulsory hijab
Hijab
The word "hijab" or "'" refers to both the head covering traditionally worn by Muslim women and modest Muslim styles of dress in general....
(veiling) for women has been given extensive police enforcement, Shorts, necklaces, “glamorous” hairstyles, and neckties (in government buildings) are forbidden for men. Western music is banned even more thoroughly, but observors note it is nonetheless popular and widespread. One post-revolutionary opinion poll found 61% of students in Tehran chose "Western artists" as their role models with only 17% choosing "Iran's officials."
Human Rights
In the first five years of the Islamic Republic, during its consolidation, approximately 8000 political opponents were executed. Thousands of political prisoners were also executed in 1988. Like other revolutions before it, the Iranian Revolution took a higher toll on those who had participated in the revolution than those in the regime it overthrew.
In recent years the killing of dissidents has been much less frequent
Chain murders of Iran
The Chain Murders of Iran , or Serial Murders, were a series of murders and disappearances from 1988-1998 by Iranian government operatives of Iranian dissident intellectuals who had been critical of the Islamic Republic system in some way.The victims included more than 80 writers, translators,...
and reported abuses are more likely to include harsh penalties for crimes; punishment of fornication, homosexuality, apostasy, poor hijab
Hijab
The word "hijab" or "'" refers to both the head covering traditionally worn by Muslim women and modest Muslim styles of dress in general....
(covering of the head for women); restrictions on freedom of speech
Freedom of speech
Freedom of speech is the freedom to speak freely without censorship. The term freedom of expression is sometimes used synonymously, but includes any act of seeking, receiving and imparting information or ideas, regardless of the medium used...
, and the press
Freedom of the press
Freedom of the press or freedom of the media is the freedom of communication and expression through vehicles including various electronic media and published materials...
, including the imprisonment of journalists; unequal treatment according to religion and gender
Gender equality
Gender equality is the goal of the equality of the genders, stemming from a belief in the injustice of myriad forms of gender inequality.- Concept :...
; torture to extract repudiations by prisoners of their cause and comrades on video for propaganda purposes, and allowing prisoners to die by withholding medical treatment.
Religion
Iran is governed by Sharia law. It is one of the few Muslim countries where hijab for women is required by law. At the same time, it has "the lowest mosque attendance of any Islamic country," according to Zohreh Soleimani of the BBC. Iranian clergy have complained that more than 70% of the population do not perform their daily prayers and that less than 2% attend Friday mosques.For religious minorities life has been mixed under the Islamic Republic. Khomeini also called for unity between Sunni and Shi'a Muslims (Sunni Muslims are the largest religious minority in Iran). Pre-revolutionary statements by Khomeini were antagonistic towards Jews, but shortly after his return from exile in 1979, he issued a fatwa ordering that Jews and other minorities (except Baha'is
Bahá'í Faith
The Bahá'í Faith is a monotheistic religion founded by Bahá'u'lláh in 19th-century Persia, emphasizing the spiritual unity of all humankind. There are an estimated five to six million Bahá'ís around the world in more than 200 countries and territories....
) be treated well.
Non-Muslim religious minorities do not have equal rights in the Islamic Republic (For example senior government posts are reserved for Muslims and Jewish, Christian and Zoroastrian schools must be run by Muslim principals) but four of the 270 seats in parliament are reserved for three non-Islamic minority religions.
The 300,000 members of the Bahá'í Faith
Bahá'í Faith
The Bahá'í Faith is a monotheistic religion founded by Bahá'u'lláh in 19th-century Persia, emphasizing the spiritual unity of all humankind. There are an estimated five to six million Bahá'ís around the world in more than 200 countries and territories....
, are actively harassed. "Some 200 of whom have been executed and the rest forced to convert or subjected to the most horrendous disabilities." Starting in late 1979 the new government systematically targeted the leadership of the Bahá'í community by focusing on the Bahá'í leadership.
Natural disasters
An earthquake, centered on BamBam, Iran
Bam is a city in and the capital of Bam County, Kerman Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 73,823, in 19,572 families.The modern Iranian city of Bam surrounds the Bam citadel. Before the 2003 earthquake the official population count of the city was roughly 43,000. There are...
in SE Iran, killed more than 26,000 people in Dec 2003.
A major earthquake
Earthquake
An earthquake is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust that creates seismic waves. The seismicity, seismism or seismic activity of an area refers to the frequency, type and size of earthquakes experienced over a period of time...
hit N Iran on June 21, 1990, killing nearly 40,000 people.
Scientific development
Iran's scientific progress is subject to many problems including funding, international sanctions and management. However in some areas such as medicineMedicine
Medicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....
, surgery
Surgery
Surgery is an ancient medical specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental techniques on a patient to investigate and/or treat a pathological condition such as disease or injury, or to help improve bodily function or appearance.An act of performing surgery may be called a surgical...
, pharmacology
Pharmacology
Pharmacology is the branch of medicine and biology concerned with the study of drug action. More specifically, it is the study of the interactions that occur between a living organism and chemicals that affect normal or abnormal biochemical function...
, stem cell
Stem cell
This article is about the cell type. For the medical therapy, see Stem Cell TreatmentsStem cells are biological cells found in all multicellular organisms, that can divide and differentiate into diverse specialized cell types and can self-renew to produce more stem cells...
research and theoretical physics
Physics
Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...
(e.g. string theory
String theory
String theory is an active research framework in particle physics that attempts to reconcile quantum mechanics and general relativity. It is a contender for a theory of everything , a manner of describing the known fundamental forces and matter in a mathematically complete system...
), Iranian scientists have found international reputation since the Iranian revolution. Nuclear technology and stem cell research were the two fields that have enjoyed special support from the central government and Iranian leadership since the revolution.
In 2005 Iran's national science budget was less than $1 billion and had not been subject to any significant increase since 15 years ago. But according to Science-Metrix, since 1990 Iran's scientific production has had a rapid build up, and Iran currently has the fastest growth rate in science and technology worldwide.
Iran is among the international leaders of stem cell technology and was the 10th country to produce embryonic human stem cell, although in terms of articles per capita basis, it reportedly ranked 16th in the world.
Khomeini era
Ayatollah Khomeini was the ruler of (or at least dominant figure in) Iran for a decade, from the founding of the Islamic Republic in April 1979 until his death in mid-1989. During that time the revolution was being consolidated as a theocraticTheocracy
Theocracy is a form of organization in which the official policy is to be governed by immediate divine guidance or by officials who are regarded as divinely guided, or simply pursuant to the doctrine of a particular religious sect or religion....
republic under Khomeini, and Iran was fighting a costly and bloody war with Iraq.
Islamic Revolution
Islamic Republic of Iran began with the Iranian RevolutionIranian Revolution
The Iranian Revolution refers to events involving the overthrow of Iran's monarchy under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and its replacement with an Islamic republic under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the...
. The first major demonstrations to overthrow Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi
Mohammad Reza Pahlavi
Mohammad Rezā Shāh Pahlavi, Shah of Iran, Shah of Persia , ruled Iran from 16 September 1941 until his overthrow by the Iranian Revolution on 11 February 1979...
began in January 1978. The new theocratic Constitution — whereby Khomeini became Supreme Leader
Supreme leader
A supreme leader typically refers to a figure in the highest leadership position of an entity, group, organization, or state, who exercises strong or all-powerful authority over it. In religion, the supreme leader or supreme leaders is God or Gods...
of the country — was approved in December 1979. In between, the Shah fled Iran in January 1979 after strikes and demonstrations paralyzed the country, and on February 1, 1979 Ayatollah Khomeini returned to Tehran to a greeting by several million Iranians. The final collapse of the Pahlavi dynasty
Pahlavi dynasty
The Pahlavi dynasty consisted of two Iranian/Persian monarchs, father and son Reza Shah Pahlavi and Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi The Pahlavi dynasty consisted of two Iranian/Persian monarchs, father and son Reza Shah Pahlavi (reg. 1925–1941) and Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi The Pahlavi dynasty ...
occurred shortly after on February 11 when Iran's military declared itself "neutral" after guerrillas and rebel troops overwhelmed troops loyal to the Shah in armed street fighting. Iran officially became an Islamic Republic on April 1, 1979 when Iranians overwhelmingly approved a national referendum to make it so.
Initial international impact
The initial impact of the Islamic revolution around the world was tremendous.In the non-Muslim world it has changed the image of Islam, generating much interest in the politics and spirituality of Islam, along with "fear and distrust towards Islam" and particularly the Islamic Republic and its founder. In the Mideast and Muslim world, particularly in its early years, it triggered enormous enthusiasm and redoubled opposition to western intervention and influence. Islamist insurgents rose in Saudi Arabia (the 1979 week-long takeover of the Grand Mosque
Grand Mosque Seizure
The Grand Mosque Seizure on November 20, 1979, was an armed attack and takeover by Islamist dissidents of the Al-Masjid al-Haram in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the holiest place in Islam...
), Egypt (the 1981 machine-gunning of the Egyptian President Sadat), Syria (the Muslim Brotherhood rebellion in Hama
Hama massacre
The Hama massacre occurred in February 1982, when the Syrian army, under the orders of the president of Syria Hafez al-Assad, conducted a scorched earth policy against the town of Hama in order to quell a revolt by the Sunni Muslim community against the regime of al-Assad...
), and Lebanon (the 1983 bombing of the American Embassy and French and American peace-keeping troops
1983 Beirut barracks bombing
The Beirut Barracks Bombing occurred during the Lebanese Civil War, when two truck bombs struck separate buildings housing United States and French military forces—members of the Multinational Force in Lebanon—killing 299 American and French servicemen...
).
In the West some were very supportive. Marvin Zonis
Marvin Zonis
Marvin Zonis is an American global political economist and expert on Middle Eastern politics and history and an emeritus professor at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, where he continues to teach courses on International Political Economy, Leadership, and E-Commerce...
, director of the University of Chicago's Middle East Institute concluded:
"The message from Iran is in my opinion the single most impressive political ideology proposed in the twentieth century — since the Bolshevik Revolution. And if we accept that Bolshevism is a remnant of the nineteenth century, then I argue that we've had only one good one in the twentieth — and it's this one. ... This powerful message will be with us for a very long time — no matter what happens to Ayatollah Khomeini."
Consolidation of the Revolution
Instability in Iran did not end with the creation of the Islamic Republic, and remained high for a few years. The country's economy and apparatus of government had collapsed. Military and security forces were in disarray. But by 1982 (or 1983) Khomeini and his supporters had crushed the rival factions and consolidated power.Constitution
The first draft of the constitution for the Islamic Republic contained a conventional president and parliament but its only theocratic element was a Guardian Council to veto unIslamic legislation. However in the summer of 1979 an Assembly of Experts for Constitution, dominated by Khomeini supporters, was elected. Their new draft gave the guardians much more power and added a powerful post of guardian jurist ruler intended for Khomeini. The new constitution was opposed by non-theocratic groups, both secular and Islamic, and set for approval by referendum in December 1979.Hostage crisis
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
embassy in Tehran
Tehran
Tehran , sometimes spelled Teheran, is the capital of Iran and Tehran Province. With an estimated population of 8,429,807; it is also Iran's largest urban area and city, one of the largest cities in Western Asia, and is the world's 19th largest city.In the 20th century, Tehran was subject to...
holding 52 embassy employees hostage for a 444 days. The Carter administration severed diplomatic relations and imposed economic sanctions
Economic sanctions
Economic sanctions are domestic penalties applied by one country on another for a variety of reasons. Economic sanctions include, but are not limited to, tariffs, trade barriers, import duties, and import or export quotas...
on April 7, 1980 and later that month unsuccessfully attempted a rescue that further enhanced Khomeini's prestige in Iran. On May 24 the International Court of Justice
International Court of Justice
The International Court of Justice is the primary judicial organ of the United Nations. It is based in the Peace Palace in The Hague, Netherlands...
called for the hostages to be released. Finally the hostages were released 20 January 1981, by agreement of the Carter Administration, see Algiers Accords
Algiers Accords
The Algiers Accords of January 19, 1981, were brokered by the Algerian government between the United States and Iran to resolve the Iran hostage crisis. The crisis arose from the takeover of the American embassy in Tehran on November 4, 1979, and the taking hostage of the American staff there...
Jan. 19, 1981. The crisis also marked the beginning of American legal action, or sanctions, that economically separated Iran from America. Sanctions blocked all property within US jurisdiction owned by the Central Bank and Government of Iran.
Suppression of opposition
Revolutionary factions disagreed on the shape of the new Iran. Those who thought the Shah would be replaced by a democratic government soon found Khomeini disagreed. In early March 1979, he announced, "do not use this term, ‘democratic.’ That is the Western style."In succession the National Democratic Front
National Democratic Front (Iran)
The National Democratic Front of Iran was a liberal-left political party founded during the Iranian Revolution of 1979 that overthrew shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, and banned within a short time by the Islamic government...
was banned in August 1979, the provisional government was disempowered in November, the Muslim People's Republican Party banned in January 1980, the People's Mujahedin of Iran
People's Mujahedin of Iran
The People's Mujahedin of Iran is a terrorist militant organization that advocates the overthrow of the Islamic Republic of Iran....
guerrillas came under attack in February 1980, a purge of universities was begun in March 1980, and leftist President Abolhassan Banisadr
Abolhassan Banisadr
Abulhassan Banisadr is an Iranian politician, economist and human rights activist who served as the first President of Iran from 4 February 1980 after the 1979 Iranian Revolution and the abolition of the monarchy until his impeachment on 21 June 1981 by the Parliament of Iran...
was impeached in June 1981.
Explanations for why Khomeini supporters were successful in crushing the opposition include lack of unity in the opposition. According to Asghar Schirazi, the moderates lacked ambition and were not well organised, while the radicals (such People's Mujahedin of Iran
People's Mujahedin of Iran
The People's Mujahedin of Iran is a terrorist militant organization that advocates the overthrow of the Islamic Republic of Iran....
or PMOI) were "unrealistic" about the conservatism of the Iranian masses and unprepared to work with moderates to fight against theocracy. Moderate Islamists, such as Banisadr, were "credulous and submissive" towards Khomeini.
Terrorist attacks
The ouster of President Banisadr did not put an immediate end to opposition, but moved it to terror. Hundreds of PMOI supporters and members were killed from 1979 to 1981, and some 3,000 were arrested, but unlike other opposition driven underground by the regime, the PMOI was able to retaliate.On 28 June 1981, bombs were detonated at the headquarters of the since-dissolved Islamic Republic Party. Around 70 high-ranking officials, including Chief Justice Mohammad Beheshti (who was the second most powerful figure in the revolution after Ayatollah Khomeini at the time), cabinet members, and members of parliament, were killed. The PMOI never publicly confirmed or denied any responsibility for the deed, but only stated the attack was `a natural and necessary reaction to the regime's atrocities.` Khomeini did accuse them of responsibility and, according to BBC journalist Baqer Moin
Baqer Moin
Baqer Moin is a BBC journalist and author. He has been described as "a specialist on Iran and Islam and is head of the BBC's Persian Service" and as "BBC's Central Asia specialist"...
, the PMOI were "generally perceived as the culprits" for it in Iran. Two months later on August 30, another bomb was detonated killing President Rajai and Premier Mohammad Javad Bahonar
Mohammad Javad Bahonar
Hojatoleslam Mohammad Javad Bahonar was an Iranian scholar, Shiite theologian and politician who served as the Prime minister of Iran from 15 to 30 August 1981 when he was assassinated by Mujahideen-e Khalq MEK, also known as PMOI and KMO...
. A member of the PMOI, Mas'ud Kashmiri, was announced as the perpetrator, and according to regime reports came close to killing the entire government including Khomeini. The reaction following both bombings was intense with thousands of arrests and hundreds of executions of PMOI and other leftist groups, but "assassinations of leading officials and active supporters of the regime by the PMOI were to continue for the next year or two."
Iran–Iraq War
The eight year long Iran–Iraq War (September 1980 - August 1988) was the most important international event for the first decade of the Islamic Republic and possibly for its history so far. It helped to strengthen the revolution although it cost Iran much in lives and treasure.Shortly after the success of the revolution, revolutionary leader Ruhollah Khomeini
Ruhollah Khomeini
Grand Ayatollah Sayyed Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini was an Iranian religious leader and politician, and leader of the 1979 Iranian Revolution which saw the overthrow of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran...
began calling for Islamic revolutions across the Muslim world, including Iran's Arab neighbor Iraq,
the one large state besides Iran in the Gulf with a Shia Muslim majority population.
The war began with Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
's invasion of Iran, in an attempt by Iraq's dictator Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...
to take advantage of the perceived post-revolutionary military weakness in Iran and the Revolution's unpopularity with Western governments. Much of the top leadership of Iran's once-strong Iranian military had been executed. Saddam sought to expand Iraq's access to the Persian Gulf
Persian Gulf
The Persian Gulf, in Southwest Asia, is an extension of the Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.The Persian Gulf was the focus of the 1980–1988 Iran-Iraq War, in which each side attacked the other's oil tankers...
and the oil reserves in Khuzestan
Khuzestan Province
Khuzestan Province is one of the 31 provinces of Iran. It is in the southwest of the country, bordering Iraq's Basra Province and the Persian Gulf. Its capital is Ahwaz and covers an area of 63,238 km²...
(which also only has a substantial Arab
Arab
Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...
population), and to undermine Iranian Islamic revolutionary attempts to incite the Shi'a majority of his country. Many Iranians believe Saddam invaded with the encouragement of the United States, Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...
and other countries.
A combination of fierce resistance by Iranians and military incompetence by Iraqi forces soon stalled the Iraqi advance and by early 1982 Iran regained almost all the territory lost to the invasion. The invasion rallied Iranians behind the new regime, enhancing Khomeini's stature and allowed him to consolidate and stabilize his leadership. After this reversal, Khomeini refused an Iraqi offer of a truce, declaring "the regime in Baghdad must fall and must be replaced by an Islamic Republic."
The war continued for another six years under the slogans `War, War until Victory,` and `The Road to Jerusalem Goes through Baghdad,` but other countries, particularly the United States, gave crucial aid to Iraq. As the costs mounted and Iranian morale waned, Khomeini finally accepted a truce called for by UN Security Council Resolution 598. Although neither borders nor regimes were changed the war helped to `awaken the people and to fight the problems that threaten the revolution,` according to future president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani
Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani
Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani is an influential Iranian politician and writer, who was the fourth President of Iran. He was a member of the Assembly of Experts until his resignation in 2011...
. An estimated 200,000 Iranian were killed and the war is estimated to have cost Iran $627 billion in total direct and indirect charges (in 1990 dollars).
Early laws of the Islamic Republic
The new regime undid the Shah's old Family Protection Law, lowering the marriage age for girls back to nine and allowed husbands to divorce wives with the Triple talaq, without court permission. It purged women from the judiciary and secular teachers from the educational system. It removed Baha'is from government positions, closed down Baha'i Centers, and arrested and even executed their leaders. A strict `Islamic code of public appearance` was enforced - men were discouraged from wearing ties, women were obliged to wear either scarves and long coats or preferably the full chadour.Economy
Iran economy suffered during the first decade following the revolution. Its currency, the rial, fell from 7 to the dollar before the revolution, to 1749 to the dollar in 1989. The revolution also is said have put an end to the influence of "the notables", and created a very large public sector of the economy, when the government "nationalizing their enterprises in order to keep their employees working... the state ended up with more than 2000 factories many of them operating in the red."Human Rights
In its early years the revolutionary regime was especially criticized for its human rights record. In the first 28 months of the Islamic Republic, between February 1979 and June 1981, revolutionary courts executed 497 political opponents as `counterrevolutionaries`, and `sowers of corruption on earth` (Mofsed-e-filarzMofsed-e-filarz
Mofsed-e-filarz is the title of capital crime in the Islamic Republic of Iran, that has been translated in English language sources variously as "spreading corruption on earth", "spreading corruption that threatens social and political well-being", "corrupt of the earth; one who is...
). In the next four years from June 1981 until June 1985, the courts sentenced more than 8000 opponents to death. After a relative lull, thousands of political prisoners were executed in 1988. Like other revolutions before it, the Iranian Revolution took a higher toll on those who had participated in the revolution than those in the regime it over threw.
President Rafsanjani's administration
Ideological changes by fatwa and constitution
Two major changes in the ideological underpinnings of the Islamic Republic occurred toward the end of Khomeini's reign. In January 1988, he issued an edict declaring that the Islamic "Government is among the most important divine injunctions and has priority over all peripheral divine orders ... even prayers, fasting and the hajj." In April of the next year he decreed a task force to revise the country's constitution to separate the post of Supreme Leader of IranSupreme Leader of Iran
The Supreme Leader of Iran is the highest ranking political and religious authority in the Islamic Republic of Iran. The post was established by the constitution in accordance with the concept of Guardianship of the Islamic Jurists...
from that of Shia marja
Marja
Marja , also known as a marja-i taqlid or marja dini , literally means "Source to Imitate/Follow" or "Religious Reference"...
, (the `highest source of religious emulation`), since he found none of marja to be suitable successors as none had given strong support for his policies. The amendments were drafted and approved by the public about one month after Khomeini's death (1989 July 9). They paved the way for Ali Khamenei
Ali Khamenei
Ayatollah Seyed Ali Hoseyni Khāmene’i is the Supreme Leader of Iran and the figurative head of the Muslim conservative establishment in Iran and Twelver Shi'a marja...
- a long time lieutenant of Khomeini, but a relatively low ranking cleric - to be Khomeini's successor as Supreme Leader
Supreme leader
A supreme leader typically refers to a figure in the highest leadership position of an entity, group, organization, or state, who exercises strong or all-powerful authority over it. In religion, the supreme leader or supreme leaders is God or Gods...
, but to critics they undermined the "intellectual foundations" of the Islamic Republic theocracy, braking "the charismatic bond between leader and followers."
Political struggle
Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani
Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani
Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani is an influential Iranian politician and writer, who was the fourth President of Iran. He was a member of the Assembly of Experts until his resignation in 2011...
was elected president shortly after Khomeini's death, and has been described as less revolutionary and "isolationist" than his rivals — "economically liberal, politically authoritarian, and philosophically traditional." (He served from August 17, 1989 to August 1997.) While Leader Khamane'i and the Council of Guardians generally supported these policies, in the parliament radical deputees initially had control, outnumbered Rafsanjani's "pragmatic-conservative camp" 90 to 160.
The two groups differed strongly over economic and foreign policy, with radicals tending to support mass political participation and state control of the economy, and oppose normalization of relations with the West. Conservatives used the power to disqualification candidates from running for office to deal with this problem. "The council of Guardians disqualified nearly all radical candidates from the fall 1990 Assembly of Experts elections because they had failed to pass written and oral tests in Islamic jurisprudence." In the winter and spring of 1992 nearly one-third of the 3150 candidates for the 1992 election for the parliament were rejected, including 39 incumbents. Leading radicals such as Khalkhali, Nabvi, Bayat, and Hajjat al-Eslam Hadi Ghaffari were sent packing because they lacked the "proper Islamic credentials."
In late 1992 Minister of Islamic Guidance Seyed Mohammad Khatami
Mohammad Khatami
Sayyid Mohammad Khātamī is an Iranian scholar, philosopher, Shiite theologian and Reformist politician. He served as the fifth President of Iran from August 2, 1997 to August 3, 2005. He also served as Iran's Minister of Culture in both the 1980s and 1990s...
and director of the Voice and Vision Broadcasting company Mohammad Hashemi
Mohammad Hashemi
Mohammad Hashemi is an Iranian official. He was one of "the core group of leaders" of the Iran hostage takers, the first deputy of the Ministry of Intelligence and Security for some years. From 2003 to 2004, when the venture went bankrupt, he was a developer of a proposed vacation resort on the...
Rafsanjani (brother of the president) were both forced out. By 1994 "hundreds of intellectuals and supposed dissidents were in prison and some had been executed." These purges cleared the regime of opponents but are thought to have set the stage for the reform movement, as exiled radicals warmed to the "liberal" values of freedom of speech, assembly, due process, etc.
Persian Gulf War
When IraqIraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
invaded Kuwait
Kuwait
The State of Kuwait is a sovereign Arab state situated in the north-east of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the south at Khafji, and Iraq to the north at Basra. It lies on the north-western shore of the Persian Gulf. The name Kuwait is derived from the...
in Aug., 1990, Iran adhered to international sanctions against Iraq. However, Iran condemned the use of U.S.-led coalition forces against Iraq during the Persian Gulf War
Gulf War
The Persian Gulf War , commonly referred to as simply the Gulf War, was a war waged by a U.N.-authorized coalition force from 34 nations led by the United States, against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion and annexation of Kuwait.The war is also known under other names, such as the First Gulf...
(1991). As a result of the war and its aftermath, more than one million Kurds crossed the Iraqi border into Iran as refugees.
Economy
Iranian rial
The rial is the currency of Iran. It is subdivided into 100 dinar but, because of the very low current value of the rial, no fraction of the rial is used in accounting....
pummeted from 1749 to 6400 to the dollar in 1995. Unemployment reached 30%. The price of sugar, rice and butter rose threefold, and that of bread sixfold.
In part this economic downturn came from American economic sanctions leveled in 1995
Iran and Libya Sanctions Act
The Iran and Libya Sanctions Act of 1996 was a 1996 act of Congress that imposed economic sanctions on firms doing business with Iran and Libya. On September 30, 2006, the act was renamed to the Iran Sanctions Act , as it no longer applied to Libya, and extended until December 31, 2011...
, when America suspended all trade with Iran, accusing Iran of supporting terrorist groups and attempting to develop nuclear weapons. The sanctions in turn may be traceable to the earlier hostage crisis
Iran hostage crisis
The Iran hostage crisis was a diplomatic crisis between Iran and the United States where 52 Americans were held hostage for 444 days from November 4, 1979 to January 20, 1981, after a group of Islamist students and militants took over the American Embassy in Tehran in support of the Iranian...
and the enmity of the US government which continued to see Iran as a major regional threat both to America and Israel.
Birth control
A new policy regarded as a success of the new government was its promotion of birth control. In 1989, the government, "having previously encouraged population growth, reversed gears and declared that Islam favored families with only two children". Birth control clinics were opened - especially for women. Condoms and pills were distributed. Subsidies to large families were cut. Sex education was introduced into the school curriculum, mandatory classes for newlyweds were held.)President Khatami's reform era
The eight years of Mohammad KhatamiMohammad Khatami
Sayyid Mohammad Khātamī is an Iranian scholar, philosopher, Shiite theologian and Reformist politician. He served as the fifth President of Iran from August 2, 1997 to August 3, 2005. He also served as Iran's Minister of Culture in both the 1980s and 1990s...
's two terms as president from 1997-2005 are sometimes called Iran's Reform Era.
Khatami based his campaign on a reform program promising a more democratic and tolerant society, promotion of civil society, the rule of law and improvement of social rights. This included city council elections, adherence to Iran's constitution, freedom to criticize high ranking authorities - including the supreme leader
Supreme leader
A supreme leader typically refers to a figure in the highest leadership position of an entity, group, organization, or state, who exercises strong or all-powerful authority over it. In religion, the supreme leader or supreme leaders is God or Gods...
, permission to operate newspapers of a wide range of political views, reopening the embassies of all European countries, reorganizing the Ministry of Intelligence of Iran after the Iran's Chain Murders of Intellectuals
Chain murders of Iran
The Chain Murders of Iran , or Serial Murders, were a series of murders and disappearances from 1988-1998 by Iranian government operatives of Iranian dissident intellectuals who had been critical of the Islamic Republic system in some way.The victims included more than 80 writers, translators,...
, initiating a dialogue between people of different faith inside and outside Iran, also called "Dialogue Among Civilizations
Dialogue Among Civilizations
Former Iranian president Mohammad Khatami introduced the idea of Dialogue Among Civilizations as a response to Samuel P. Huntington’s theory of a Clash of Civilizations.-Introduction:...
."
Iran's large youth demographic (by 1995, about half of the country's 60.5 million people had not been born after the Islamic Revolution) is one of Khatami's bases of support.
Political and cultural changes
At first the new era saw significant liberalization. The number of daily newspapers published in Iran increased from five to twenty-six. Journal and book publishing also soared. Iran's film industry boomed under the Khatami regime and Iranian films won prizes at Cannes and Venice. Local elections promised in the Islamic Republic's constitution but delayed for over a decade were held for towns, villages, and hamlets, and the number of elected officials in Iran increased from 400 to almost 200,000.Conservative reaction
After taking office, Khatami faced fierce opposition from his powerful opponents within the unelected institutions of the state which he had no legal power over, and this led to repeated clashed between his government and these institutions (including the Guardian Council, the state radio and television, the police, the armed forces, the judiciary, the prisons, etc.).In 1999, new curbs were put on the press. Courts banned more than 60 newspapers. Important allies of President Khatami
Mohammad Khatami
Sayyid Mohammad Khātamī is an Iranian scholar, philosopher, Shiite theologian and Reformist politician. He served as the fifth President of Iran from August 2, 1997 to August 3, 2005. He also served as Iran's Minister of Culture in both the 1980s and 1990s...
were arrested, tried and imprisoned on what outside observers considered "trumped up" or ideological grounds. Tehran
Tehran
Tehran , sometimes spelled Teheran, is the capital of Iran and Tehran Province. With an estimated population of 8,429,807; it is also Iran's largest urban area and city, one of the largest cities in Western Asia, and is the world's 19th largest city.In the 20th century, Tehran was subject to...
mayor
Mayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
, Gholamhossein Karbaschi
Gholamhossein Karbaschi
Gholamhossein Karbaschi is an Iranian politician who was the Mayor of Tehran from 1989 until 1998. He is considered politically reformist and is a close ally of former president Mohammad Khatami...
was tried on corruption charges and Interior Minister Abdollah Nouri for "sacrilege" - despite their credentials as activists in the Islamic revolution. In 2002 history professor and reformist activist Hashem Aghajari
Hashem Aghajari
Hashem Aghajari also Seyyed Hashem Aghajari is an Iranian historian, university professor and a critic of the Islamic Republic's government who was sentenced to death in 2002 for apostasy for a speech he gave on Islam urging Iranians to "not blindly follow" Islamic clerics...
was sentenced to death for apostasy for calling for "Islamic Protestantism" and reform in Islam.
In July 1999 conservatives closed the reformist newspaper, Salam, and attacked a Tehran University student dormitory after students protested the closing. Prodemocracy student demonstrations erupted at Tehran University and other urban campuses. These were followed by a wave of counter demonstrations by conservative
Social conservatism
Social Conservatism is primarily a political, and usually morally influenced, ideology that focuses on the preservation of what are seen as traditional values. Social conservatism is a form of authoritarianism often associated with the position that the federal government should have a greater role...
factions.
Reform
Reform
Reform means to put or change into an improved form or condition; to amend or improve by change of color or removal of faults or abuses, beneficial change, more specifically, reversion to a pure original state, to repair, restore or to correct....
ers won a substantial victory in the Feb., 2000, parliamentary elections, capturing about two thirds of the seats, but conservative
Social conservatism
Social Conservatism is primarily a political, and usually morally influenced, ideology that focuses on the preservation of what are seen as traditional values. Social conservatism is a form of authoritarianism often associated with the position that the federal government should have a greater role...
elements in the government forced the closure of the reformist press. Attempts by parliament to repeal restrictive press laws were forbidden by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei
Ali Khamenei
Ayatollah Seyed Ali Hoseyni Khāmene’i is the Supreme Leader of Iran and the figurative head of the Muslim conservative establishment in Iran and Twelver Shi'a marja...
. Despite these conditions, President Khatami was overwhelming reelected in June, 2001. Tensions between reformers in parliament and conservatives in the judiciary
Judiciary
The judiciary is the system of courts that interprets and applies the law in the name of the state. The judiciary also provides a mechanism for the resolution of disputes...
and the Guardian Council
Guardian Council
The Guardian Council of the Constitution , also known as the Guardian Council or Council of Guardians, is an appointed and constitutionally-mandated 12-member council that wields considerable power and influence in the Islamic Republic of Iran....
, over both social
Social
The term social refers to a characteristic of living organisms...
and economic changes, increased after Khatami's reelection.
Foreign policy
Persecution of Bahá'ís
The persecution of Bahá'ís is the religious persecution of Bahá'ís in various countries, especially in Iran, where the Bahá'í Faith originated and the location of one of the largest Bahá'í populations in the world...
, and assured Britain Iran would not implement the fatwa against Salman Rushdie
The Satanic Verses controversy
The Satanic Verses controversy was the heated and sometimes violent Muslim reaction to the publication of Salman Rushdie's novel The Satanic Verses. Many Muslims accused Rushdie of blasphemy or unbelief and in 1989 Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini of Iran issued a fatwa ordering Muslims to kill Rushdie...
. Several European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
countries began renewing economic ties with Iran in the late 1990s and trade and investment increased. In 1998 Britain reestablished diplomatic relations with Iran broken since the 1979. The United States loosened its economic embargo, but it continued to block more normalized relations, arguing that the country had been implicated in international terrorism and was developing a nuclear weapons capacity.
in his State of the Union Address
State of the Union Address
The State of the Union is an annual address presented by the President of the United States to the United States Congress. The address not only reports on the condition of the nation but also allows the president to outline his legislative agenda and his national priorities.The practice arises...
United States President George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
labeled Iran, along with Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
, and North Korea
North Korea
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea , , is a country in East Asia, occupying the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Pyongyang. The Korean Demilitarized Zone serves as the buffer zone between North Korea and South Korea...
as an "Axis of evil
Axis of evil
"Axis of evil" is a term initially used by the former United States President George W. Bush in his State of the Union Address on January 29, 2002 and often repeated throughout his presidency, describing governments that he accused of helping terrorism and seeking weapons of mass destruction...
"
Tensions with the United States increased after the Anglo-America
Anglo-America
Anglo-America is a region in the Americas in which English is a main language, or one which has significant British historical, ethnic, linguistic, and cultural links...
n invasion of Iraq in March, 2003, as U.S. officials increasingly denounced Iran for pursuing the alleged development of nuclear weapons.
Axis of Evil speech
On January 29, 2002, Reformers received an unexpected blow when President George W. BushGeorge W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
named Iran as a major threat to world peace, part of an "Axis of Evil
Axis of evil
"Axis of evil" is a term initially used by the former United States President George W. Bush in his State of the Union Address on January 29, 2002 and often repeated throughout his presidency, describing governments that he accused of helping terrorism and seeking weapons of mass destruction...
," despite Iranian cooperation with America in Afghanistan against the Taliban. The speech sparked widespread demonstrations
Demonstration (people)
A demonstration or street protest is action by a mass group or collection of groups of people in favor of a political or other cause; it normally consists of walking in a mass march formation and either beginning with or meeting at a designated endpoint, or rally, to hear speakers.Actions such as...
all across Iran.
A number of Western analysts and journalists described the move as putting the reformists on the defensive and splitting them, while "rescuing" Islamist conservatives, and even being a major cause of the demise of the reform movement.
The reform era ended with the conservatives defeat of Iranian reformists in the elections of 2003, 2004 and 2005 - the local, parliamentary, and presidential elections. According to at least one observer, the reformists were defeated not so much by a growth of support for conservative Islamist policies as by division within the reformist movement and the banning of many reform candidates which discouraged pro-reform voters from voting.
President Ahmadinejad
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was elected to the presidency twice, in 2005Iranian presidential election, 2005
Iran's ninth presidential election took place in two rounds, the first on June 17, 2005, the run-off on June 24. Mohammad Khatami, the previous President of Iran, stepped down on August 2, 2005, after serving his maximum two consecutive four-year terms according to the Islamic Republic's constitution...
and 2009
Iranian presidential election, 2009
Iran's tenth presidential election was held on 12 June 2009, with incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad running against three challengers. The next morning the Islamic Republic News Agency, Iran's official news agency, announced that with two-thirds of the votes counted, Ahmadinejad had won the election...
. Ahmadinejad ran for office as a conservative populist pledging to fight corruption, defend the interests of the poor, and strengthen Iran's national security. In 2005 he defeated former president Rafsanjani by a wide margin in the runoff, his victory credited to the popularity of his economic promises and a very low reformist voter turnout compared to the 1997 and 2001 elections. This victory gave conservatives control of all branches of Iran's government.
His administration has been marked by controversy over his outspoken pronouncements against American "arrogance" and "imperialism," and description of the state of Israel as a “fabricated entity … doomed to go,” and over high unemployment and inflation opponents blamed on his populist economic policies of cheap loans for small businesses, and generous subsidies on petrol and food.
In 2009 Ahmadinejad's victory was hotly disputed and marred by large protests
2009 Iranian election protests
Protests following the 2009 Iranian presidential election against the disputed victory of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and in support of opposition candidates Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi occurred in major cities in Iran and around the world starting June 13, 2009...
that formed the "greatest domestic challenge" to the leadership of the Islamic Republic "in 30 years", as well as clashes with parliament. Despite high turnout and large enthusiastic crowds for reformist opponent Mir-Hossein Mousavi
Mir-Hossein Mousavi
Mir-Hossein Mousavi Khameneh is an Iranian reformist politician, artist and architect who served as the seventy-ninth and last Prime Minister of Iran from 1981 to 1989. He was a Reformist candidate for the 2009 presidential election and eventually the leader of the opposition in the post-election...
, Ahmadinejad was officially declared to have won by a 2-1 margin against three opponents. Allegations of voting irregularities and protest by Mousavi his supporters were immediate, and continued off and on into 2011. Some 36-72 were killed and 4000 arrested. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei
Ali Khamenei
Ayatollah Seyed Ali Hoseyni Khāmene’i is the Supreme Leader of Iran and the figurative head of the Muslim conservative establishment in Iran and Twelver Shi'a marja...
declared Ahmadinejad's victory a "divine assessment" and called for unity. He and others Islamic officials blamed foreign powers for fomenting the protest.
However by late 2010 several sources detected a "growing rift" between Ahmadinejad, and Khamenei and his supporters, with talk of impeachment of Ahmadinejad. The dispute centered on Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei
Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei
Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei is a top adviser, and close confident of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. He is currently Ahmadinejad's Chief of Staff. He served as the head of the Presidential Center from 2009 to 2011, and was First Vice President of Iran for one week in 2009 before he was ordered...
, a top adviser and close confidant of Ahmadinejad, and accused leader of a "deviant current" opposing greater involvement of clerics in politics.
Foreign relations
Although functions such as appointment of the commanders of the armed forces and the members of national security councils are handled by the Supreme LeaderSupreme leader
A supreme leader typically refers to a figure in the highest leadership position of an entity, group, organization, or state, who exercises strong or all-powerful authority over it. In religion, the supreme leader or supreme leaders is God or Gods...
and not by Iran's president, Ahmadinejad has gained much international publicity for his foreign policy. Under Ahmadinejad Iran's strong ties with the republic of Syria and Hezbollah of Lebanon have continued, and new relationships with predominately Shia neighbor Iraq and fellow opponent of US foreign policy Hugo Chavez
Hugo Chávez
Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías is the 56th and current President of Venezuela, having held that position since 1999. He was formerly the leader of the Fifth Republic Movement political party from its foundation in 1997 until 2007, when he became the leader of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela...
of Venezuela have been developed.
Ahmadinejad's outspoken pronouncements in foreign affairs (see below) included personal letters to a number of world leaders including one to American president George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
inviting him to "monotheism and justice", an open letter to the American people, the delcaration that there were no homosexuals in Iran,
an expression of happiness at the 2008 global economic crisis which would "put an end to liberal economy".
Hezbollah's dependence on Iran for military and financial aid is not universally supported in Iran. The 2006 Israel-Hezbollah War exposed the world to the amount of weapons in Hezbollah possession said to be Iranian imports.
Controversy concerning remarks about Israel
President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad also made several controversial statements about the Holocaust and Israel, and was quoted in foreign media sources as saying "Israel should be wiped off the map." Iran’s foreign minister denied that TehranTehran
Tehran , sometimes spelled Teheran, is the capital of Iran and Tehran Province. With an estimated population of 8,429,807; it is also Iran's largest urban area and city, one of the largest cities in Western Asia, and is the world's 19th largest city.In the 20th century, Tehran was subject to...
wanted to see Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
"wiped off the map," saying "Ahmadinejad had been misunderstood." It was asserted that the correct translation of Ahmadinejad's remark was, "the regime currently occupying Jerusalem will be erased from the pages of time." Reviewing the controversy over the translation, New York Times deputy foreign editor Ethan Bronner
Ethan Bronner
Ethan Samuel Bronner has been Jerusalem bureau chief of The New York Times since March 2008 following four years as deputy foreign editor.-Biography:...
observed that "all official translations" of the comments, including the foreign ministry and president's office, "refer to wiping Israel away".
His comments were strongly criticized by a number of foreign leaders.
Iran's stated policy on Israel is to urge a one-state solution through a countrywide referendum
Referendum
A referendum is a direct vote in which an entire electorate is asked to either accept or reject a particular proposal. This may result in the adoption of a new constitution, a constitutional amendment, a law, the recall of an elected official or simply a specific government policy. It is a form of...
in which a government would be elected that all Palestinians and all Israelis would jointly vote for; which would normally be an end to the "Zionist state". Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei, rejecting any attack on Israel, called for a referendum
Referendum
A referendum is a direct vote in which an entire electorate is asked to either accept or reject a particular proposal. This may result in the adoption of a new constitution, a constitutional amendment, a law, the recall of an elected official or simply a specific government policy. It is a form of...
in Palestine
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
. Ahmadinejad himself has also repeatedly called for such solution. Moreover Khamenei’s main advisor in foreign policy, Ali Akbar Velayati
Ali Akbar Velayati
Ali Akbar Velayati is an Iranian politician, academic and diplomat. He was the Foreign Minister of Iran from 1981 to 1997...
, said that Holocaust was a genocide and a historical reality.
Controversy about Iran's nuclear program
After, in August 2005, Iran resumed converting raw uraniumUranium
Uranium is a silvery-white metallic chemical element in the actinide series of the periodic table, with atomic number 92. It is assigned the chemical symbol U. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons...
into gas
Gas
Gas is one of the three classical states of matter . Near absolute zero, a substance exists as a solid. As heat is added to this substance it melts into a liquid at its melting point , boils into a gas at its boiling point, and if heated high enough would enter a plasma state in which the electrons...
, a necessary step for enrichment, the IAEA passed a resolution that accused Iran of failing to comply with the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and called for the agency to report Iran to the UN Security Council. The timetable for the reporting, however, was left undetermined. Iran's stated position is that it is in full compliance with the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, that it has allowed the IAEA inspections beyond what is required, and that it has no ambitions to build atomic weapons.
In the February, 2004, elections, conservatives won control of parliament, securing some two thirds of the seats. Many Iranians, however, were unhappy with the failure of the current parliament to achieve any significant reforms or diminish the influence of the hardliners.
In mid-2004 Iran began resuming the processing of nuclear fuel
Nuclear fuel
Nuclear fuel is a material that can be 'consumed' by fission or fusion to derive nuclear energy. Nuclear fuels are the most dense sources of energy available...
as part of its plan to achieve self-sufficiency in civilian nuclear power production, stating that the negotiations with European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
nations had failed to bring access to the advanced nuclear technology
Nuclear technology
Nuclear technology is technology that involves the reactions of atomic nuclei. Among the notable nuclear technologies are nuclear power, nuclear medicine, and nuclear weapons...
that was promised. The action was denounced by the United States as one which would give Iran the capability to develop nuclear weapons. The IAEA said that there was no evidence
Evidence
Evidence in its broadest sense includes everything that is used to determine or demonstrate the truth of an assertion. Giving or procuring evidence is the process of using those things that are either presumed to be true, or were themselves proven via evidence, to demonstrate an assertion's truth...
that Iran was seeking to develop such arms. However, the IAEA also called for Iran to abandon its plans to produce enriched uranium
Enriched uranium
Enriched uranium is a kind of uranium in which the percent composition of uranium-235 has been increased through the process of isotope separation. Natural uranium is 99.284% 238U isotope, with 235U only constituting about 0.711% of its weight...
. In Nov., 2004, Iran agreed to suspend uranium enrichment, but subsequently indicated that it would not be held to the suspension if the negotiations the EU nations failed.
In October, however, Iran agreed, in negotiations with several W European nations, to toughen international
International
----International mostly means something that involves more than one country. The term international as a word means involvement of, interaction between or encompassing more than one nation, or generally beyond national boundaries...
inspections of its nuclear installations. Concern over Iran's nuclear program nonetheless continued.
Economy
Ahmadinejad's populist economic policies of cheap loans for small businesses, and generous subsidies on petrol and food were helped by soaring petroleum export revenues until the Global financial crisis of 2008.Corruption
President Ahmadinejad has vouched to fight "economic Mafia" at all echelons of government. President Ahmadinejad has also proposed that lawmakers consider a bill, based on which the wealth and property of all officials who have held high governmental posts since 1979 could be investigated.According to Farda newspaper, the difference between President Ahmadinejad administration's revenues and the amount deposited with the Central Bank of Iran exceeds $66 billion dollars. This is a large number as it is equal one-tenth of Iran's total oil revenues since the 1979 revolution
Iranian Revolution
The Iranian Revolution refers to events involving the overthrow of Iran's monarchy under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and its replacement with an Islamic republic under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the...
. This amount is broken down as follows:
- $35 billion in imported goods (2005–2009),
- $25 billion in oil revenues (2005–2008),
- $2.6 billion in non-oil export revenues,
- $3 billion in foreign exchange reserves.
Vice President for Executive Affairs Ali Saeedlou said in 2008 that "mafia
Mafia
The Mafia is a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct, and whose common enterprise is protection racketeering...
groups" in Iran are trying to divert public opinion away from the government's determination to fight economic corruption by creating impediments, spreading rumors and promoting despair in the society.
In 2010, more than 230 lawmakers
Majlis of Iran
The National Consultative Assembly of Iran , also called The Iranian Parliament or People's House, is the national legislative body of Iran...
in a letter to Judiciary Chief Ayatollah Sadeq Larijani
Sadeq Larijani
Ayatollah Sadegh Ardeshir Amoli Larijani is an Iranian cleric, politician and current head of the judicial system of Iran....
said it is the duty of his organization to start from the top echelons of power in the drive against corruption. The letter added,
“It is the duty of the judiciary to start from higher echelons of power in this challenging but sacred drive. It does not make a difference whether the suspect is a high-ranking official or kith and kin of the officialdom. The legislators assure the people that they will endorse this JihadJihadJihad , an Islamic term, is a religious duty of Muslims. In Arabic, the word jihād translates as a noun meaning "struggle". Jihad appears 41 times in the Quran and frequently in the idiomatic expression "striving in the way of God ". A person engaged in jihad is called a mujahid; the plural is...
of the judiciary alongside the LeaderSupreme Leader of IranThe Supreme Leader of Iran is the highest ranking political and religious authority in the Islamic Republic of Iran. The post was established by the constitution in accordance with the concept of Guardianship of the Islamic Jurists...
and people.”
Controversies over economic policy
In June 2006, 50 Iranian economists wrote a letter to Ahmadinejad that criticized his price interventions to stabilize prices of goods, cement, government services, and his decree issued by the High Labor Council and the Ministry of Labor that proposed an increase of workers' salaries by 40 percent. Ahmadinejad publicly responded harshly to the letter and denounced the accusations.In July 2007, Ahmadinejad ordered the dissolution of the Management and Planning Organisation of Iran
Management and Planning Organisation of Iran
The Management and Planning Organization of Iran was one of the largest governmental establishments in Iran. From 1948 until 2007 it was fully responsible for preparing the country's budget....
, a relatively independent planning body with a supervisory role in addition to its responsibility to allocate the national budget, and replaced it with a new budget planning body directly under his control, a move that may give him a freer hand to implement populist policies.
In November 2008, a group of 60 Iranian economists condemned Ahmadinejad's economic policies, saying Iran faces deep economic problems, including stunted growth, double-digit inflation and widespread unemployment, and must drastically change course. It also criticized Ahmadinejad's foreign policy calling it "tension-creating" and saying it has "scared off foreign investment and inflicted heavy damage" on the economy. Ahmadinejad replied that Iran has been "least affected by this international financial crisis."
2007 Gas Rationing Plan in Iran
2007 Gas Rationing Plan in Iran was launched by president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's cabinet to reduce that country's fuel consumption. Although Iran is one of the world's largest producers of petroleumPetroleum
Petroleum or crude oil is a naturally occurring, flammable liquid consisting of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights and other liquid organic compounds, that are found in geologic formations beneath the Earth's surface. Petroleum is recovered mostly through oil drilling...
, mismanagement, kleptocracy
Kleptocracy
Kleptocracy, alternatively cleptocracy or kleptarchy, is a form of political and government corruption where the government exists to increase the personal wealth and political power of its officials and the ruling class at the expense of the wider population, often without pretense of honest...
, rapid increases in demand and limited refining capacity has forced the country to import about 40% of its gasoline
Gasoline
Gasoline , or petrol , is a toxic, translucent, petroleum-derived liquid that is primarily used as a fuel in internal combustion engines. It consists mostly of organic compounds obtained by the fractional distillation of petroleum, enhanced with a variety of additives. Some gasolines also contain...
, at an annual cost of up to $7 billion.
Human Rights
According to the group Human Rights WatchHuman Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Its headquarters are in New York City and it has offices in Berlin, Beirut, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo,...
, Iran’s human rights record "has deteriorated markedly" under the administration of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Beginning in 2005, the number of offenders executed increased from 86 in 2005 to 317 in 2007. Months-long arbitrary detentions of "peaceful activists, journalists, students, and human rights defenders" and often charged with “acting against national security,” has intensified.
Population, cultural and women's issues
In April 2007, the Tehran police began the most fierce crackdown on "bad hijabHijab
The word "hijab" or "'" refers to both the head covering traditionally worn by Muslim women and modest Muslim styles of dress in general....
" in more than a decade. In the capital Tehran thousands of Iranian women were cautioned over their poor Islamic dress and several hundred arrested. In 2011, an estimated 70,000 police in Tehran alone, patroled for clothing and hair infractions. As of 2011, men are barred from wearing necklaces, “glamorous” hairstyles, pony tails, and shorts. Neckties are forbidden in the holy city of Qom
Qom
Qom is a city in Iran. It lies by road southwest of Tehran and is the capital of Qom Province. At the 2006 census, its population was 957,496, in 241,827 families. It is situated on the banks of the Qom River....
. After a leading cleric (Hojatoleslam Gholamreza Hassani
Gholamreza Hassani
Hojatoleslam Gholamreza Hassani is the Friday prayer imam at the Masjid-e-Jamé mosque in the city of Urmia in northwest Iran, and representative of the Iranian Supreme Leader in East Azarbaijan Province. He has been described as one of the most, if not the most, conservative voices in Iran...
) issued a fatwa against keeping dogs as pets, a crackdown on dog ownership commenced.
Several controversial proposals by President Ahmadinejad and conservatives have not come to fruition. Plans to encourage larger families,
to encourage polygamy by permitting it despite the opposition of a huband's first wife; and to put a tax on Mahriyeh - a stipulated sum that a groom agrees to give or owe to his bride which is seen by many women "as a financial safety net in the event a husband leaves the marriage and is not forced to pay alimony" - have not gone anywhere.
2009 election controversy
Ahmadinejad's 2009 election victory was hotly disputed and marred by large protests2009 Iranian election protests
Protests following the 2009 Iranian presidential election against the disputed victory of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and in support of opposition candidates Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi occurred in major cities in Iran and around the world starting June 13, 2009...
that formed the "greatest domestic challenge" to the leadership of the Islamic Republic "in 30 years". Despite high turnout and large enthusiastic crowds for reformist opponent Mir-Hossein Mousavi
Mir-Hossein Mousavi
Mir-Hossein Mousavi Khameneh is an Iranian reformist politician, artist and architect who served as the seventy-ninth and last Prime Minister of Iran from 1981 to 1989. He was a Reformist candidate for the 2009 presidential election and eventually the leader of the opposition in the post-election...
, Ahmadinejad was officially declared to have won by a 2-1 margin against three opponents. Allegations of voting irregularities and protest by Mousavi his supporters were immediate, and by 1 July 2009 1000 people had been arrested and 20 killed in street demonstrations. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei
Ali Khamenei
Ayatollah Seyed Ali Hoseyni Khāmene’i is the Supreme Leader of Iran and the figurative head of the Muslim conservative establishment in Iran and Twelver Shi'a marja...
and others Islamic officials blamed foreign powers for fomenting the protest. However, according to World Public Opinion (a US poll), the protest does not mean Iran is in a "pre-revolutionary" situation as a WPO poll of Iranians taken in early September 2009 found high levels of satisfaction with the regime. 80% of the Iranians respondents said President Ahmadinejad was honest, 64% expressed a lot of confidence in him, and nine in ten said they were satisfied with Iran's system of government.
Public opinion
According to the (U.S.) International Peace InstituteInternational Peace Institute
The International Peace Institute is an independent non-profit research and policy development institution based in New York. IPI specializes in multilateral approaches to peace and security issues, working closely with the Secretariat and membership of the United Nations...
's 2010-poll conducted in Persian
Persian language
Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
by a representative sample of the Iranian people:
- Iranians are divided on the government's performance.
- Dissatisfied with the economy
Economy of IranThe economy of Iran is the eighteenth largest in the world by purchasing power parity and according to Iranian officials' claims is going to become the 12th largest by 2015. The economy of Iran is a mixed and transition economy with a large public sector and some 50% of the economy centrally planned...
.- Worry over sanctions
Sanctions against IranThis article outlines economic, trade, scientific and military sanctions against Iran, which have been imposed by the U.S. government, or under U.S. pressure by the international community through the United Nations Security Council...
and isolation.- Want to focus on domestic affairs.
- Favor closer ties to the West
Foreign relations of IranForeign relations of Iran refers to inter-governmental relationships between Iran and other countries. Following the 1979 Iranian Revolution, the newly-born Islamic Republic, under the leadership of Ayatollah Khomeini, dramatically reversed the pro-Western foreign policy of the last Shah of Iran,...
.- Rising tensions sparked hostility toward the US, Europe and U.N.
- Favor nuclear arms and do not want to back deals to halt enrichement.
- Independent polls do not contradict official turnout of 2009 election
Iranian presidential election, 2009Iran's tenth presidential election was held on 12 June 2009, with incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad running against three challengers. The next morning the Islamic Republic News Agency, Iran's official news agency, announced that with two-thirds of the votes counted, Ahmadinejad had won the election...
, which gave around 60% of vote to Ahmadinejad.
See also
- Iranian RevolutionIranian RevolutionThe Iranian Revolution refers to events involving the overthrow of Iran's monarchy under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and its replacement with an Islamic republic under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the...
- History of IranHistory of IranThe history of Iran has been intertwined with the history of a larger historical region, comprising the area from the Danube River in the west to the Indus River and Jaxartes in the east and from the Caucasus, Caspian Sea, and Aral Sea in the north to the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman and Egypt...
- Foreign relations of IranForeign relations of IranForeign relations of Iran refers to inter-governmental relationships between Iran and other countries. Following the 1979 Iranian Revolution, the newly-born Islamic Republic, under the leadership of Ayatollah Khomeini, dramatically reversed the pro-Western foreign policy of the last Shah of Iran,...
- History of political Islam in Iran
- Iran's Nuclear Program
- International rankings of Iran