The name Iran is derived from the Aryan tribes who took control of Persia around 1600 BC. In 550 BC Cyrus the Great seized the throne of one of the dominant tribes, the Medes, from which he established an empire covering Babylonia, Syria and Asia Minor and, later on, Thrace, Macedonia and Egypt. Cyrus’ empire was conquered in the latter part of the fourth century BC by the Greek general Alexander the Great, and then overrun by the Parthians in the early third century BC. They in turn were supplanted by Ardashir, founder of the Sassanian empire in the early third century AD. Four hundred years
later, in AD 640, Persia was conquered by the Arabs, who established the Islamic religion in the region.
After a brief occupation by the Turks, Persia was taken over by the Mongols and then, in the 1380s, by Timur, better known as Tamerlane, the Mongol leader of an empire centered in modern-day Uzbekistan. Timur also conquered Azerbaijan and parts of Iraq, Syria and Turkey before his death during an invasion of China at the turn of the 15th century. Violent disorder consumed the country for the next 100 years until the first of the Safavid dynasty took control at the beginning of the 16th century. Their rule lasted until the beginning of the 18th century; Ardir Shah, a legendary figure in Iranian history, then ruled for 20 years until deposed in 1747. A new dynasty of rulers, the Qajars, established themselves at the end of the 18th century. By this time, Persian territory, which included parts of modern Georgia, Armenia and Afghanistan, was coming under threat from Russia, then in one of its expansionist periods, and Britain, which sought to consolidate its already substantial position in south Asia.
The two imperial powers occupied Persia during World War I, after which a senior army officer, Colonel Reza Khan, launched a successful military coup and – with the blessing of the British and Russians – took control of the country in 1921. In 1925, Reza Khan was proclaimed Shah, bringing an end to the Qajar Dynasty. Reza Khan himself was forced to abdicate in favor of his son (Reza Pahlavi) in 1941. The British and Russians again took effective control of the country for the duration of World War II, before withdrawing in 1946. It took until the early 1960s for the new Shah to establish effective control over the country, promising prosperity through industrialization and modernization. The discovery of large oil deposits provided the financial resources to put this into effect.
The regime developed close relations with the West, especially the USA, which saw Iran as a bulwark against communism and militant Arab nationalism. However, in pursuing this political agenda, the Shah ignored the traditional influence exerted by the Islamic clergy, and this was the ultimate cause of his downfall. The destabilizing effects of rapid change on traditional Iranian society, coupled with the Shah’s intolerance of opposition, produced increasing political tension in the country. By the late 1970s the growing discontent had found a focus in the fundamentalist preachings of the exiled religious leader Ayatollah Khomeini. Faced with massive opposition from both Islamic fundamentalists and secular liberals, as well as uncertainty within the ranks of the previously loyal army, by January 1979 the Shah’s position was untenable and he fled the country.
Ayatollah Khomeini returned to Iran in triumph, and in doing so he effectively ensured that the Islamic clergy would prevail over secular elements in establishing the new order in Iran. Over the next two years, secular opponents of the Shah were steadily displaced as the Islamic clergy asserted total political control. The global resurgence of Islam since then owes much to the Iranian revolution: Muslims throughout Asia and North Africa were inspired by the example of Iran and most countries with a significant Muslim population have experienced some political turbulence, in many cases affecting significant change as a result. The reaction in the West was almost uniformly hostile, and focused on the occupation of the US embassy in Tehran in 1979 as a
cause célèbre.
By September 1980, the new government in Tehran had a far more serious situation to deal with when Iraq, which was looking to exploit post-revolutionary instabilities to pursue territorial and other claims against its ancient foe, launched a full-scale invasion. The eight years of fighting which followed, often resembling the worst excesses of the trench warfare of World War I, came to a close in August 1988, with next to nothing gained by either side and with the loss of hundreds of thousands of lives on both. While Iran turned inwards after the war, its former adversary decided to take on the rest of the world in the ill-fated invasion of Kuwait. Iran was largely a spectator to the conflict, although it did gain diplomatically from Iraq’s subsequent defeat. It also gained another surge of refugees fleeing Saddam’s post-war vengeance.
Added to the existing Afghan, Kurdish and Iraqi refugees, this left Iran host to one of the world’s single largest population of refugees. On the domestic front, the late 1980s saw the rise to power of the
Majlis (parliament) speaker, Hojat-al-Islam Ali Akbar Hasemi Rafsanjani. While Khomeini was alive, effective political power was concentrated in his hands. Upon his death in 1989, it was divided between two key posts: the ‘supreme religious leader’ and the elected president of the republic. Conflicts between these two centers of power have dominated Iranian politics ever since Khomeini’s death. In 1989, Rafsanjani assumed the presidency while a close ally of Khomeini’s, Ayatollah Khamene’i, replaced his former mentor.
Rafsanjani was re-elected in 1993 against nominal opposition. When Rafsanjani finally stood down in 1997, a number of candidates (approved by the Council of Guardians, the religious body headed by Khamene’i) were authorized. Among these, and unknown at the time, was Sayed Muhammad Khatami, who by virtue of exhaustive campaigning and an appeal to the liberal parts of Iranian society, won a substantial majority. Khatami pledged, and has tried to put into effect, reforms easing the more severe aspects of Islamic doctrine, particularly as it has affected social mores, the media and aspects of economic development. His arguments rest on the clear failings of the immediate post-Khomeini era. He also enjoys the overwhelming support of the population. Standing for a second term in June 2001, he secured 78 per cent of the popular vote. But he has repeatedly come into conflict with the conservative clergy and their supporters in key parts of the state bureaucracy, especially the police, security services and the judiciary. The conservatives can also broadly rely on the Council of Guardians, which Khatami can do little to challenge directly, to block reforms. Crackdowns on prominent reformers and the media are a regular occurrence. Abroad, the conservatives are deeply suspicious of his efforts to improve links with the West. These have had some success, notably in Europe where all the major states, now including the UK, have re-established full diplomatic and trade links with Tehran. The US, however, has set itself in firm opposition to Iran, denouncing it in 2002 as part of a so-called ‘axis of evil’: short of a complete change of regime, it seems that there is nothing the Iranians can do to mollify the enmity of the US. In particular, the Americans are highly suspicious of Iranian influence over the new government in Afghanistan, with which Iran enjoys historical and ethnic links.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Tehran's ultra-conservative mayor, won a run-off vote in elections in June 2005, defeating his rival, the former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, to become Iran's first non-cleric president for 24 years. Mr Ahmadinejad promised to press on with Iran's nuclear program. The West suspects Iran of seeking to develop nuclear arms but Tehran says its ambitions are peaceful.
GovernmentLegislative power is vested in the Islamic Consultative Assembly (
Majlis), with 270 members. The chief executive is the President, elected (as is the Assembly) by universal adult suffrage for a four-year term. A 12-member Council of Guardians, led by the country’s supreme religious leader, Ayatollah Khamene’i, officially ensures that legislation is in accordance with the constitution and Islamic precepts but, in reality, enjoys extensive powers and influence over all aspects of policy. Iran is divided into 26 provinces; each has an appointed governor.
EconomyIran’s main sources of income are its huge oil and gas deposits, which are among the world’s largest. The agricultural sector is important for the numbers employed, although output has been depressed by drought and migration of rural labor to the cities. Both subsistence crops, mainly wheat, barley and sugar, and cash crops are grown.
The manufacturing sector, which accounts for about one-sixth of total output, produces textiles, food-processing and transport equipment. Apart from hydrocarbons, Iran also has viable deposits of coal, magnesium ores and gypsum.
Government policy has sought to promote the agricultural and light industry in order to reduce the economy’s dependence on oil and increase the influence of the private sector – about 80% of economic activity is state controlled. The economy is performing fairly steadily at present: annual growth is about 6% (2005).
As in other areas, economic policy is dominated by fundamental difference of approach between the elected government and the ruling clergy. On the trade front, Iran has developed important new links with the newly independent states of central Asia as well as Turkey and China but, more importantly, existing trade with traditional partners in Europe, Japan and the Middle East have been restored. Bilateral trade with the USA remains, not surprisingly, at a low level.
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