History of the Islamic Republic of Iran
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[edit] Islamic revolution of Iran
Islamic republic of Iran originated from Islamic revolution of Iran which resulted in transformed Iran from a monarchy under The Shah (king) Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, to an Islamic republic under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the revolution and founder of the Islamic Republic.[1] The demonstrations began in January 1978[2] and on January 16 1979 Mohammad Reza Pahlavi flees . On February 1st Ayatollah Khomeini returned to Tehran from France where he resided, to rapturous greeting by several million Iranians[3] and on February 11 the Pahlavi dynasty collapsed. A revolutionary council and The Provisional Revolutionary Government had governed the country until the new government was established. Since then on April 1, after a landslide victory in a national referendum about 98 percent of Iranians chose Islamic republic as the form of new government. This new government is based upon the Constitution that was approved in a national referendum in December 1979.[4]
[edit] Hostage Crisis
Then Iranian students seized the U.S. embassy in Tehran on November 4, 1979, holding 52 embassy employees hostage for a 444 days (see Iran hostage crisis). The Carter administration severed diplomatic relations and imposed economic sanctions on April 7, 1980 and later that month attempted a rescue. A commando mission was aborted on April 25 after mechanical problems grounded rescue helicopters and eight American troops were killed in a mid-air collision. On May 24 the International Court of Justice called for the hostages' release. Finally the hostages were released Jan 20 1981, by Agreement of the Carter Administration, see Algiers Accords Jan 19,1981.
[edit] Iran-Iraq War
On September 22, 1980 Iraq invaded Iran. Official U.S. policy sought to isolate Iran, and the U.S. and its allies supplied Iraq with weapons and technology to maintain a balance in the war, as policy of dual containment. Iraq obtained most of its weaponry from the Soviets, China, and France. Members of the Reagan Administration covertly sold anti-tank missles and spare parts to Iran in what became known as the Iran-Contra affair. Iran finally agreed to UN Security Council Resolution 598 in 1988 to end the bloody war. Nonetheless, severe fighting continued into the 1990s and even to the present on a smaller scale [4]) as Kurdish (nationalist and communist forces fought the Iranian government.
[edit] Post-Khomeini era
The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan (1980) had brought some 3 million Afghan refugees to Iran. In 1989 Khomeini died and was succeeded by Iran's president, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The presidency was soon filled by Ali Akbar Rafsanjani, who sought improved relations and with Western nations while somewhat diminishing the influence of revolutionary factions and embarking on a military buildup. A major earthquake hit N Iran on June 21, 1990, killing nearly 40,000 people. When Iraq 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.
Rafsanjani was reelected president in 1993. The United States suspended all trade with Iran in 1995, accusing Iran of supporting terrorist groups and attempting to develop nuclear weapons. In 1997, Mohammad Khatami, a moderately liberal Muslim cleric, was elected president. Also in 1997, several European Union countries began renewing economic ties with Iran in the late 1990s; the United States, however, continued to block more normalized relations, arguing that the country had been implicated in international terrorism and was developing a nuclear weapons capacity. In 1999, as new curbs were put on a free press, prodemocracy student demonstrations erupted at Tehran University and other urban campuses. These were followed by a wave of counter demonstrations by conservative factions.
Reformers 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 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.
On January 29, 2002 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" The speech sparked widespread demonstrations all across Iran.
Tensions with the United States increased after the Anglo-American invasion of Iraq in March, 2003, as U.S. officials increasingly denounced Iran for pursuing the alleged development of nuclear weapons. 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. Meanwhile, an earthquake, centered on Bam in SE Iran, killed more than 26,000 people in Dec 2003.
In the Feb., 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 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 also subsequently indicated that it would not be held to the suspension if the negotiations the EU nations failed.
[edit] President Ahmadinejad
[edit] Ahmadinejad becomes president
The presidential elections in June, 2005, were won by the hardline conservative mayor of Tehran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who ran on a populist, anticorruption platform. Ahmadinejad and former president Rafsanjani were the leaders after the first round, but in the runoff Ahmadinejad's populist economic policies combined with Rafsanjani's inability to pick up sufficient reformist support assured the former's win. Ahmadinejad's victory gave conservatives control of all branches of Iran's government. After, in Aug., 2005, Iran resumed converting raw uranium 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.
[edit] Ahmadinejad on eliminating zionism
In October 2005, Ahmadinejad held a conference titled "The World without Zionism" In the speech, Ahmadinejad gave the examples of Iran under the Shah, the Soviet Union and Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq as examples of apparently invincible regimes that ceased to exist. He was quoted in the British Guardian newspaper as saying
- "There is no doubt that the new wave [of attacks] in Palestine will wipe off this stigma [Israel] from the face of the Islamic world."
Recalling the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, leader of Iran's Islamic revolution, he said:
- "As the imam said, Israel must be wiped off the map." [5]
Iran’s foreign minister denied that Tehran wanted to see Israel "wiped off the map, "saying Ahmadinejad had been misunderstood". 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.[5][6][7][8] In an interview with Time magazine:[9]
- TIME: You have been quoted as saying Israel should be wiped off the map. Was that merely rhetoric, or do you mean it?
- Ahmadinejad: Our suggestion is that the 5 million Palestinian refugees come back to their homes, and then the entire people on those lands hold a referendum and choose their own system of government. This is a democratic and popular way.
[edit] Ahmadinejad on the Jews and the holocaust
Ahmadinejad next created controversy in the West with a comment on the "myth" of the holocaust. In a speech given on 14 December 2005 in the city of Zahedan, and carried live on Iranian television, Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying:
If the Europeans are telling the truth in their claim that they have killed six million Jews in the Holocaust during the World War II - which seems they are right in their claim because they insist on it and arrest and imprison those who oppose it, why should the Palestinian nation pay for the crime. Why have they come to the very heart of the Islamic world and are committing crimes against the dear Palestine using their bombs, rockets, missiles and sanctions. [...] The same European countries have imposed the illegally-established Zionist regime on the oppressed nation of Palestine. If you have committed the crimes, so give a piece of your land somewhere in Europe or America and Canada or Alaska to them to set up their own state there. Then the Iranian nation will have no objections, will stage no rallies on the Qods Day, and will support your decision.[10]
And further:
Today, they have created a myth in the name of Holocaust and consider it to be above God, religion and the prophets.[11]
This prompted commdemnation from the German foreign minister, European Commission, U.S. Senate and others.
Following the controversy Ahmadinejad insisted that he was not an antisemitic,
- Some people think if they accuse me of being anti-Jew, they can solve the problem. No, I am not Anti-Jew. I respect them very much. [12]
and that the "Myth of Holocaust" refers to the "myth" that because of the Holocaust, Israel can never be wrong; not to the fact that millions of Jews were killed by the Nazis. Some say that he was only criticizing the use of the Holocaust in justifying the existence of the Israeli regime. According to Information Clearing House[13], Ahmadinejad was criticizing the exploitation of the Holocaust to promote the Israeli regime, and his words were taken out of context and made to look like he was denying the Holocaust. Iran's parliament speaker, Gholam Ali Haddad-Adel, said the Western media empire is trying to portray Iran as an anti-Semitic country. However, our support for Palestinians should not be interpreted as anti-Semitism. He added If our president questions Holocaust, It does not mean that Iran believes in anti-Semitism. In our history, there were no anti-Semitism or genocide.[14][15]
[edit] Ahmadinejad and Iran's nuclear program
In Feb., 2006, the IAEA voted to report Iran to the UN Security Council. In response Iran resumed uranium enrichment and ended surprise IAEA inspections and surveillance of its nuclear facilities. The Security Council called (March) for Iran to suspend its nuclear research program within 30 days, but the statement left unclear what if any response there would be if Iran refused. On April 11, 2006, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced that Iran had successfully enriched uranium. President Ahmadinejad made the announcement in a televised address from the northeastern city of Mashhad, where he said "I am officially announcing that Iran joined the group of those countries which have nuclear technology." The uranium was enriched to 3.5% using over a hundred centrifuges. At this level, it could be used in a civilian nuclear reactor only.
The enrichment program caused the nations involved China, France, Germany, Russia, the United States, and the EU to refer the issue back to the Security Council in July, 2006. The Council set an Aug. 31 deadline for Iran to stop enrichment, but Iran insisted it would continue its program and ignored the deadline. The Council's 5veto-holding nations were divided over the subsequent U.S. call for sanctions, and the situation remained unresolved; in October Iran announced it had expanded its enrichment facilities.
On May 8, 2006, Ahmadinejad sent a personal letter to United States President George Bush to propose "new ways" to end Iran's nuclear dispute. In the letter, Ahmadinejad also questions 9/11. Could it be planned and executed without coordination with intelligence and security services – or their extensive infiltration? Of course this is just an educated guess. Why have the various aspects of the attacks been kept secret? Why are we not told who botched their responsibilities? And, why aren’t those responsible and the guilty parties identified and put on trial? It was the first direct contact between the American and Iranian heads of state since April 9, 1980. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley both reviewed the letter and dismissed it as a negotiating ploy and publicity stunt and considered it to be a broad, historic look at the United States-Iran relations.
On December 11, 2006, the "International Conference to Review the Global Vision of the Holocaust" opened, to widespread condemnation. The conference, called for by and held at the behest of Ahmadinejad, was widely described as a "Holocaust denial conference" or a "meeting of Holocaust deniers", though Iran insists it is not a Holocaust denial conference but to provide a scientific atmosphere for scholars to express their opinions about a historical issue."[16]
On 23 December 2006, the United Nations Security Council unanimously passed Resolution 1737. Ahmadinejad said that sanctions cannot dissuade Iranians from their decision to make progress. "On the contrary, many of our successes, including access to the nuclear fuel cycle and producing of heavy water, have been achieved under sanctions. The US have sought to impose sanctions on Iran for its non-compliance, banning the supply of specific nuclear materials and technology to Iran, and freezing the assets of individuals and companies linked to Iran's nuclear program. The resolution also specifies that if Iran fails to suspend nuclear enrichment, further sanctions may follow. The Iranian Ambassador to the U.N., M. Javad Zarif, also replied to the resolution, A nation is being punished for exercising its inalienable rights, accusing the council of acting at the “behest of a dangerous regime, with aggression and war crimes as its signature brand of behavior,” referring to Israel, whose Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, allegedly took steps towards the disambiguation of Israel's suspected nuclear arsenal.[17]
Iran says that nuclear power for electricity is necessary for a booming population and rapidly industrializing. It points to the fact that Iran's population has more than doubled in 20 years, the country regularly imports gasoline and electricity, and that burning fossil fuel in large amounts severely harms Iran's environment. Additionally, Iran wishes to diversify its sources of energy. Iran also faces financial constraints, and claims that developing the excess capacity in its oil industry would cost it $40 billion, let alone pay for the power plants. Roger Stern from Johns Hopkins University partially concurred with this view, projecting that due to "energy subsidies", disencouragement to foreign investment, and inefficiencies of its Iranian state-planned economy, Iranian oil exports would vanish by 2014–2015.
[edit] See also
- History of Iran
- Foreign relations of Iran
- Iran's Nuclear Program
- Current international tensions with Iran
[edit] References
- ^ Encyclopædia Britannica.
- ^ The Iranian Revolution.
- ^ Ruhollah Khomeini, Encyclopedia Britannica.
- ^ Iran Islamic Republic, Encyclopedia Britannica.
- ^ http://www.president.ir/eng/ahmadinejad/cronicnews/1385/05/12/#b2
- ^ http://www.president.ir/eng/ahmadinejad/cronicnews/1385/04/12/index-e.htm#b1
- ^ http://www.president.ir/eng/ahmadinejad/cronicnews/1385/03/22/#b1
- ^ http://www.president.ir/eng/ahmadinejad/cronicnews/1385/03/12/#b1
- ^ http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1535777-2,00.html
- ^ http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/news/iran/2005/iran-051214-irna02.htm IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
- ^ [1]
- ^ BBC News, Iranian leader 'not anti-Semite'
- ^ [2]
- ^ isna.ir
- ^ [3]
- ^
- ^ "Iran rejects U.N. resolution and accuses Security Council of hypocrisy", San Diego Union Tribune, 2006-12-23. Retrieved on 2006-12-25.
