Iran+6

By: Louis Yoo, Caroline Lee, Siddharth Singh
>  As the Ottoman Empire waned, another nation, one that had already been immensely influential for thousands of years, was on track to becoming an important player on the world stage. Iran, located at the crossroads between the Fertile Crescent and the East, underwent a series of political and social changes that would prove to have a profound impact on relations between America, the Middle East, the Islamic world in general.

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=News articles=

Israel's intentions towards Iran
Many nations have found the fact that a Fundementalist Islamic Theocracy like Iran has started developing nuclear weapons to be quite alarming. Israel, the subject of immense criticism from Iran's Anti-Semitic Government, is particularly scared that Iran's potential status as a nuclear power would threaten the very existence of their country. As tensions are on the rise, Israel has made statements regarding a possible strike that would neutralize the program. Many, including President Obama, believe that Israel has not made a decision to attack Iran, some citing Israel's blatant remarks as a dead giveaway that they were bluffing. Others believe Israel might be serious, and that the recent assassinations of Iranian Nuclear Scientists and explosions at Iranian nuclear facilities were already the work of Israel and the United States. Some speculate that an attack on Iran's programs might backfire, creating yet another war in the Middle East. As to whether Israel is actually capable of attacking Iran, many believe that Israel does not have the capacity to significantly impact Iran's program, though Israel claims that the United States does. Moshe Yaalon, Vice Prime Minister of Israel, believes that the threat of a strike, rather than an actual attack, will perhaps be a more effective deterrent. In 2003, Iran, afraid of a U.S invasion, temporarily halted its nuclear program. Yaalon believes that if the west demonstrates the capability to carry out an attack, Iran will back down once again. [|Article on Israel's plans to attack Iranian nuclear development program]

Iran's control of the Strait of Hormuz
 Another fact that has helped solidify Iran's status as a key international figure is its control of the Strait of Hormuz, which links the Persian Gulf to the rest of the world. If the Iran were to halt traffic through the strait, as it has been threatening to do, important oil producers in the Middle East, particularly Saudi Arabia, would not be able to export to the rest of the world. One fifth of the world's traded oil must pass through this crucial waterway. Economists estimate that if the Strait were to be blockaded, the price of oil would increase six times over. The Washington Institute for Near East Studies has stated that Iran has heavily armed its areas along the Persian Gulf, and that Iranian action might initiate a naval or aerial conflict with the United States. As alternatives to the use of the Strait for oil transportation, econom

ists have suggested that the Saudis make use of the Petroline oil pipeline, or the pipeline currently under construction through the United Arab Emirates as a potential safety net. However, neither of these options would be able to transport as much oil as is currently moved through the Strait of Hormuz. With the price of oil hanging in the balance, and analysts foreseeing a potential Israeli strike in May or June, finding alternatives to the Strait may be more important than ever. [|Iran's ability to block the Strait of Hormuz]

= Iranian nuclear development =

media type="youtube" key="VVPAAEPkbTs" height="315" width="560" Many nuclear facilities throughout Iran are concealed from outside inspection. T

he representatives of the UN security council have expressed extreme concern with the amount of uranium that Iran has produced, and that it may be enough to create a nuclear arsenal. The Iranian nuclear program is known for its long time secrecy, deceit, and defiance. Iranian representatives assure the UN security council that thier their nuclear program is and will always remain peaceful. Despite these claims, Iran continues to disregard the council by enriching large amounts of uranium and refusing inspections from the International Atomic Energy Agency. The Chairman of the U.S Joint Chiefs of Staff belives that Iran has enough uranium to produce a nuclear bomb. Iran is becoming a threat and provoking anxiety in neighboring countries. The swelling of fear may trigger a nuclear revolution and lead to war. One other fatal aspect of the Iranian nuclear program is that they now have more resources to support the many state-sponsored terrorist groups that threaten peace and stability everywhere. Iran will now do anything to reshape the face of the Middle East and may soon have the power to destroy anyone who gets in their way.

Timeline
1921-1925 : Reza Khan, a military officer in Persia's Cossack Brigade, is named Shah of Persia (former name of Iran) after a successful military coup of the Qajar dynasty. He launches an aggressive campaign to modernize the country, develop the national public education system and national railroad system, and improve health care.

1936- Persia is officially renamed Iran. Reza Khan's approach to dictatorship attracts disapproval.

1941- Reza Khan declares Iran's neutrality in WWII but fails to keep it due to unreasonable requests from Britain to expel all of the German engineers working in the British controlled oil operations. The British and Soviet Union occupy western Iran and Reza Khan is forced off the throne. His son, Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, takes his place as ruler.

1949-1957 :Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi's constitutional powers are expanded after his attempted assassination attributed to the Tudeh Party (pro-Soviets). Nationalist Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadeq attempts to nationalize the British-owned oil induststry. Reza Shah Pahlavi disagrees and removes him from power. However, Mossadeq regains power and the Shah leaves Iran. Two years later, Falzahlollah Zahedi overthrows Mossadeq with help from the CIA and the Shah returns. Israeli and U.S intelligence officers set up an Iranian intelligence organization named SAVAK which was blamed for the persecution and deaths of many political prisoners.

1963-1978- "The White Revolution" is a vigorous campaign of social and economic westernization that is challenged with aggressive opposition. The Shah relies heavily on SAVAK to control the riots, but is met with even more violence. The Shah creates a series of reforms which are viewed as anti-Islamic acts and cause the alienation of his people.

1979-1980 - 1979 marks the begining of the Iraninan revolution.
 * January 16-The Shah flees Iran amid accentuating unrest
 * Febuary 1- Islamic nationalist Ayatollah Khomeini returns from exile for his opposition against the Shah's regime and encourages revolution
 * April 1- Iran declares itself to be a theocratic republic following Islamic principles. Iran is renamed "The Islamic Republic of Iran".
 * November 4- Islamic students charge the U.S embassy in Tehran, taking 52 American employees hostage. This worsens the relationship between the U.S and Iran.
 * 1980- Iran and the U.S break all diplomatic ties. The Shah dies in exile. Iraq invades Iran over the Shat al Arab waterway. An eight year war breaks out.

1981-1989 -
 * 1981 U.S hostages are released after 444 days of captivity.
 * 1985- U.S seeks to trade weaponry to Iran for the release of seven American hostages, evoking the Iran-Contra scandal.
 * 1988- An American Navy ship, the USS Vincennes, shoots down an Iranian civilian. Iran accepts United Nations Security Council Resolution 598, causing a cease fire in the Iran-Iraq war.
 * 1989- Ayatollah Khomeini places fatwa (religious edict) on the writer who writes blasphemy against Islam. Khomeini dies, Ali Khamenei succeeds to his place as the national religious leader. Ali Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani becomes president.

1995-2000- The US places oil sanctions on Iran, accusing the country of sponsoring terrorism.
 * 1995- The United States places oil and trade sanctions on Iran because of their sponsorship of terrorism, human rights abuses, and sabotage of the Arab-Israeli peace process.
 * 1997- (Ali) Mohammad Khatami-Ardakani is elected to the presidency in a landslide victory amid his promises for political and social reforms as well as economic revitalization.
 * 2000- Pro-reform candidates of President Khatami win 189 of the 290 seats in parliament, setting the stage for reformers to control the legislature for the first time since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Conservatives win 54 seats, independents 42, and another five seats are reserved for religious minorities.
 * 2001- President Khatami wins reelection.

2002-2006: Bush makes a statement that Iran is part of the "axis of evil" and pursuing weapons of mass destruction. This causes anger in Iran. Conservatives regain control over parliament. Iran considers restarting nuclear program. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad attempts to ease Bush's tension over their nuclear program, but does not stop enriching uranium, insisting that it is purely for civilian energy resource.

2007-2009: U.S and European countries put new economic sanctions on Iran to stop Tehran's nuclear program and its military protection. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad wins presidential election.

=20th century issues=

At the beginning of the 20th century, Iran was still Persia. It was a monarchy under the Shah, Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar. Great Britain and Russia were establishing colonies in Persian lands and influencing much of what they did. The rest of the 20th century would be punctuated by European attempts to control Iran, changes in government, and vicious conflicts between conservatives and reformists.

Foreign interference and imperialism


At the start of the century, Iran was already colonized by the British and Russians. They did not interfere too largely with Iranian affairs until the British found oil. The British and Russians then started to dispute over which empire had control of Iran. The two empires eventually came to an agreement according to which Britain would have control over the south and east of Iran and Russia would have control over the north. These events are important to the rest of the century as this is when Great Britain established oil companies in Iran, which would later feed a sense of being entitled to interfere in Iranian affairs. After World War I, Russia withdrew from Iran and Britain lost power in the area, although they still had oil companies based there. Reza Khan became Shah of Iran and eventually became unpopular. Britain then decided to interfere and help force him to abdicate and put his pro-Britain son, Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, on the throne instead, as they believed that he would protect the interests of their oil companies. However, there was still some anti-Britain sentiment in the government, evidenced by Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadeq's attempts to nationalize British-owned oil companies. The government went through a period of turmoil in which Mossadeq was removed from power and then reinstated shortly thereafter. The US and Great Britain then chose to interfere and remove Mossadeq from the throne to preserve British interests. Their meddling in Iranian affairs for their own benefit soured relationships between Iran and the two other nations. This is evidenced by the Iran hostage crisis, in which Iranian students charged the US Embassy in Tehran, calling them a "den of spies", and took 52 American employees hostage for 444 days. Another important way in which foreign interference affected Iran is that it contributed to Iran's distrust of Western influence, making it harder for the reformists in Iran to succeed.

Conservatives vs. Reformists
For a long time now, Iran has been divided between people who desire reform and modernization and traditionalists, who are generally devout Muslims and vehemently oppose westernization. Reza Shah, who came to power in 1921, was aggressive about modernizing Iran and also had a secular administration, which alienated the devout Muslims of Iran. This led to riots about the modernization attempts in 1935, which resulted in many deaths. After several more changes of government, Iran tried to put reforms into effect that would speed economic growth and modernization. Naturally, this provoked anger in the conservatives, who rioted in support of Ruhollah Khomeini, a conservative religious leader. In 1979 they succeeded at overthrowing the constitutional monarchy that was led by a reformist Shah. Ruhollah Khomeini became the Supreme Leader of the theocratic new Islamic Republic of Iran. Since then, both reformist and conservative presidents have been elected, but reforms have had difficulty with being pushed through as the conservatives in Parliament undermine all the reforms that the reformists try to get passed and censor the media.

The 20th century's issues in Iran have shaped the way that they view the world, and especially the United States. With nuclear development underway and terrorist groups being sponsored, Iran is becoming a formidable enemy in the 21st century.

=21st century issues=

Iran is currently the most active state sponsor of terrorism in the world. Iran's role in financing the largest terror-related destruction in the Middle East and Afghanistan endangers all efforts to promote peace. This has also caused an even more hostile relationship with other countries, especially the United States. Iran's nuclear facilities refuse inspections of the International Atomic Energy Agency demanded by the UN security council. Even though the Iranian council assures the all that thier efforts are harmless and have no intent to cause terror and destruction, they continue to ignore the laws by enriching large quantities or uranium. Iran's two-faced nuclear program continues to cause extreme concern in the U.S, U.N. and all of the surrounding countries. With their nuclear capabilities, Iran has the potential to become a superpower and change whatever they want about the Middle East. Due to the known acts of financing terrorist groups and producing nuclear material, Iran and the adjacent countries are in constant fear of a nuclear war, and this is causing a panic to spread. Many countries such as Syria and Egypt are beginning to manufacture and produce their own nuclear weapons for a sense of protection from Iran and its unstable manners. Nuclear war is definitely a possibility. Another problem that arises in Iran is the inaccessibility of oil despite its prime location. The lack of refining capacity has forced the government to import oil from elsewhere and end up paying more money for less oil product. The U.S and European sanctions placed on Iran because of their irrational nuclear behavior has taken a heavy toll on Iran's economy. Unemployment is through the roof, and the national debt is steadily increasing. The oil ban imposed by the European union has limited Iran's ability to do business abroad. Despite this, Iran has tremendous influence on the world's supply of oil as it can block off the Strait of Hormuz, through which 1/5th of the world's traded oil passes every day, giving them a disproportionate amount of influence over the world's oil supplies.

Iran-Israel relations have been hostile since the founding of the Islamic Republic of Iran, but they are worsening as the 21st century progresses. Iran does not recognize Israel's statehood and has expressed the wish to destroy Israel. Since Iran started to try to develop nuclear weapons, the venomous words of Iranian officials seem even more ominous. Israel's worries that Iran will use nuclear weapons against them have led them to be very aggressive about not letting Iran have nuclear weapons. Israel and America are suspected to have spies in Iran who assassinate nuclear scientists to slow Iran's progress. Israel has also threatened a full-on military strike on uranium enrichment sites. In response, Iran has threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz, an act that would cause a worldwide catastrophe if Iran succeeded at blockading it.

=Important Personnel=

Mozzafar-al-Din Shah:
Mozzafar-al-Din Shah was the Shah at the time of the Iranian Constitutional Revolution of 1906. He conceded to the demands of the protesters and established a parliament and constitutional monarchy in Persia. This new government was short-lived, however. The Qajar dynasty came to an end in 1925 with Reza Shah.

Reza Shah:
Reza Shah came to power in 1925 through a military coup d'état. His government was authoritarian, secular, and anti-communism. He also made great efforts to modernize Iran, especially in terms of transportation and infrastructure. Even though his economic policies helped growth in Iran, his secularism and pro-Western policies antagonized many in his country. In 1941, the British and Soviets helped push him off the throne out of fear that he would aid Nazi Germany and his pro-British son, Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, was put into power.

Mohammad Reza Shah:
Mohammad Reza Shah took his father's place as Shah on September 16th, 1941. Like his father, he was a reformist, but he was also pro-Britain. This was important later on when the prime minister Mohammed Mossadeq tried to nationalize British oil companies. Mohammad Reza Shah made important reforms in what is called "The White Revolution", including land reform, extension of suffrage to women, and more focus on eradicating illiteracy. Towards the end of his rule, the Iranian government had become very repressive. Conservatives who disagreed with his pro-Western reforms and people who were tired of being repressed by his government were all united by their desire for a new system, which led to the formation of the Islamic Republic under Ruhollah Khomeini.

Mohammed Mossadeq:
Mohammed Mossadeq was the Prime Minister from 1951 to 1953. He attempted to nationalize oil companies in Iran, including some that were British-owned. Mohammad Reza Shah, being pro-Britain, opposed this and removed Mossadeq from power, resulting in uprisings in protest.

[[image:http://islamic-laws.com/ulama_pics/khomaini.jpg width="196" height="240" align="left" caption="Ayatollah Khomeini"]]
Mohammad Reza Shah then quickly reinstated Mossadeq, who in return briefly exiled the Shah. The Americans and the British then intervened and helped remove Mossadeq from office.

Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini:
Ruhollah Khomeini was a religious and political leader who led the 1979 Iranian Revolution. He was opposed to the secularism and Western influences of the Shah's regime, such as allowing women to vote and non-Muslims to hold office. In 1963 he was exiled from Iran after publicly insulting the Shah. Once the Shah left Iran as well, Khomeini returned to be the leader of the new Iranian government. An Islamic Republic replaced the old monarchy with overwhelming support from the people and Ruhollah Khomeini was made the Supreme Leader, a position more powerful than president. The eight-year Iran-Iraq war took place while Khomeini was in power.

Ali Khamenei:
Ali Khamenei is the current Supreme Leader of Iran, having succeeded Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1989 after the latter's death. He was also president of Iran from 1981 until 1989. He is very opposed to what he perceives as Westernization, which is basically anything that deviates from traditional Islam. He has issued a fatwa, a ruling concerning Islamic law, stating that nuclear weaponry goes against Islamic law. He insists that Iran only wishes to create electricity with its nuclear program. === ===

**Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: **
Ahmadinejad is the current president of Iran, elected in 2005 and reelected in 2009 in an election of which many doubted the legitimacy and which sparked many protests against his presidency. Ahmadinejad is very conservative and blames the West for just about everything. He has been a supporter of Iran’s nuclear program and has displayed deep hatred for Israel. These two factors make Israel incredibly apprehensive about Iran’s nuclear ambitions, which is a continuing source of conflict.

=Primary source=

http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/218464/20110922/ahmadinejad-united-nations-speech-text.htm

"Do these arrogant powers really have the competence and ability to run or govern the world? Is it acceptable that they call themselves the sole defender of freedom, democracy, and [|human rights], while they militarily attack and occupy other countries? Can the flower of democracy blossom from NATO's missiles, bombs, and guns? Ladies and Gentlemen; If some European countries still use the Holocaust, after six decades, as the excuse to pay fine or ransom to the Zionists, should it not be an obligation upon the slave masters or colonial powers to pay reparations to the affected nations? If the damage and losses of the period of slavery and colonialism were indeed compensated, what would happen to the manipulators and behind-the-scenes political powers in the United States and in Europe? Would there remain any gaps between the North and the South? If only half of military expenditures of the United States and its allies in NATO was shifted to help solve the economic problems in their own countries, would they be witnessing any symptom of the economic crisis? What would happen, if the same amount was allocated to poor nations?"

For thousands of years, up until the present day, Iran has been one of the most influential countries in the Middle East. For centuries it has been a crossroads of cultures, influencing nations across Europe and Asia. In recent years, Iran has become even more important as its revolution took it from a U.S- friendly Monarchy to a conservative Islamic Republic that rejects and condemns the U.S and its actions in the Middle East. The fact that Iran is an outspoken critic of the United States and Israel and has recently started a nuclear weapons program has only pushed Iran further into the International spotlight. As relations between Iran and the U.S grow even more tense day day, it is essential that we be aware of Iran and its history so that we know how to properly deal with these issues.