Blog 4: A Very Selected and Brief Synopsis of Iranian History

Blog 4: A Very Selected and Brief Synopsis of Iranian History

Iran (also known as Persia) is one of the oldest continuous major civilizations with an ancient culture. In the National Museum of Iran we viewed an 8,000-year-old piece of Iranian pottery. There were urban settlements in Iran dating back 6,000 years. At one point about 500BC, Iran was the first world empire, stretching from the Balkans in the north to North Africa in the south and Central Asia in the east (current Afghanistan).  Over the centuries, greater Iran expanded and shrank as it was a serially invaded by Greeks, Arabs, Turks, and Mongols. A relatively recent turning point occurred about 640 AD with the Arab Muslim conquest of Persia which began the Islamization of Iran that occurred over the next several centuries.  In the 1500s Iran converted to the Shia strain of Islam, and Iran remains almost entirely Shia Muslim although there are small numbers of Zoroastrians, Christians, Sunnis and Jews.   Although Iran absorbed many elements of Arab culture, it has proudly remained  Persian, and Iranians are sensitive to being considered Arabs, which are a distinct and perhaps less distinguished group.

At the beginning of the 20th century, a revolution of sorts resulted in Iran's first constitution that limited to a degree the powers of the Shah (or King).  In 1921, a man of humble background who was likely illiterate,  Reza Khan, led a military coup. 


 He changed his birth name to Reza Shah Pahlavi to garner the patina of royalty and maneuvered to become king/shah and establish the Pahlavi dynasty.   During his 16-year reign, he did much to modernize Iran although he also became an autocrat.  He was deposed in 1941, and his 16-year-old son, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, was put in his place.  






During the initial years of this young shah, Parliament gained powers.  In 1951 then Prime Minister Mohammed Mosaddeq nationalized the oil companies that previously had been largely controlled by British interests (now BP Petroleum) that paid very low royalties (< 20%) to the Iranians which were far below market value.   The US, fearing that the Mossadegh was a communist, organized a CIA led coup that overthrew the popularly elected  Prime Minister in 1953.  Power was then consolidated by Shah Mohammad Pahlavi who like his father became an autocrat and absolute monarch fond of buying the latest in military gear. The Iranian Revolution (during which hostages were taken at the US embassy) in turn overthrew the Shah in 1979, with Ayatollah Khomeini returning from a 14 year exile in France to establish a theocracy with him as Supreme Leader.  

Ayatollah Khomeini

Since the 1979 revolution, the Supreme Leader has enormous power over both religious and political affairs. On his death in 1979, Ayatollah Khomeini was replaced as the Supreme Leader by Ali Khameini who remains in power today.  

Iran does have an elected president, who was  Mahmoud Ahmadinejad from 2005 to 2013.  In 2013, a more moderate cleric Hassan Rouhani was elected and a moderating wind has been blowing through Iran.  With the approval of the Supreme Leader, Rouhani has tilted to the west and negotiated the Iran Nuclear deal.  According to a NY Times article, this process began when the Supreme Leader Khameini asked Sultan Qaboos of Oman to undertake initially secret negotiations with the US which ultimately culminated in the recently signed Iran Nuclear deal which lifts the crippling economic sanctions.   The Iranian papers during our visit were full of the effects of this deal that took effect in Jan 2016 and has already led to a significant outreach by the government to garner foreign investment. Since the accord went into effect in January, petroleum production has doubled.

Iran is a relative island of calm in a rough neighborhood.  To its west it has a long border with Iraq and to the east it has long borders with Afghanistan and Pakistan.  One nation over to the west is Syria, with Israel just beyond and the southern border is on the Persian Gulf including the Strait of Hormuz.  Unlike most of its neighbors (Iraq, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Pakistan), Iran has not had problems with terrorism from religious extremists.  Our guide attributes this to the fact that Iran is almost entirely Shia, which he thinks is a more peaceful strain of Islam than  Sunni (who are at the core of ISIS and Al Queda).

According to our guide and others, Iran's youthful population (60% under age 30) has less religious fanaticism than their revolutionary elders and there may not be a great deal of support for a continued theocracy.  However, the Supreme Leader seems to be a skillful politician balancing the demands of the religious conservatives vs. the moderates, and there is no vocal opposition to him at this point.  The moderates are gaining ground as shown in recent Parliamentary elections.