Iran in Perspective

An Orientation Guide

Defense Language Institute

Foreign Language Center
Curriculum Development Division
Instructional Design Department
February 2006
 2

A Brief Profile of Iran

Introduction

When one considers the ancient civilizations, a number

of empires come to mind: Egypt, Babylonia, Persia,
Phoenecia, Greece, and Rome. While none of the
remnants of these civilizations could still be considered
an empire, Persia lives on, in the land now known as
Iran. Some 2,500 years ago, the Persian Empire made
the pages of world history. Today, the Islamic Republic
of Iran frequently makes the pages of the world’s
newspapers. As it turns out, the US has significant
strategic interests in Iran, including, but not restricted to:

• Oil: “Iran is OPEC's second largest oil producer and holds 9% of the world's oil
reserves. It also has the world's second largest natural gas reserves1.”
• Nuclear capability: Iran has two nuclear power plants, one in Arak and the other
in Natanz. A recent inspection of the latter by the International Atomic Energy
Agency revealed that Iranian engineers have developed the technology to enrich
uranium, the essential constituent to build nuclear weapons2.
• Terrorism: Iran supports Hizbollah (Lebanon), along with Hamas and Islamic
Jihad (Palestine), three groups which the US government has identified as terrorist
organizations.
• Iraq: The most populous Shiite Muslim country in the world, Iran has its own
interests in the make-up of the eventual government of Iraq, with its own majority
Shiite population.

‘Iran in Perspective’ will explore these issues and

provide some background about the Iranian people and
their culture, social structure, history, geography, and
economy. At the outset, however, it would be useful to
clear up one common misconception: Iran is not an Arab
country. The language of Iran, Persian or Farsi, uses the
Arabic alphabet and has borrowed many words from
Arabic. Nevertheless, Farsi is not related to Arabic.
Farsi and Arabic are not members of the same language
family: Arabic is Semitic while Farsi is Indo-European. Present-day Iranians trace their
lineage to the Aryan tribes of Central Asia, while contemporary Arabs find their roots in
the Semitic tribes of the Arabian Peninsula.

1
From the website of the US Department of Energy, http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/iran.html
2
From the website of CNN: http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/03/09/iran.nuclear/
 3

Iran in Facts and Figures3

Location
Middle East, bordering the Gulf of
Oman, the Persian Gulf, and the
Caspian Sea, between Iraq and
Pakistan

Area
Total: 1.648 million sq km
Land: 1.636 million sq km
Water: 12,000 sq km

Land Boundaries
Total: 5,440 km
Border countries: Afghanistan 936
km, Armenia 35 km, Azerbaijan-
proper 432 km, Azerbaijan-
Naxcivan exclave 179 km, Iraq
1,458 km, Pakistan 909 km, Turkey
499 km, Turkmenistan 992 km

Climate
Mostly arid or semiarid, subtropical along Caspian coast

Terrain
Rugged, mountainous rim; high, central basin with deserts, mountains; small,
discontinuous plains along both coasts

Natural Resources
Petroleum, natural gas, coal, chromium, copper, iron ore, lead, manganese, zinc, sulfur

Population
66,622,704 (July 2002 est.)

Demographic Distribution
0-14 years: 31.6% (male 10,753,218; female 10,273,015)
15-64 years: 63.7% (male 21,383,542; female 21,096,307)
65 years and over: 4.7% (male 1,633,016; female 1,483,606) (2002 est.)

Ethnic Groups
Persian 51%, Azeri 24%, Gilaki and Mazandarani 8%, Kurd 7%, Arab 3%, Lur 2%,
Baloch 2%, Turkmen 2%, other 1%

3
From the website of the CIA World Factbook: http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ir.html
 4

Religions
Shiite Muslim 89%, Sunni Muslim 10%, Zoroastrian,
Jewish, Christian, and Baha'i 1%

Languages
Persian and Persian dialects 58%, Turkic and Turkic
dialects 26%, Kurdish 9%, Luri 2%, Balochi 1%, Arabic
1%, Turkish 1%, other 2%

Capital: Tehran

Administrative Divisions
28 provinces (ostanha, singular - ostan); Ardabil, Azarbayjan-e Gharbi, Azarbayjan-e
Sharqi, Bushehr, Chahar Mahall va Bakhtiari, Esfahan, Fars, Gilan, Golestan, Hamadan,
Hormozgan, Ilam, Kerman, Kermanshah, Khorasan, Khuzestan, Kohkiluyeh va Buyer
Ahmad, Kordestan, Lorestan, Markazi, Mazandaran, Qazvin, Qom, Semnan, Sistan va
Baluchestan, Tehran, Yazd, Zanjan

Independence Day (National Holiday)

1 April 1979 (Islamic Republic of Iran proclaimed)

Legal System
The Constitution codifies Islamic principles of government.

Executive Branch
Chief of state: Leader of the
Islamic Revolution Ayatollah
Ali Hoseini-Khamenei (since 4
June 1989)
Election last held 8 June 2001
(next to be held 2005)
Election results: (Ali)
Mohammad Khatami-Ardakani
reelected president; percent of
vote - (Ali) Mohammad
Khatami-Ardakani 77%
Head of government: President
Mohammad Khatami-Ardakani
(since 3 August 1997);
First Vice President Dr.
Mohammad Reza Aref-Yazdi
(since 26 August 2001)
 5

Legislative Branch
Unicameral Islamic Consultative Assembly or Majles-e-Shura-ye-Eslami (290 seats, note
- changed from 270 seats with the 18 February 2000
election; members elected by popular vote to serve four-
year terms)
Elections: last held 18 February- April 2000 (next to be
held 2004)
Election results: seats by party - reformers 170,
conservatives 45, and independents 10, 65 seats up for
runoff; note - election on 5 May 2000 (reformers 52,
conservatives 10, independents 3)

Diplomatic Representation in the US

None. Note - Iran has an Interests Section in the Pakistani Embassy;
Address: Iranian Interests Section, Pakistani Embassy, 2209 Wisconsin Avenue NW,
Washington, DC 20007; Telephone: (202) 965-4990

Budget
Revenues: $24 billion
Expenditures: $22 billion

Industries
Petroleum, petrochemicals, textiles, cement and other
construction materials, food processing (particularly
sugar refining and vegetable oil production), metal
fabricating, armaments

Farm Products
Wheat, rice, other grains, sugar beets, fruits, nuts, cotton; dairy products, wool

Exports
Petroleum accounts for 85% of the exports; carpets, fruits and nuts, iron, steel and
chemicals comprise the remaining 15%.

Imports
Industrial raw materials and intermediate goods, capital goods, foodstuffs and other
consumer goods, technical services, military supplies
 6

Geography
Iran’s Neighborhood
Iran lies in the middle of a rough neighborhood. At its eastern border are Afghanistan
and Pakistan. Before US-led forces liberated Afghanistan from Taliban tyranny, hostile
border incidents were not uncommon between Iran and Afghanistan. The Taliban
presided over a fanatical Sunni Muslim regime and persecuted the Shiite minority. These
aggressions provoked Iran, a majority Shiite Muslim country. With the allied defeat of
the Taliban, Iran seeks to expand its sphere of influence within Afghanistan, and has
extended aid and development assistance to the Afghanis.

Iraq, with whom Iran fought a 8-year war (1980-1988),

dominates the western frontier. These two neighbors
share a complex history spanning no less than 2,500
years4. As Iraq is home to a majority Shiite population
and the location of two holy Shiite cities (Karbala and
An-Najaf), Iran supports the formation of a Shiite
regime in Baghdad, and will do what it can to help make
it happen. It remains to be seen how far Iran will go to
accomplish that end. Turkey also lies to Iran’s west, but
much farther north. While the Ottoman Empire and Persia were traditional enemies and
vied for control of what is now Iraq, Turkey and Iran maintain a non-belligerent
relationship, by and large.

As to Iran and Pakistan, though never in a state of war, suspicion has kept their
relationship less than genial. Once again, it comes down to the fundamental religious
difference between Shiite Iran vs. Sunni Pakistan. During the Taliban regime in
Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran supported opposite sides: Iran backed the Northern
Alliance, Pakistan sided with the Taliban. Since the defeat of the Taliban, Pakistan and
Iran have begun to warm up to one another, as each side is represented in the new
Afghani regime5.

Iran’s ties with Turkmenistan are friendly. Iranian

president, Mohammad Khatami, recently proclaimed
that the relationship between Tehran and Ashkhabad
(capital of Turkmenistan) “can be considered as an
appropriate model for other regional states6.”
Armenia and Iran also have cordial relations. In fact,
“for some Western observers, Iran's attitude toward

4
Please refer to the History section and to http://www.lingnet.org/orientation/iraq/ir_020.html
5
From “Kabul Deal Promotes Regional Stability,” by Ali Ashraf, on the website of the Institute for War
and Peace Reporting, http://www.reliefweb.int/w/rwb.nsf
6
From the independent Iranian expatriate website, http://www.payvand.com/news/03/mar/1051.html
 7

Armenia, its sole Christian neighbor, [proves that] Tehran's foreign policy is more
pragmatic than ideological. Iran's relationship with Armenia is far warmer than it is with
Azerbaijan, where – as in Iran – Shiite Islam is the dominant religion7.”

Major Cities

Tehran
Tehran is located in north-central Iran, less than 100
miles south of the Caspian Sea. The political,
administrative, and economic capital, with a population
of close to 7 million8, Tehran is second in size only to
Cairo in the Middle East. When the greater
metropolitan area is included, the population of Iran’s
capital exceeds 11 million9. Unlike Cairo or other
Middle Eastern capitals, however, Tehran is relatively
young. A minor town on the outskirts of the ancient
city of Rey, the Qajars chose it as their capital just over two centuries ago. Tehran grew
rapidly during the Pahlavi dynasty (1925-1979), and has continued to swell since the fall
of the Shah.

Mashhad
Mashhad is the seat of government for the Khorasan province, located 850 kilometers
north-east of Tehran, near the border of Turkmenistan. The name of this city, an Arabic
word meaning ‘place of martyrdom,’ was not chosen arbitrarily: in the 9th century, Reza,
the 8th Imam of Shiite Islam, was murdered there. Since then, Mashhad has been
considered a holy pilgrimage site for Shiite Muslims in Iran and outside of its borders.
Recent statistics indicate a population of over 2 million.

Tabriz
Far in the north-west corner of Iran, near the borders of
Azerbaijan and Armenia, lies the city of Tabriz, at a
distance of 750 kilometers from Tehran. Famed for its
traditional carpet craft and magnificent mosques (the
Jum’a Mosque, the 14th-century Ali Shah Mosque, and
the 13th-century Blue Mosque), Tabriz is home to Iran’s
largest minority, the Azeris. The population of Tabriz is
at least 1.5 million and was the scene of a short-lived
leftist uprising in 1946.

Bandar Abbas
Prior to the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988), Iran’s major port had been Khorramshahr,
situated at the northern end of the Persian Gulf. During the war, however, the Iraqis
7
From “Caucasus: Iran, Armenia Seeking Closer Relations” appearing on the website of Radio Free
Europe / Radio Liberty http://www.rferl.org/nca/features/2001/01/25012001111522.asp
8
From the website of the Information Please Almanac, http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0762524.html
9
Ibid.
 8

occupied Khorramshahr. As a result, Bandar Abbas, a port in southern Iran at the Strait
of Hormuz, took its place as the number one Iranian harbor. International cargo ships as
well as local fishing boats dock in Bandar Abbas, the Iranian Navy operates a base there,
ships are built and repaired, and rail, air, and land routes connect this city with Tehran
and the rest of the country. The population exceeded 360,00010 as of 2001.

Esfahan11
Located halfway between Tehran and Shiraz, Esfahan
was the capital of the Safavid Empire in the 17th
century. It is still the seat of government for the
administrative district which bears the same name.
Known for two of the most magnificent mosques in the
Muslim world – the Sheikh Lotfollah Mosque and the
Emam Mosque – Esfahan is also famous for its beautiful
bridges which span the Zayandeh Rud River. “The Bridge of Khaju or Pole-i-Khaju, the
most famous of Esfahan bridges, has roused the admiration of travelers since the 17th
century12.” In addition to classic architecture, Esfahan is also a base for some of Iran’s
major industries, including the manufacture of steel, armaments, medicine, and textiles.

Shiraz
Known as Iran’s “city of roses and poets13,” Shiraz welcomes air travelers with an 8-
kilometer long rose garden at the side of the highway which connects the airport with the
city center. The seat of government for the Fars administrative district, Shiraz is 935
kilometers south of Tehran. “Parks with magnificent trees are one of the town's
attractions. Long wide shady avenues lead from one side [of the city] to the other. They
are an incitement to leisurely wanderings during siesta time. Exemplary modern
achievements, including remarkable hotels and very striking university buildings, are
conducive to a pleasant stay. Because of the city's altitude (1,600 meters), the climate is
extremely pleasant. It is very mild in winter and not too hot in summer14.”

Qom
Founded in the 9th century C.E. and located about 100
kilometers south of Tehran, Qom is considered a holy
city by Shiite Muslims. “The town of Qom is best
known for its religious university, Howzeh-ye Elmieh.
It attracts a lot of students from all over Iran and the
rest of the world who want to become a mullah. Imam
Khomeini is probably the most famous among those
who studied the Koran here15.”

10
Iran Chamber, http://www.iranchamber.com/cities/bandar_abbas/bandar_abbas.php
11
Also spelled Isfahan.
12
From the website of the Iran Tourism and Touring Organization http://www.itto.org
13
University’s Iranian Cultural & Information Center, http://tehran.stanford.edu/imagemap/shiraz.html
14
Ibid.
15
From the website http://www.bamjam.net/Iran/Qom.html
 9

History
Pre-Iranians: Akkadians and Elamites
Archaeological evidence indicates that the earliest human habitation in the land once
known as Persia and now known as Iran dates back to 30,000 BCE. These would have
been hunter-gatherers dwelling south of the Caspian Sea and along the northern Persian
Gulf. Civilization gained a foothold in the western area some time between 8000 and
6000 BCE, as excavations reveal signs of domestic animals and painted pottery from that
time period16.

The first pre-Aryan civilization in Iran was that of the

Akkadians, 4200 BCE. The Elamites arrived in 3500
BCE and became the dominant civilization in the early
second millennium BCE. Elam borrowed many cultural
achievements – including the cuneiform writing system
– from their Sumerian neighbors to the west and later
transmitted much of this knowledge to the Median and
Achaemenid empires. Between 2000 and 1800 BCE,
proto-Iranian tribes began to migrate from Central Asia
into Iran, completely supplanting the Elamite civilization. By 1200 BCE, these tribes,
principally the Medes, the Parthians, and the Persians, dominated the land.

Zarathustra
Controversy surrounds the chronological provenance of the founder of the Zoroastrian
religion, Zarathustra. Faithful followers claim that he spread his message in 1737 BCE17,
while linguistic evidence points to a more recent date, 1300 BCE18. In either case,
Zarathustra’s message took hold in ancient Iran and became the state religion of the early
Persian Empire. The holy scriptures of the Zoroastrian religion, the Avesta, contains the
Gathas, a set of 16 moral and spiritual guidelines, set in verse. Adherents to this religion
point with pride to its monotheistic character: at a time when surrounding civilizations –
Babylonian, Egyptian, and Assyrian, to name a few – worshipped pantheons of gods and
goddesses, Zarathustra preached the oneness of God.

Medes, Persians, and Cyrus the Great

Among the three Iranian tribal groupings, the Medes were the first to establish a
kingdom. The leader, Daia-Oku, united the Median tribes and reigned from the city of
Ecbatana in 701 BCE. In 615 BCE, the Medes, allied with the Scythians and
Babylonians, smashed the Assyrian Empire. Shortly thereafter (559 BCE), the Persians
defeated the Medians and Cyrus the Great rode at the head of the greatest empire the

16
Rezakhani, Khodadad, “Iran before the Iranians,” from his History of Iran website,
http://www.iranologie.com/history/history1.html
17
From the website of the Zarathushtrian Assembly, http://www.zoroastrian.org/english/other/faq.htm
18
History of Iran, http://www.iranologie.com/history/history2.html
 10

world had seen up to that point, the Achaemenian Persian Empire. Of all the Pre-Islamic
empires of the Middle East, the Persian Empire may have been the most humane and
liberal:

When Cyrus invaded Babylonia, he

treated the locals honorably and, in
contrast to the common practice, did not
order any massacres. He set free the
Jewish captives that had been moved to
Babylon since the time of
Nebuchadnezzar, and gave back the
stolen ornaments of the Temple of
Jerusalem and money to rebuild that
Temple. This made him into a much praised personality in the Old
Testament. Also in Babylon, Cyrus issued a decree that guaranteed social
and religious freedoms of the Babylonians and is much praised as being
the first ever declaration of human rights. A copy of this decree, known as
the Cyrus Cylinder and carved in Neo-Babylonian, is kept in the British
Museum19.

Cyrus – and then his son, Darius – led the Achaemenians across the Middle East and Asia
Minor. By the time of the death of Darius in 486 BCE, the Persians had conquered all the
land from Egypt, what is now known as Turkey, and parts of Greece in the west to the
Hindu Kush in the east, north to the edges of Europe, and south to the Arabian Sea.

Alexander the Great, Selucids, and Parthians

After Darius, the Persian Empire fell victim to corruption. 150 years after the death of
Darius I, Darius III assumed the reins of authority in 336 BCE but reigned only six years:
He was defeated by Alexander the Great – who went on to conquer the entire Persian
Empire – and Darius III was murdered by one of his own subjects20. Thus ended the
Persian Empire, but Alexander did not have a chance to enjoy his conquest. He himself
died in 323 BCE and left the rule of Persia to the
Selucids, the descendents of Alexander’s general,
Selucus Nicator. Within a century of Alexander’s death,
the Selucids were losing control. The Parthians wrested
a huge chunk of the former Persian Empire away from
the Selucids. This land included present day north-
eastern Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and
western Afghanistan. The Parthians held sway until the
Romans came along. They fought against the Romans
all the way into the 3rd century CE, but neither side ever emerged triumphant.

19
Ibid., http://www.iranologie.com/history/history4.html
20
HistoryNet website: http://ancienthistory.about.com/cs/persianempir1/a/persiaintro_4.htm
 11

The Sassanid Era

It was Ardashir who founded the Sassanid Empire, defeating the Parthians in 224 CE, and
ruling until 241. His son Shapur took over and expanded the empire to cover all of
present-day Iran, Iraq, and the Gulf Coast of the Arabian Peninsula, as well as western
Pakistan and Afghanistan, and parts of Central Asia. Zoroastrianism was the state
religion, but it had long ago ceased to serve the needs of common people. Instead, it
favored the priestly elite. This is an important point, because when Islam arrived in the
7th century, the Persians welcomed a new religion that promised equality and justice and
offered relief from the corruption that characterized the end of that era.

Under the Sassanians, the Persian Empire enjoyed a

renaissance. Persian cities became centers of science,
scholarship, art, and commerce. The period starting
with the ascent of Shapur II as Emperor in 325, and
ending with the death of Emperor Anushervan in 579 is
considered the Golden Age of the Sasanid dynasty.
Particularly during Anushervan’s reign,

Many scientists and scholars were given a

chance to conduct researches and write books. The first university in Iran
was built at this time in the town of Gondishapour. Bridges and roads
were made, palaces like the great palace of Ctesiphon were erected.
Books such as Kelile va Demaneh or Madhikan-e Hizar Daastan were
translated or written. Scholars like Bozorgmehr and Borzooye saw the
opportunity for their rise. Simply put, Anusheravan’s reign can be
considered as the ancient Iranian renaissance21.

The Muslim Conquest

In 642 CE, the Muslim Arab armies entered Persia.
By the mid 650s, the Arabs defeated the Sassanians,
who were weakened by internal corruption and
exhausted after centuries of wars with the Roman and
Byzantine Empires. Islam would alter the course of
Persian history fundamentally, to this very day.
However, “ironically, while Iran was taken over for
the moment by a movement of the Arabs and, while
the new faith had an immediate simplicity and appeal,
it would not be long before the village lords were again to exert a very strong
Persianizing influence upon Islam in that area22.” In other words, though the majority of
Persians converted to Islam, Persia did not become Arabized. If anything, the opposite is
true: it was the invading Arabs who borrowed much from Persian culture.

21
History of Iran, http://www.iranologie.com/history/history5.html
22
From the website of the Silkroad Foundation, http://www.silk-road.com/artl/sasanian.shtml
 12

Islam: the Early Centuries

The Islamic Empire went through two significant dynasties. Not long after the death of
the Prophet Muhammad, the Umayyad dynasty was founded, with its center in
Damascus. An important event took place during the reign of the first Umayyad caliph,
which would profoundly affect the subsequent unfolding of history in Persia/Iran. A
dispute arose between the caliph, Muawiya, and a rival to the position, Ali. The latter’s
followers claimed that he was the rightful heir to the position, as he was the Prophet’s
cousin and son-in-law. Ali was killed in 661, in the city of Kufa (present-day Iraq).
Muawiya died almost 20 years later, leaving the caliphate to his son, Yazid. Ali’s son
Husayn, along with his followers, challenged Yazid’s authority. Yazid and his armies
were stronger, however, and they crushed Husayn and
his ‘Shiite’ followers. The word ‘Shiite’ comes from
the Arabic expression, ‘shiat Ali’ which means ‘the
party of Ali.’ The Shiites “were all killed at Karbala on
20 Muarram (10 October) in the year 680. This day
became sacred to the Shiites, who to this day observe it
with passion dramas and cutting themselves to display
their own blood23.”

The Mongols Smash the Abbasid Dynasty

The Umayyads gave way to the Abbasids in 750, who moved the capital of the caliphate
to Baghdad. The Abbasids reigned for 500 years, during which time Persia became
solidly Muslim and increasingly Shiite. In 945, the Shiites took Baghdad. 110 years
later, Baghdad fell to the Seljuk Turks, who were Sunni Muslims, a defeat for the Shiites,
and in 1255, Baghdad was burned to the ground by Genghis Khan’s Mongols, and the
lands now known as Iran and Iraq were overrun. The Mongol armies returned to Muslim
lands, including Iran, a century later, this time under the command of Tamerlane (or
Timur Lang, in Persian), a warlord from the land now known as Uzbekistan. By now,
however, the Mongols were at least marginally Muslim. Muslim or no, Tamerlane and
his warriors left death and destruction as their calling card.

The question of Timur's religion beliefs has been a matter of controversy

ever since he began his great conquests. His veneration of the house of the
Prophet, the spurious genealogy on his tombstone taking his descent back
to Ali, and the presence of Shiites in his army led some observers and
scholars to call him a Shiite… In religion as in other aspects of his life
Timur was above all an opportunist; his religion served frequently to
further his aims, but almost never to circumscribe his actions. It was in the
justification of his rule and his conquests that Timur found Islam most
useful24.

23
For more on early Islamic history, see Professor Joseph Kenny’s site, http://nig.op.org/kenny/earlyislam
24
Silkroad, http://www.silk-road.com/artl/timur.shtml
 13

The First Shiite Regime

In 1502 the Shiite/Sufi leader Ismail I captured Tabriz and became Shah of Azerbaijan.
The following year, he became Shah of all Iran, establishing the first Shiite Islamic state;
later he would take the Iraqi cities of Baghdad and Mosul, but would not hold on to them
very long. This era was called the Safavid dynasty because Ismail I was a descendant of
Sheykh Safi ad Din (1253 - 1334) of Ardabil. Esfahan became the administrative center
of the Safavid dynasty. It was Shah Abbas I who restored Persia to the status of a great
power by defeating the Turks in 1603, retaking Baghdad, expelling the Portuguese from
the Persian Gulf area, setting an efficient administration, and patronizing the sciences and
arts. The Safavid dynasty came to an end in 1722, when Esfahan was captured by
Mahmoud Khan, an Afghan warlord25.

Qajars: Conquest and Defeat

During the remainder of the 18th century, Iran endured internal
strife and wars with neighbors. Finally in 1795, Agha Muhammed
Khan led the Qajars to victory over the Zand faction. He became
the new shah in 1796 and moved the capital to Tehran. During his
short reign, he halted anarchy and conquered new territories,
including Azerbaijan. The 19th century saw Iran caught in the
middle of a conflict of interests between Russia and Britain.
Russia sought a “warm water port” on the Persian Gulf, while
Britain sought to protect its trade routes. Under the rule of Fath-
Ali Shah (1798-1834), Iran lost ground to both sides. Azerbaijan
was ceded to the Russians. This humiliation by foreigners and
general perception of corruption provoked insurrections by secret
organizations and religious associations26. When Fath-Ali Shah died in 1834, many
Iranians bade him good riddance:

His legacy was the tale of his unbelievable mating [he is reported to have
had over 500 wives], loss of a large part of [the] country’s
territory, start of an anarchy, and most importantly,
opening the [country to] foreign imperialist powers… He
will always be remembered as the worst, the most hated,
and the weakest king of Iran27.

Naser o-Din Shah assumed the reins of authority in 1848. He

implemented several measures aimed at modernizing the state,
including the establishment of Iran’s first modern university, Dar
ol-Fonoon. Russia and Britain would not go away, however, and
Iran lost more territory in the second half of the century. Russia
forced Iran to give up all claims to Central Asia, while Britain took
25
From the website http://persepolis.free.fr/iran/history/safavid.html
26
From the cultural/historical website of IranSaga, http://www.art-arena.com/qajar.html
27
Iranologie: http://www.iranologie.com/history/history14.html
 14

Herat and forced Iran to relinquish its hold on Afghanistan. Naser o-Din, under British
pressure, opened the country to foreign trade and investment, and incurred the wrath of
conservatives. Internal corruption and oppression increased, and finally, in 1896, Naser
o-Din was assassinated28.

Constitution
On December 30, 1906, Mohammad Ali Shah signed Iran’s first constitution, which had
been drawn up by an elected parliament. A later supplement provided for many of the
freedoms guaranteed by the US Bill of Rights: press, speech, and association. The
constitution, however, never lived up to its promise: Mohammad Ali Shah crushed it. In
1907, Britain and Russia signed the Anglo-Russian Agreement of 1907, which divided
Iran into two spheres of influence: the north for Russia, and the south and east for Britain.
The shah was deposed in 1909 by pro-constitutional forces who opposed foreign
meddling in their country. During the First World War, Iran stayed neutral, but Russia,
Britain, and the Turks pursued their military goals at the edges and within the borders of
Iran.

The Pahlavi Dynasty

In 1923, the Qajar dynasty crumbled, but a new dynasty would soon begin – that of the
Pahlavi family. Reza Pahlavi, a military officer, was crowned Shah in 1925. He started a
broad program of modernization, economic development, and centralization of authority.
He opened up secular primary and secondary schools around the
country and a modern university in Tehran. Under this Shah’s
regime, girls and women were encouraged to pursue education and
professions. He promoted the expansion of roads and railroads,
established industries, and did his best to break the religious
monopoly over the justice system and the civil code. As he
enacted all these progressive measures and brooked no opposition,
he made many enemies. He jailed or killed those who disagreed
with him. In 1941, the Soviet Union invaded from the north while
the British invaded from the south and the west. Reza Shah
Pahlavi abdicated and went into exile.

The Last Shah29

Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, the son of Reza Shah Pahlavi, assumed the throne from
his father. The 1940s were a time of upheaval: though the shah stayed in power, the ban
on political parties was lifted, and various political, ethnic, and regional forces pressed

28
From the website of the Iranian Cultural Organization at the University of California (ICOUC), San
Francisco, http://itsa.ucsf.edu/~ico/history/1historicalsetting.html
29
Most of the information for this section comes from the ICOUC website.
 15

their interests. Among these interests was that of

nationalism. Nationalists resented the fact that Britain
was deriving more wealth from the Anglo-Iranian Oil
Company than was Iran, and they agitated for
nationalizing the petroleum industry. In 1951, the shah
named Mohammad Mossadeq, a leading nationalist, as
prime minister. At first Mossadeq was extremely
popular and gained more and more power. Under
Mossadeq, the Iranian parliament, the “Majlis,”
nationalized the oil, which antagonized the British, who froze Iranian assets and led a
world-wide boycott of Iranian oil. The Iranian economy suffered. Meanwhile, the
administration of President Harry Truman considered Mohammad Mossadeq a
communist; this being the early part of the Cold War, the US viewed the containment of
communism as a vital interest. With CIA assistance, Mossadeq was defeated, and the
shah exercised hegemony over the government, appointing rubber-stamp prime ministers.
Once again, the Pahlavi family was firmly in control, and once again economic and social
reforms were instituted: land reform, more schools, infrastructure development, enhanced
rights for women, further secularization. And once again, those who opposed the shah
found themselves in jail, in exile, or in the grave. In 1963, a name appeared in the
newspapers which would come back to haunt the shah, Iran, the US, and the rest of the
world: Khomeini. Ayatollah Ruholla Khomeini, a religious leader from Qom, was
arrested for speaking out vociferously against the shah. Khomeini was released in 1964,
but arrested again for his anti-shah sermons, and this time he was sent into exile in Iraq.
Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Khomeini lashed out against the shah from his exile in
Iraq and later from France. Audio cassettes of his sermons were distributed throughout
Iran, and Khomeini became a well known name while his following within Iran grew.

By the mid-1970s, opposition to the shah took two forms: the middle class intellectuals,
who sought greater constitutional democracy, and the religious, who sought an Islamic
republic with Khomeini at the head. In 1978, Iraq expelled Khomeini, who moved to
France. This actually redounded to Khomeini’s advantage, as communication and
interactions were easier there. And it was all downhill for the shah. Strikes,
demonstrations, and violent protests, largely inspired by the sermons of Ayatollah
Khomeini, broke out regularly in Iran’s major cities. On 16 January 1979, the shah left
the country, ostensibly for a short vacation. He would never return.

Islamic Revolution
Shapour Bakhtiar, head of the Iranian National Front, a reformer but not an Islamist,
became prime minister after the shah’s departure, but Khomeini replaced him with Mehdi
Bazargan shortly after he (Khomeini) returned from exile in France to Iran in February
1979. Khomeini wanted Islamic revolution and that is what he would get. For the rest of
1979, Iran endured chaos:
 16

Bazargan… headed a government that controlled neither the country nor

even its own bureaucratic apparatus. Central authority had
broken down. Hundreds of semi-independent revolutionary
committees, not answerable to central authority, were
performing a variety of functions in major cities and towns
across the country. Factory workers, civil servants, white-
collar employees, and students were often in control,
demanding a say in running their organizations and
choosing their chiefs. Governors, military commanders,
and other officials appointed by the prime minister were
frequently rejected by the lower ranks or local inhabitants.
A range of political groups, from the far left to the far
right, from secular to ultra-Islamic, were vying for political
power, pushing rival agendas, and demanding immediate
action from the prime minister30.

Bazargan soon discovered his powerlessness: he was eclipsed by the authority of

Khomeini and the Revolutionary Council, a group of Islamic clergy who were close
followers of Khomeini. The Council established “Revolutionary Courts” and executed
political enemies in droves. In January 1980, Abolhassan Bani Sadr was elected
president and the office of prime minister was abolished. Bani Sadr lasted a bit longer
than Bazargan; he left office in June 1981. These personnel changes, however, pale in
comparison with the explosion of a crisis that no Americans or Iranians living at that time
will ever forget.

The Hostage Crisis

In the age-old tradition of despots and demagogues, Khomeini
pointed to the United States as the scapegoat for all of Iran’s
problems – economic, social, political, and otherwise. “Ayatollah
Khomeini… whipped popular discontent into rabid anti-
Americanism31.” By late 1979, the shah’s health was failing. He
traveled to the US for cancer treatment, but his move was
interpreted by Khomeini and the radical Islamic militants as an
attempt to enlist American support to invade Iran and return the
shah to power. On 1 November 1979, hundreds of thousands
protested in Tehran, demanding the extradition of the shah to face
‘justice’ in a revolutionary court.

With Khomeini’s support and encouragement, the radicals stormed the US Embassy on 4
November, and thus began the hostage crisis. 70 US citizens were taken hostage; 52
were kept imprisoned for 444 days. President Jimmy Carter tried to resolve the crisis in
three ways: diplomatic, economic, and military. In the first arena, Carter made
30
Ibid.
31
Jimmy Carter Library and Museum, http://www.jimmycarterlibrary.org/documents/hostages.phtml
 17

diplomatic initiatives, seeking the intervention of foreign governments, particularly

Muslim governments. They all failed. To press Iran economically, Carter froze several
billion dollars in Iranian assets and halted oil sales from Iran. This endeavor also proved
useless. In April 1980, Carter gave the green light to attempt a military rescue mission.
This ended in a fiasco, with eight US servicemen killed.

The hostage crisis in general and the failed mission in particular contributed to Ronald
Reagan’s victory over Jimmy Carter in the presidential elections of November 1980.
Meanwhile, Iran was now involved in a war with Iraq, and more eager to negotiate an end
to the crisis. Through the mediation of Algerian diplomats, the hostages were freed and
sent home on 20 January 1981, just as Reagan was being inagurated as president32. All
that remained of the crisis was a profound anti-Iranian bitterness on the part of many
Americans.

The Iran-Iraq War

In April 1980, the Iranian-supported Iraqi Shiite group ‘Ad Dawah’ attempted to
assassinate Iraq’s foreign minister, Tariq Aziz. That, along with other provocations and
rapidly rising border tension, helped to ignite the war. On 22 September 1980, Iraq
launched the war against Iran. To this day, Iranians consider it an unprovoked war
imposed upon them by the then Iraqi president, Saddam Hussein. For the first two years,
Iraq seemed to be winning, but by 1983, Iran recovered much of its lost territory and the
conflict became an eight-year war of attrition, with a great cost in lives to both sides:

Casualty figures are highly uncertain,

though estimates suggest more than one
and a half million war and war-related
casualties -- perhaps as many as a
million people died, many more were
wounded, and millions were made
refugees. Iraq's victory was not without
cost. The Iraqis suffered an estimated
375,000 casualties, the equivalent of 5.6
million for a population the size of the United States. Another 60,000 were
taken prisoner by the Iranians. Iran's losses may have included more than
1 million people killed or maimed. The war claimed at least 300,000
Iranian lives and injured more than 500,000, out of a total population
which by the war's end was nearly 60 million33.

32
Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition, 2001, featured on: http://www.bartleby.com/65/ir/Iranhost.html
33
From the website of the Federation of American Scientists:
http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/ops/war/iran-iraq.htm
 18

Sponsor of Terrorism?
During Lebanon’s civil war (1975-1990), one of the most powerful groups to emerge was
Hizbollah, a radical Shiite terrorist organization, which favored turning Lebanon into an
Islamic republic. Closely allied politically and spiritually with Iran, Hizbollah received
and continues to be the beneficiary of funding from the Mullahs in Tehran, as well as to a
lesser extent from the regime in Damascus. Hizbollah is known or suspected to have
been involved in numerous anti-US terrorist attacks, including the suicide truck bombing
of the US Embassy and US Marine barracks in Beirut in October 1983 and the US
Embassy annex in Beirut in September 1984. Elements of the group were responsible for
the kidnapping and detention of US and other Western hostages in Lebanon. The group
also attacked the Israeli Embassy in Argentina in 1992 and is a suspect in the 1994
bombing of the Israeli cultural center in Buenos Aires34.

Iran denies that it supports terrorism, and hastened to condemn

the attack against the World Trade Center on 11 September
2001. Nevertheless, Iranian president Mohammad Khatami was
quoted in the Islamic Republic News Agency, an official agency
of the government of Iran, praising Hizbollah as “an ideological
and humanitarian movement that seeks liberation and
independence35.” Hizbollah remains on Iran’s payroll and during
2001; Hizbollah provided training to HAMAS and the Palestine
Islamic Jihad at training facilities in the Beak’s Valley. In
addition, Hizbollah reportedly increased the export of weaponry
into the West Bank and Gaza Strip for use by these groups
against Israeli targets36.

34
From the website of American Terrorism Victims,
http://www.terrorismvictims.org/terrorists/hizballah.html
35
The Associated Press, 15 May 1999, “Khatami praises Hezbollah fight against Israel in Lebanon”
36
From “Patterns of Global Terrorism 2001” by the Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism, 21
May 2002, US Department of State website, http://www.state.gov/s/ct/rls/pgtrpt/2001/html/10247.htm
 19

Economy
Oil
In September 1960, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting
Countries (OPEC) was founded in Baghdad, Iraq. Iran signed
the charter as a founding member. Since then, Iran, OPEC’s
second largest oil exporter37, has favored strict adherence to
production quotas. An Internet search for “OPEC and Iran and
production” reveals 8 articles about Iran either opposing
production increases or supporting production cuts, between
1998 and the present38. The state-owned petroleum industry
overwhelmingly constitutes the base of Iran’s economy. Such
an ample and valuable resource represents a blessing and a
curse: the former because its sale generates plenty of hard
currency and fuels development; the latter because the national
economy has grown dependent on oil to the detriment of other
economic sectors, not to mention the environmental contamination resulting from the
combustion of petroleum39. Oil sales in Iran represent 80 percent of export revenue40.

Another danger of oil revenue dependence is that the exporter remains forever at the
mercy of the market. When prices rise, cash comes pouring in and budgets swell. When
prices fall, economic activity slows down and citizens lose their jobs. These oil-glut
recessions have hit Iran in 1985, 199141, and 199842. Be
that as it may, Iran, along with the rest of the world’s oil
producing countries, will continue to pump out the
petroleum and sell it until the wells run dry or the
demand disappears, neither of which scenario is likely
for at least another generation: Iran’s proven oil reserves
as of late 2002 stand at 90 billion barrels43. The main
oil field sites are Ahwaz-Bangestan, Marun, Gachsaran,
Agha Jari, Bibi Hakimeh, Azadegan, and Darkhovin.

37
Before Iraq’s occupation of Kuwait and the subsequent sanctions, Iraq exported slightly more petroleum
than Iran. According to WTRG Economics (http://www.wtrg.com/opecshare.html), Iraq’s export as of
January 1990 accounted for 12.79% of OPEC’s market share, while Iran’s accounted for 11.72%.
38
An example is a CNN article, “OPEC agrees to increase production; Iran, Iraq dissent,”
http://www.cnn.com/2000/WORLD/meast/03/29/opec.world/
39
See “Petroleum, the Black Curse,” by Vahid Isabeiqi at the website
http://www.iranchamber.com/podium/miscellaneous/030422_petroleum_black_curse.php
40
From the website of the US Department of Energy: http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/iran.html
41
From the website of the US Department of State: http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/5314.htm#econ
42
US DOE, ibid.
43
Ibid.
 20

Industry
Petroleum, discovered in 1908, and natural gas, both found in abundance, represent the
mainstay of Iranian industry and fuel the national economy. Eighty percent of Iran’s
export revenues derive from the sale of oil44. Nevertheless, Iran has taken tentative steps
toward economic diversification. The petrochemical
industry is picking up steam. Other industries include
“textiles, cement and building materials, food
processing (particularly sugar refining and vegetable oil
production), and metal fabricating (steel and copper)45.”
The traditional craft of carpet making is still alive and
well in Iran. Although the US has imposed an economic
embargo on Iran, an exception exists for Persian carpets:
US citizens do have permission to buy and import
carpets from Iran, up to a certain cash value.

Agriculture
After nearly achieving agricultural self-sufficiency in the 1960s, Iran
reached the point in 1979 where 65 percent of its food had to be imported.
Declining productivity was blamed on the use of modern fertilizers, which
had inadvertently scorched the thin Iranian soil. Unresolved land reform
issues, a lack of economic incentives to raise surplus crops, and low profit
ratios combined to drive increasingly large segments of the farm
population into urban areas. The 1979 Revolution sought self-sufficiency
in foodstuffs as part of its overall goal of
decreased economic dependence on the
West. Higher government subsidies for
grain and other staples and expanded
short-term credit and tax exemptions for
farmers complying with government
quotas were intended by the new regime to
promote self-sufficiency. But by early
1987, Iran was actually more dependent
on agricultural imports than in the 1970s46.

Iran’s principal food products today include nuts, fruits, rice, wheat, other grains, dairy
products, sugar beets, and caviar; cotton is also grown and sheep are raised for wool and
meat.

44
http://www.encyclopedia.com/html/section/Iran_Economy.asp
45
State Dept. website, op. cit.
46
US Library of Congress Country Study on Iran website, http://countrystudies.us/iran/73.htm
 21

Banking
In the early days of Persia, temples and princes handled
money exchanges. The Persians minted their first gold
coin, the Derick, more than 2500 years ago. With the
coming of Islam, which forbids interest-based
transactions, the use of bank notes and coins in trade
stagnated for centuries47. Iran has gone through many
stages in its financial development, from the early days
of money changers through the presence of the British-
owned Bank Shahanshahi (Imperial Bank), founded in
the 1880s, to the establishment of the Central Bank of Iran in 1928 representing the first
national independent financial institution.

After the Islamic Revolution of 1979, all banks were nationalized. In the 1980s Iranian
banking has come full circle; Islamic banking was introduced, and the banks have been
moving in that direction ever since. Islamic banking is based on the following
premises48:
• Legal concepts derive from the first century of Islam.
• Risk sharing is favored, as opposed to interest, dividends, or any fixed return on
investment.
• Religious principles play a significant role in bank management decisions.
• The board of directors must be pious Muslims who are dedicated to keeping the
bank’s policies on the sirat al-mustaqim (the straight path) of Shari`a (Islamic
law).

Transportation
A network of roads, railways, and air routes connect the cities and towns of Iran. The
railroad first came to Iran in the late 19th century. One by one the major cities, starting
with Tehran, were linked with shining steel rails. In 1939 the Trans-Iranian Railway was
inaugurated, linking the Persian Gulf city of Bandar-E-Emam Khomeini (formerly
Bandar-E-Shahpur) with the Caspian Sea town of Bandar-E-Torkaman (formerly Bandar-
E-Shah), with Tehran as an intermediate stop. The two newest additions to the rail links
of Iran are the Bafq-Bandar Abbas (1993) and the Mashhad-Sarakhs (1996) branches49.
A total of 6130 kilometers of railroad tracks criss-cross Iran50. The country also has a
total of 140,200 kilometers of highways, including 49,440 kilometers of paved roads and
90,760 kilometers of unpaved roads. 122 paved airports dot the map of Iran, including 39
full-service airports each with runways exceeding 3000 meters51.

Tourism

47
http://www.iranchamber.com/history/articles/banking_history.php
48
For a penetrating treatment, see “Islamic Banking” by Diederik van Schaik, at the website of the Arab
Bank Review, Vol 3, No. 1, April 2001: http://www.arabbank.com/review/islamic_banking.pdf
49
For comprehensive information about Iranian Railways, see http://www.msedv.at/rai/index_e.html
50
CIA, op. cit.
51
Ibid.
 22

“Iran has been a magnet for tourists since the days of Marco
Polo52.” Today, some seven centuries later, the US Government
bans most trade with the Islamic Republic of Iran and no direct air
links exist; nevertheless, US citizens are permitted to visit Iran and
more are traveling there each year. Like America, Iran is a huge
land mass spanning a wide variety of geographic features and
climatic zones. In the north lies the Caspian Sea with beautiful
beaches, forest parks, and wildlife reserves. Beaches abound also
on the Persian Gulf Coast, where weather conditions allow
swimming year round. Because of the longevity of the Persian
Empire, it is no wonder that ancient monuments can be found in all
corners of Iran; magnificent mosques from the early centuries of
Islam in Persia are considered ‘recent’ in comparison. “Esfahan is
the country's architectural showpiece… and Shiraz is famous for its poetic atmosphere…
and the glories of nearby Persepolis, Naqsh-e Rostam, and Pasargadae. But almost in
every place in Iran there is something beautiful or exciting to see, and much to do53.”

Society, Culture, and Social Customs

Primary and Secondary Education
The Islamic Republican government has continued the Pahlavi dynasty’s commitment to
free, public education for both boys and girls. “The commitment to educate girls is a
major force animating the country's highly organized women's political movement, which
is the heart of the President Mohamed Khatami's political base and
the principal force for democratic reform in Iran54.” Nevertheless,
in primary and secondary schools, statistics indicate that the
population of girls continues to trail behind that of boys55.
Education starts at the age of six years. Elementary education
covers the first five years of school, followed by three years of the
‘guidance’ cycle (what we might consider middle school or junior
high school) and four years of secondary studies. Prior to
university studies, males and females are segregated into separate
schools, in keeping with conservative Islamic traditions. All
females are required to wear the chador or veil. This deference to
religious values reassures conservative families and encourages
them to send their daughters to school.

52
From the pro-Pahlavi website, http://www.sedona.net/pahlavi/tourism.html
53
Ibid.
54
Chickering, A. Lawrence, “Transforming the Muslim World One Girl at a Time,” from the National
Review Online, http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/comment-chickering010703.asp
55
Fatemi, Parvaneh, “Eradication of Discrimination in Education,”
http://www.netiran.com/Htdocs/Clippings/Social/980300XXSO04.html
 23

University
Statistics available from the Internet on the number of universities in Iran are
inconsistent. One source, “Salam Iran,” reports “forty-four universities of various
types56.” The “Iran Chamber”, on the other hand, claims that at last count, the number of
state universities in Iran came to 98, with another 33 institutes of higher education in the
private sector, an extraordinarily high number by the standards of developing countries57.
The same source indicates that in 1998, close to a quarter million students graduated from
universities58. One thing is not in dispute: Iranian families highly value education for
their sons and daughters. Because the state-run universities offer virtually free tuition,
successful secondary school graduates are increasingly choosing to continue their
education.

Male-Female Relationships
University classes are co-educational, and it is on campus that some young people meet
their future spouse. The following narrative on this subject is from a young engineer in
Iran who has asked that her name not be mentioned:

Actually the life style of the new generation

in Iran is basically different from the
classical pattern. You know, youngsters are
becoming more and more independent from
their families, especially about the main
decision making like marriage. Of course
this pattern is more obvious in big cities like
Tehran. I think one big obstacle for their
becoming totally independent are
economical limitations because of
unemployment and uncertainty about the future.

…It is usually considered weird to marry someone without knowing

him/her for a long time as a friend. This friendship usually begins in
universities. I think the current young people in Iran could manage to
make a nice balance between their being independent and at the same time
being a part of the family, but I'm not sure if current teenagers are going
to follow the same way. As one could expect, many teenagers are to some
degree antisocial and I think are breaking the limitations more than
enough.

It's better to re-emphasize that all the above-mentioned points are about
the big cities, but as far as I know in small cities and villages the classical
style still prevails and some important decisions are still being made by
parents and families.

56
http://www.salamiran.org/IranInfo/State/Government/Education/
57
Iran Chamber, op. cit.
58
Ibid.
 24

Another Iranian scholar, also wishing to remain anonymous, corroborates the view that
there exists a wide spectrum of approaches to the issues of engagement, courtship, and
marriage, from the very traditional to less traditional.
All agree that dating in the western sense does not take
place in Iran’s Muslim society. In the past, young men
and women could not meet freely. The young man’s
parents would go to the parents of the young woman to
ask for her hand in marriage. More recently, young
people of the opposite sex are allowed to meet under
parental supervision.

Also, in earlier times, it was not uncommon to marry one’s cousin, as is still prevalent in
Arab society. This is becoming less the practice in Iran as modern technology and social
trends expand one’s circle of acquaintances, colleagues, and friends. As marriage is so
fundamental in a traditional society, older members of the family are constantly on the
lookout for suitable marriage candidates for their nieces, nephews, grandchildren, and
younger cousins. Another custom that continues is that it is the parents of the groom, not
those of the bride (as in the west), who take charge of and pay for the wedding. After the
wedding, the groom’s family members arrange parties and invite the bride’s family for an
exchange of gifts.

Women
“Don’t laugh too much, people might think you’re easy...59”

Before the Revolution in 1978, Iranian women had won the right
to vote as well as the right to an equal voice in court and before the
law. A family protection act had been put in place in 1963, giving
women significant rights in the area of divorce law and setting the
marriage age for young girls at 18 years. Attempts of using laws
to bar women from wearing veils in public places, spearheaded
especially by Shah Reza Pahlavi in the 1930s, were successful for
only short periods of time due to religious concerns.

After the revolution, much of the freedom women had enjoyed was lost to fundamentalist
Islamic fervor. Female singers were silenced, as a “woman’s voice, like her unveiled
body, can arouse men and therefore cannot be heard by the male ear60.” Western dress
and the women wearing it were declared corrupt and the hejab (veil) was deemed
desirable. Girls now are seen as fit to be married as soon as they reach puberty, which
can be as early as nine years of age. The divorce laws are geared toward keeping women
subservient: one unfortunate woman, who continuously reported being tortured by her
husband, had to wait 14 years for the courts to approve her divorce61. The practice of

59
Woman’s life in Tehran, as experienced in 2001 by an Iranian-American in her early twenties. Narrative
in full to be found at http://www.badjens.com/newissue/a1.htm
60
Shadi Vatanparast. A Look at Women, Music, and the Fourth Annual Yaas Music Festival.
http://www.badjens.com/newissue/a4.htm
61
Gender and Islamic Fundamentalism, http://www.iran-bulletin.org
 25

stoning supposed adulterous women to death was common just until January 2003, when
the Iranian judiciary instructed judges to stop implementing this sentence.

Large numbers of Iranian women, however, seem satisfied with their way of life. They
are freely admitted to universities, where females make up roughly half of the student
body. When joining the work force, they are content to wear the hejab, as it keeps
unwanted sexual advances at bay and permits them to concentrate solely on their work.
They occupy positions in almost all walks of life, working, for example, in the medical
profession and in other scientific fields, even though they are “discouraged or prevented
from studying or working in fields and activities considered ‘masculine’, such as
engineering [and] mining62.” As such, the present position of women is nevertheless
more progressive in Iran than in other Islamic fundamentalist nations.

Additionally, married women, who hitherto were mostly required to stay at home if not in
the company of their male guardian, are finding more freedom within the current
economic disarray of the country:

There have been some interesting shifts in terms of public and private
space. Due to inflation, the men now work from early morning until
midnight. They're never home. Those husbands who once claimed that a
woman's place is in the home, and that they had no business going to the
shops, the bank, the government office, now have to eat their words. All
the work that, in the best of cases, used to be shared between a couple is
now performed by the woman. She's the one who takes the kids to school,
and drives them to all those extra classes they need to go to, she takes the
car to the garage, she deals with the civil servants, she does the shopping,
the banking, etc. Middle-class housewives are outside all day. Not to
mention the working women63.

Hospitality and Other Social Customs

While certain Iranian traditions, such as arranged marriages, are
fading, and other new practices, e.g., meeting your spouse at the
university, are coming into vogue, certain customs never die. One
such custom is opulent hospitality. As one Iranian humorist
expressed it:

Beware! Forget about all the xenophobic, anti-Iranian

propaganda dominating the media… If anything, all that
Iranians can be accused of is excessive hospitality… As
you walk the streets, do not talk to or make eye contact
with anyone. If you do, they'll say hello to you and invite
you to their homes… Half an hour after your arrival you're

62
Ibid.
63
Masserat A. Ebrahimi, Iranian urban sociologist & geographer Feb. 2001 interview, www.badjens.com
 26

presented with a Herculean volume of incredible food… As your plate

empties, your host will keep serving food onto your dish, sometimes
without asking you, sometimes despite your objections64.

Interpersonal space and other aspects of daily social communication and behavior also
differ in Iran. What we in the West might consider a taboo topic for discussion, e.g., how
much one earns for one’s annual salary, could easily pop up in conversation. And people
of the same sex stand closer to one another in social situations, inches away rather than
feet. Holding hands, kissing on the cheek, and hugging are commonly accepted gestures
of friendship between people of the same sex. Males and females do not engage in such
exchanges unless they are husband and wife, parent and child, or perhaps brother and
sister. Even then, these signs of affection are not acted out in public, except between a
parent and a small child.

The Arts
The land now known as Iran was subject to migration of
tribes, invasions, and occupation throughout its 7000-
year history. As a result, the region’s art and
architectural styles constitute a blend of a myriad of
different cultural influences. While these varying
influences make it hard to pinpoint distinct characteristics
of Persian art, it is safe to say that it is “generally
characterized by its firm lines, extensive detail, and bold
use of color65.”
Persian art has gained special recognition in several key areas. The exceptional quality of
handmade Persian carpets is well known throughout, and the innovative style of mosque
design and tile decoration, developed around the 7th century CE, proved very influential
on the Muslim World. The greatest achievement of Persian art,
however, seems to lie in the exquisitely ornate miniature paintings
that adorned books from the Safavid period (also 7th century CE)
onward. Miniature painting not only served to portray historical
and religious events and legends, but often also doubled as a form
of “visual poetry66,” in which shapes and words were blended into
an almost animated form of prose.

Literature
In the genre of prose, one of the oldest collections of stories, The Deleted:
1001 Nights, most likely originated in Persia and India with traces Deleted:
back to the year 950 CE.67 In The 1001 Nights, Sheherezade is the
wife of the vengeful Sultan Shahriyar. Prior to marrying

64
For a funny look at Iranian hospitality, see “Iranian Hospitality Attack” by Hamid Taghvi in The Iranian,
20 March 1998: http://www.digitalroom.net/index2.html
65
http://www.persianpaintings.com/history.html
66
For examples, see: http://www.enel.ucalgary.ca/People/far/hobbies/iran/miniature/miniature.html
67
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/features/18_06_03_b.asp
 27

Sheherezade, the Sultan killed all his wives the morning after the wedding night in
revenge for the unfaithfulness of one of his wives. Now Sheherezade fears the same fate
for herself, and therefore tells him one unfinished story each night, thus keeping the
Sultan in suspense to hear the ending and keeping herself alive. Finally, enthralled with
Sheherezade’s story telling, the Sultan changes his mind, and during the years, she bears
him three sons, proving her love.

One of the most beloved story collections in Persian, Kalile-o-Dimne has its roots in
ancient India. Bidpai, a Hindu sage, is credited with authorship, but the book acquired
masterpiece status only after the scholar Burzuwayh translated it into Persian around the
5th century CE. The Sassanid King Khosro Anoushrawan had sent Burzuwayh to India to
collect and translate Bidpai’s fables into Persian. In the process, Burzuwayh also added
stories to the collection by authors other than Bidpai.

Poetry is even more important than prose in Persian

culture. Iranians proudly claim that they “have the
highest per-capita number of poets68” in the world.
Indeed, the first forms of poetry surfaced here around
the 13th century BCE with the Avesta, the Zoroastrian
holy text. Persian poetry as it exists today emerged in
the ninth century CE, maintaining the Persian identity in
the form of free verse during the centuries of invasion.
Present-day Iranian poets have found unique ways of
upholding the poetic traditions of free use of imagery, literary and Koranic allusions, and
reliance upon the beauty of the language itself for effect69 (the latter makes interpretation
of the poetry in the West quite difficult). Of the classical poets, the following are
commonly considered the masters: Ferdowsi, Khayyam, Anvari, Saadi, Hafez, and Rumi.
Of these, Omar Khayyam is world-famous for his book of poems, the Rubaiyat. The
word ‘Rubaiyat’ derives from Arabic, meaning quatrains70. Fitzgerald’s translation is
widely acclaimed in the English-speaking world and represents the highest poetic value.
Khayyam was a renowned mathematician, philosopher, and man of science in addition to
being a poet.

Early 20th century and modern Iranian poetry, marked by influences from the West,
includes captivating verses by poets who championed women’s emancipation and other
pressing issues. Worth mentioning here are Iraj
Mirza (1874-1926) and Forugh Farrokhzad (1935-
1967), one of Iran’s few internationally celebrated
female poets.

Persian Carpets
The art of carpet making in Persia dates back at least
2500 years, when rugs were used by nomads to cover

68
Iranian Literature page: http://www.iranologie.com/literature/litr.html
69
Iran Online, http://www.iranonline.com/literature/Articles/Persian-literature/
70
A unit or group of four lines of verse (Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary); http://m-w.com
 28

the floors and entrances of their tents. As weaving techniques evolved and gained finesse,
Persian kings began to place the most exquisite examples in their palaces. The illustrious
reputation of the Persian carpet, which lives on to this day, was born. Not all Persian
carpets are alike, however. Different regions in Iran produce carpets containing patterns
and colors that vary distinctly. What follows is a short overview of the diverse world of
the Persian carpet.

These carpets Traditionally, the

usually contain a predominant colors
single center used are deep,
medallion and/or varied blues and
corner medallions powerful reds, with
on ivory ivory being used as
background, a contrast color.
surrounded by blue,
rose, or indigo vines
and palmetto motifs.

Made for primarily A Nain carpet’s

for export, Kerman distinctive pattern
carpet patterns consists of a single
include paisley, medallion displayed
French-style red on a background of
roses, or stylized interlaced
adaptations of branches and
Western paintings, flowers. Plants and
as well as the animals are also
traditional Persian featured.
arabesque
medallions.
Kashan carpets Shiraz patterns are
display a warmer influenced by the
palette than rugs nomadic tribes that
made in other urban live in the region,
centers. These with a common
carpets are often motif being a
more densely diamond shape that
patterned and may be repeated
knotted than other several times along
Persian carpets the carpet’s center.
 29

Looking Forward: the Author’s Opinion

Mere mention of the country named ‘Iran’ may dredge up memories of the 400-day
hostage crisis of 1979-1981. Many Iranian citizens hope that the otherwise magnificent
history of their nation will eventually eclipse this incident which they themselves regret.

Since the middle of the 20th century and up to the present day, the governments of the
United States and Iran have had a complicated affiliation: often cordial, occasionally
hostile, and recently rather chilly. The embassy hostage crisis represents the lowest point
in this relationship. Have tensions dissolved since then? Can things only go up from
there and get better? If the ice is ever to melt, it behooves the citizens of both countries
to strive to understand each other’s culture, history, geography, and way of life. Such
knowledge may help to pave the way towards mutual appreciation and amity.

In which direction will relations between Iran and the US move? This remains to be
seen. A lot depends on Iran’s internal politics. Iran now finds itself in a state of dynamic
tension or stalemate. The moderate president Mohammad Khatami has tried to push
through a number of democratic reforms, only to be
stymied by the conservative establishment, headed by
supreme Shiite cleric, Ayatollah Ali Khomeini. Much
also depends on the unfolding of events in Iraq. If Iran
plays the role of the ‘spoiler’ and supports radical Iraqi
Shiite resistance to the US-led coalition’s reconstruction
and democratization of Iraq, this will not bode well for
US-Iran relations.

After more than twenty years of adversarial relations, the United States
and Iran have both begun to demonstrate an interest in breaking out of
this long stalemate. Broadly conceived, the benefits for both countries of
an improved relationship would be significant. Time has soothed some
past wounds and the rhetoric of hatred has subsided to a degree.
However, serious differences remain71.

71
“Thinking beyond the stalemate in US-Iranian Relations,” Atlantic Council of the United States, July
2001. Page 7. http://www.acus.org/publications/occasionalpapers/internationalsecurity/Iran2.pdf
 30

Timeline

30,000 BCE Earliest known hunter-gatherer habitation in the land now known as
Iran, south of the Caspian Sea and along the northern Persian Gulf.
4,200 BCE Akkadians, the first pre-Aryan civilization, make their appearance.
3,500 BCE The Elamites arrive and become the dominant civilization in the
early 2nd millennium BCE.
2,000 - 1,800 Proto-Iranian tribes, the Persians and the Medes, begin their
BCE migrations from Central Asia into Iran, supplanting the Elamites.
ca. 1,300 BCE Zarathustra, founder of Zoroastrianism, begins to spread his
message.
701 BCE Daia-Oku unites the Median tribes and reigns from the City of
Ecbatana.
615 BCE The Medians, in alliance with the Scythians and Babylonians, smash
the Assyrian Empire.
559 BCE Persians defeat the Medians. Cyrus the Great heads the great
Achaemenian Persian Empire.
486 BCE Darius, son of Cyrus, dies, having conquered all the land from
Egypt, Turkey, parts of Greece, north to Europe, and south to
Arabian Sea.
330 BCE Alexander the Great conquers the entire Persian Empire.
325-579 CE The Golden Age of the Sassanid Empire begins, bringing about a
renaissance in science, scholarship, art, and commerce.
642-650 CE Muslim armies enter Persia and defeat the Sassanids.
1220 Genghis Khan and his Mongol hordes attack Persia and raze almost
every major city.
1502 Shah Ismail I unites Persia and establishes Shi’ism as the state of
religion in the Safavid Dynasty.
1722 The Safavid Dynasty comes to an end with the conquest of Esfahan
by Mahmoud Khan, an Afghan warlord.
1795 The Qajars are led to victory by Agha Muhammad Khan who
becomes the new shah and moves the capital to Tehran.
1848 Naser o-Din Shah assumes power and takes measures intended to
modernize the state.
1906 Iran’s first constitution, drawn up by an elected parliament, is
signed by Muhammad Ali Shah.
1907 Britain and Russia sign the Anglo-Russian Agreement, which
divides Persia between the two.
1909 The Shah is deposed by pro-constitutional forces who oppose
foreign meddling in their country.
1925 Reza Pahlavi, a military officer, is crowned Shah.
August 1941 Iran is invaded from the north by the Soviet Union and from the
south and west by Britain.
 31

September Mohammed Reza Shah Pahlavi, son of Reza Shah, assumes the
1941 throne after his father abdicates.
1953 Prime minister Mohammed Mossadegh is overthrown with CIA
assistance, and the Shah is back in power.
January 1979 Amid strikes, demonstrations, and violent protests, the Shah is
forced to leave Iran, never to return.
February 1979 Ayatollah Khomeini returns from exile.
April 1979 The Islamic Republic is proclaimed.
November 1979 Islamic radicals storm the U.S. Embassy and take 70 Americans
hostage.
September Iraq launches the war against Iran following border skirmishes
1980 and a dispute over the Shatt Al-Arab waterway.
January 1981 American hostages are released after 444 days in captivity.
1988 Cease fire in the Iran-Iraq War.
1995 The U.S. imposes oil and trade sanctions on Iran for sponsoring
terror.
1997 Mohammed Khatami is elected president of Iran with 69% of
the vote.
April 2001 Iran and Saudi Arabia sign a major security accord to combat
terrorism.
June 2001 Mohammed Khatami is reelected president of Iran by just
under 77% of the vote.
2002 Head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization announces Iran’s plans
to build nuclear power plants.
September 2003 UN nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, gives Tehran weeks to prove it is
not pursuing an atomic weapons program.
November 2003 Iran suspends its uranium enrichment program and says it will allow
tougher UN inspections.
2004 Conservatives gain control in parliament as thousands of
reformist candidates are disqualified by the hard line Council of
Guardians.
June 2005 Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, ultra-conservative mayor of Tehran, is
elected president in run-off elections.
August 2005 Tehran resumes uranium conversion and insists that its atomic
program is for peaceful purposes.
February 2006 The UN’s IAEA votes to report Iran to the UN Security Council
over its nuclear activities.