1963 – The White Revolution

The shah implements the “White

Revolution,” an aggressive
campaign of social and economic
Westernization that included
redistribution of land, increased
rights for women and attempts to 
improve literacy and health in rural
areas. The changes are met with
opposition from the clerical rules
and landlords. Popular nationalist
Ayatollah Khomeini is arrested in
one of many crackdowns on the
shah’s opponents.
Ayatollah Khomeini: Background
Shia cleric Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of
the Iranian revolution, first came to political
prominence in 1963 when he led opposition to the
Shah and his program of reforms known as the "White
Revolution", which aimed to break up landholdings
owned by some Shi’a clergy, allow women to vote and
religious minorities to hold office, and finally grant
women legal equality in marital issues. Khomeini
declared that the Shah had "embarked on the
destruction of Islam in Iran" and publicly denounced
the Shah as a "wretched miserable man."
 September 8, 1978 – Black Friday
A day earlier, the shah had imposes martial law in an attempt to quell
ongoing protests against his authoritarian rule. On September 8,
thousands gather in Jaleh Square in Tehran, and security forces fire on
the protesters. The death toll is unknown. Estimates range from several
dozens to hundreds killed.
January 16, 1979 – The shah flees
Protests continue and the shah, who was seen by many as a puppet of
the U.S. and the UK, is forced to flee Iran amid the intensifying unrest.
He travels to a number of countries before 
entering the U.S. to receive cancer treatment.

February 1, 1979 – Ayatollah Khomeini returns from

exile nationalist Ayatollah Khomeini returns from France, where he
Islamic
was exiled for more than 14 years because of his opposition to the
shah’s regime. He encourages the brewing revolution.
April 1, 1979 – Iran becomes a theocratic republic
Under Ayatollah Khomeini’s guidance, Iran declares itself a theocratic
republic guided by Islamic principles, and a referendum is held to
name it the Islamic Republic of Iran.
 May 5, 1979 – The Revolutionary Guard
Corps is formed
Ayatollah Khomeini issues a decree
 calling for the formation of a force
that would apprehend people
involved in counterrevolutionary
activities, defend Iran against
foreign forces and support
revolutionary movements around
the world. In the 1980s, one of the
now-eight branches of the IRCG–
the Quds Force– is created. The
group of elite military forces
specializes in foreign operations.
 November 4, 1979 – Storming of the
embassy
Islamic students who were
followers of Ayatollah
Khomeini 
storm the U.S. Embassy in Te
hran,
 taking hostage 52 American
employees and demand that
the shah return from
receiving medical treatment in
the United States to face trial
in Iran. The hostage situation
ignites a crisis between the
United States and Iran.
November 4, 1979 – Storming of the
embassy

CAPTURED AMERICANS FAILED AMERICAN RESCUE ATTEMPT ARGO

April 1980 – The hostage crisis
Iran and the United States sever diplomatic ties over the hostage crisis.
July 1980 – The shah dies
After traveling from the U.S. to Panama and then to Egypt, the shah
dies in exile.
September 1980 – The Iran-Iraq War
Iraq invades Iran after years of disagreements over territory, notably
oil-rich border regions and the Shatt al-Arab waterway.
1981 – U.S. hostages are released
Following negotiations mediated by Algeria, the U.S. hostages were
released after 444 days of captivity, just minutes after Ronald Reagan
is sworn in as president.
 Origins Of The Iran-Iraq War
The roots of the war lay in a number of territorial
and political disputes between Iraq and Iran. Iraq
wanted to seize control of the rich oil-producing
Iranian border region of Khūzestān, a territory
inhabited largely by ethnic Arabs over which Iraq
sought to extend some form of suzerainty. Iraqi
president Saddam Hussein wanted to reassert his
country’s sovereignty over both banks of the Shaṭṭ
al-ʿArab, a river formed by the confluence of the 
Tigris and Euphrates rivers that was historically
the border between the two countries.
Origins Of The Iran-Iraq War
Saddam was also concerned over attempts by Iran’s Islamic
revolutionary government to incite rebellion among Iraq’s Shiʿi
 majority. By attacking when it did, Iraq took advantage of the apparent
disorder and isolation of Iran’s new government—then at loggerheads
with the United States over the seizure of the U.S. embassy in Tehrān
 by Iranian militants—and of the demoralization and dissolution of
Iran’s regular armed forces.
1985 – Hezbollah is formed
Hezbollah, a Lebanon-based political
party and militant group, issues its
founding manifesto. The group,
which opposes Israel and Western
involvement in the Middle East,
receives substantial financial support
and training from Iran and its Islamic
Revolutionary Guard Corps. It is
largely seen as a proxy for Iran, and
the U.S. has designated it a terrorist
organization.
 1985 – 1987 – Iran-Contra
The United States covertly seeks to sell arms to Iran. The
money from the sales was supposed to be in exchange
for seven American hostages being held by Iranian-
backed militants in Lebanon, but some of the money is
used to fund militia groups known as the Contras, which
were trying to overthrow the socialist regime in
Nicaragua. The revelation of the administration’s plan,
which went against a Congressionally approved law
banning federal money from being given to the Contras,
becomes the biggest scandal of the Reagan presidency.
The scandal becomes known as the Iran-Contra affair.
July 1988 – U.S. shoots down Iranian
airplane
An American navy ship, the
USS Vincennes, 
shoots down an Iranian civili
an plane
 in the Persian Gulf, killing all
290 passengers and crew. The
U.S. later apologizes and 
agrees to financial compensa
tion
 for the victims families,
saying the civilian plane was
mistaken for an attacking
military jet.
July 1988 – U.S. shoots down Iranian
airplane
July 1988 – U.S. shoots down Iranian
airplane
July 1988 – Iran-Iraq War ceasefire
Iran accepts United Nations Security Council Resolution 598, leading to
a cease-fire in the Iran-Iraq War.
Airline 655 & Iran-Iraq Ceasefire Connection
A month later, a Department of Defense investigation concluded “Iran
must share the responsibility for the tragedy” for allowing a civilian
aircraft to fly near ongoing hostilities, and that it was “not the result of
any negligent or culpable conduct by any U.S. Naval personnel
associated with the incident.”
But in December of that year, a United Nations agency International
Civil Aviation Organization, came to a different conclusion. It faulted
the U.S. because none of its ships in the area had the equipment
necessary to listen in on civilian air traffic control frequencies, which
would have identified the passenger jet.
Airline 655 & Iran-Iraq Ceasefire Connection
In May 1989, Iran sued the United States in the International Court of
Justice for compensation for the victims and the destruction of the
plane. The two governments reached a settlement in 1996; the U.S. did
not accept liability but “expressed deep regret over the loss of lives”
and agreed to pay $61.8 million to the victims’ families.
The shooting down of Flight 655 also coincided with Iraq’s increased
use of chemical weapons in its war with Iran, prompting Iran to agree
to a ceasefire two months later.
To this day, many hard-liners in the Iranian government believe the
incident was intentional.
 Iranian Airline 655 vs Pan Am Flight 103
Pan Am Flight 103 was a regularly scheduled
Pan Am transatlantic flight from Frankfurt to
Detroit via London and New York City. On 21
December 1988, N739PA, the aircraft
operating the transatlantic leg of the route
was destroyed by a bomb, killing all 243
passengers and 16 crew in what became
known as the Lockerbie bombing. Large
sections of the aircraft crashed onto a
residential street in Lockerbie, Scotland, killing
11 people on the ground. With a total of 270
people killed, it is the deadliest terrorist attack
in the history of the United Kingdom.
Iranian Airline 655 vs Pan Am Flight 103
Following a three-year joint investigation by Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary and
the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), arrest warrants were issued for two
Libyan nationals in November 1991. In 1999, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi handed
over the two men for trial at Camp Zeist, Netherlands, after protracted negotiations
and UN sanctions. In 2001, Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, a Libyan intelligence officer, was
jailed for life after being found guilty of 270 counts of murder in connection with the
bombing.
In 2003, Gaddafi accepted responsibility for the Lockerbie bombing and paid
compensation to the families of the victims, although he maintained that he had never
given the order for the attack. Acceptance of responsibility was part of a series of
requirements laid out by a UN resolution in order for sanctions against Libya to be
lifted. Libya said it had to accept responsibility due to Megrahi's status as a
government employee.
Iranian Airline 655 vs Pan Am Flight 103
To better understand the difference of the two
tragedies watch the YouTube video titled: IR 655: 22
years later, US will not apologize
June 1989 – Ayatollah Khomeini dies
Khomeini, believed to be 89 years
old, dies after having 
surgery for digestive system bleed
ing
. After his death, an elected body
of senior clerics — the Assembly
of Experts — chooses the
outgoing president of the Islamic
Republic, Ali Khamenei, to
succeed Khomeini as the national
religious leader.
August 1989 – Hashemi Rafsanjani
becomes president
Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the
speaker of Iran’s parliament, is
elected president. Rafsanjani was an
influential member of the Council of
Islamic Revolution of Iran in the
Islamic Republic’s early days.
1995 – U.S. imposes broader sanctions
The Clinton administration expands sanctions that were put in place on
Iran during the Iran-Iraq War, placing 
a complete oil and trade embargo on Iran. The U.S. accuses Iran of
sponsoring terrorism, committing human rights abuses and seeking to
sabotage the Arab-Israeli peace process.
1997 - Khatami elected president and
Soleimani heads the Quds
Mohammad Khatami,
who ran on pledges of
political, social and
economic reform, is
elected as Iran’s
president. Gen. Qassem
Soleimani also becomes
the head of the Quds
Force.
Mohammad Khatami Gen. Qassem Soleimani
2002 – “Axis of evil”
In his January State of the Union
speech, U.S. President George W. Bush
refers to Iran as part of an “axis of
evil,” saying the country is actively
pursuing weapons of mass
destruction. The speech is met with
anger in Iran. Iranian Foreign Minister
Kamal Kharrazi responds by calling
President Bush’s comments “arrogant”
and saying Iran sees them as 
“interference in its internal affairs.”
 2003 – Iran admits to plutonium
production
The International Atomic Energy
Agency says Iran 
admits to plutonium production,
 but the agency says there is no
evidence that Iran is developing
nuclear weapons. Iran agrees to
more rigorous U.N. inspections of
nuclear facilities.
2005 – Ahmadinejad becomes president of
Iran
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the
hardline Islamic mayor of
Tehran, who campaigned as
a champion of the poor and
pledged to return to the
values of the revolution of
1979, defeats one of Iran’s
elder statesmen in
presidential elections.
2006 – Ahmadinejad reaches out to Bush
Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad sends a letter to
President Bush calling for
ways to ease tensions over
Iran’s nuclear program, but
continues to defy U.N.
deadlines to halt uranium
enrichment activities.
Ahmadinejad insists the
nuclear program is for civilian
energy purposes only.
2007 – Ahmadinejad visits the U.S.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad visits the United States and 
accuses Israel of occupation and racism during a speech to the U.N.
General Assembly.
The United Nations announces new economic sanctions against Iran,
targeted to impact the country’s military and halt Tehran’s disputed
nuclear program.
A U.S. National Intelligence Estimate report finds that Iran stopped
developing nuclear weapons in 2003, but continues to enrich uranium
and could still develop atomic arms in the future.