Iran

Effect of Cold War

• 1953 – US and British jointly remove democratically elected prime minister from power after he attempted to nationalize the oil fields.

• Former monarch (the Shah) is brought back to rule (He’s pro-US).

THE IRANIAN REVOLUTION THE SHAH OF IRAN

•RULED IRAN OVER 20 YEARS •FRIEND OF THE US •WESTERNIZED IRAN •BECAME UNPOPULAR –

MOST IRANIANS ARE MUSLIMS – SOUGHT AN ISLAMIC-BASED SOCIETY

Continued Conflict

• Shah begins to take power away from democratic govt. and eliminate opponents.

• Ayatollah Khomeini becomes a vocal opponent of the Shah / he is imprisoned for 18 months and later exiled.

REVOLUTION!!

• January 1978 – people rise up against the Shah.

• January 1979 – Shah flees the nation.

• April 1979 – Iran becomes an Islamic Republic with the Ayatollah being the Supreme Leader and a democratically elected govt. under him.

1979 – THE SHAH IS OVERTHROWN THUS BEGAN THE IRANIAN REVOLUTION NEW LEADER COMES TO POWER HIS NAME - AYATOLLAH KHOMEINI

HE CREATES AN ISLAMIC FUNDAMENTALIST SOCIETY

•LAWS NOW BASED ON THE KORAN –

THIS IS CALLED SHARIA

•IRAN’S GOV’T BECOMES A THEOCRACY •WOMEN’S RIGHTS ARE LIMITED

THE US IS NOW VIEWED AS AN ENEMY OF IRAN FOLLOWERS OF KHOMEINI TAKE OVER THE US EMBASSY IN IRAN

US vs. Iran!!

• Nov. 1979 – Iranian college students attack the US embassy and take 52 Americans hostage demanding the return of the Shah.

• January 1981 – All hostages set free.

• Ayatollah begins calling the US “The Great Satan” • July 1988 – US navy ship accidentally shoots down an Iranian commercial airplane killing 290 people (most were Iranian).

Change?…..NOPE

• 1997 – Mohammad Khatami elected President (reformer – wishes to change Iranian society) • 2005 – Religious Leaders limit the power of the reformers in govt. by taking away their seats in govt.

• 2005 – Mahmoud Ahmadinejad elected president.

Ahmadinejad

• Has stated that Israel should be “wiped off the map”.

• Has stated that the Holocaust was a “myth”.

• Has stated that the 9/11 attacks were “suspect” and all that happened was “a building collapsed”.

• Has pushed for development of nuclear technology. Recently declared Iran a nuclear nation.

2009 Elections

• June 12 – election results show that Ahmadinejad won with 62%. Many claim that the election was fixed.

• Thousands pour into the streets to protest.

2009 Elections (cont.)

• Govt responds harshly!!

• From 72-150 protestors killed and 4000 arrested.

• Govt censored the media and attempted to shut down the Internet.

• Families of victims were punished.