IRAN: OVERALL HISTORY & ROLE IN MIDDLE EAST

Sidra Jabeen Khan

Iranian History from start till present

Historical Recapitulation

Early resistance to foreign powers

The constitutionalists movement

The Qajar state

Revolution and war

Institutional dilemma

By 1920, Iran was a classic “failed state” to use modern terminology

Reza Shah

There is room in Iran for only one shah & I will be that Shah – Reza Shah

Oct, 1925: exile of Ahmad Shah

Pressurize Majlis to depose Ahmad Shah

Reforms striving for an Iran “ free of clerical influence, nomadic uprisings & ethnic differences”

To diminish foreign affairs from Iran

Securing Iran’s interior from any foreign and domestic threat

Reza Shah

Born in Tehran

1878-1944

1925-1944: regime

Abbas Ali Khan (father)

As a Prime Minister: 1923-1925

Army man

“Virtual military dictator” British

Army Chief

War minister

Premier & commander in chief of all forces

Reza Shah

Promised to back out Britain

Signed agreements with Russia

Coronation ceremony opened by prayer of Imam-e-Jummah and closed with a flowery oration

Named his son as heir apparent

Left the country with an extensive state structure

The Iron Fist of Reza Shah

Discipline and state power

Motto: Khoda (Allah), Shah and Mehan(nation)

Political dissent was tantamount to subversion and treason

Every part of kingdom was brought out under central Govt

State Building

Military

Grew tenfold

Bureaucracy

Grew seventeenfold

Expansion by

revenues

Oil royalties

Higher custom duties

New taxes on

consumer goods

Extractions from tax

deliquents

Conscription Law, 1925

All abled bodies male

Over 21 age

Serve two full years active

Another four years in reserve

Armed forces continued to grow

Designed first from peasantry then urban population

M Reza Shah

Raised his son as foremost military officer

Military monarchy

Prince rarely appeared in public out of military uniform

Activities outside military were limited

Reza Shah’s reforms

New ministries introduced

Hand of central govt could reach the provinces

Control over political system

Transformation of Majles into pliant rubber from aristocratic power

Electrical plants

Telephone links

40 cinemas had opened

Urbanly appearance has drastically changes

Westernization in Iran

Change dress code

Western style trousers and coats

Bann on veil

No mourning in Ashura

Place chairs in Mosque

No feast of Zahra

Uniform education system

Incidents outburst

Removal of Chadar

Bann on names such as hajji, mashadi, karbalai

Failed in public health

Raise marriage age

Mashed masjid incident 1935, 100 loss lives and 200 injured

Slogan arose: Shah is a new Yezid

Results

Youngsters called him as oriental despot

Anglo-soviet invasion in 1941

Destroyed Reza Shah

Forced to abdicate in 1941

Moved to South Africa

died in Egypt in 1944

British nightmare in WWII

Anglo-Soviet

invasion reasons

Physical control over

oil

Allies Want from Reza Shah

To take head strong

members of his family

Arrested as a Nazi 5th column

some 200 Iranian officers

Direct control over transport

routes

Last Wishes and agreements

Shah accepted allies wishes

New motto: no monarch no military

He offered British but they politely refused offer of troops

Muhammad Reza Shah ascended the throne

Coronation Stamp: 1926

Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlawi

Early Steps

Handed over his father’s estates to Govtwhich became bone of contention

Took well publicized pilgrimages

Money to be spent on Hospitals, medical laboratories, public libraries, water system, shelter for poor, nationwide campaign against malaria and eye diseases

Relinquished the religious endowments

No longer wage campaign against Veil

Two Classes Present

Abjectly Poverty stricken and

powerless

Bloated with wealth

Movements

The Socialist Movement (1941-49)

The nationalist movement (1949-53)

The Coup (1953)

State Expansion (1953-73)

Continued where his father had been forced to leave off

Full speed drive: military, Bureaucracy and court patronage

Builded massive state structure

Military arms purchases got much up

Increased no of fully fledged ministries from 12 to 20

Social Transformations

Peace after 1963

Marry to Farah Deba

Coronation held in 1967

Lectures given: Iran would become 5th super power of world

White Revolution

Land reform was its centre piece Feudal ayan (notables) Ashraf (aristocracy) Omdeh malek (large landlords) Land reforms transferred the country side Literacy corps Health programs Women gained the right to vote Family protection laws Veil wasn’t banned Population got increased

Social Tensions

Quadrupled the combined size of two classes; intelligentsia & urban working class

Preferred “trickle down theory” of economics i.e. development

White revolution and the subsequent oil boom produced widespread resentments

Political Tensions

Social tensions intensified political radicalism among:

Intelligentsia

Modern middle class

Ulema

Traditional middle class

Ali Shariati

RoohullahKhomeini

Ali Shariati

Middle class

Social scientist

French educated

Supported Mossadiq

Abu Zarr of Iran

Died in 1977

True ideologue of the Iranian revolution

House hold name after famous books

Rohullah Khomeni

Pronouncements were directed predominantly to the ulema

Lived in Najaf after 1963

Developed own interpretation of Shia Islam

Denounced Shah

Stressed on Velayat-e-Faqeh: hakoumat-e-Islamia (The Jurist’s guardianship: the Islamic Government)

One state Party

Shah did a sudden about-face in March 1975 dissolving the Mardom and Iran-e-NovinParty

Establishment of Resurgence party

Announced Iran as one state party

Party based on the dialectics and principles of white revolution

Intensified the state

Results

Bazaar revolt

Declared war on bazaar in 1975

10,000 inspectorate teams flooded market

Bazars turned to their traditional allies ulema for help

Shah denounced clergy

Imposed new imperial calendar

Iran jumped overnight from the Muslim year 1355 to the imperial year 2535

Few regimes have been fool hardy enough to scrap their religious calendar

He was secular for his religious people

Resurgence party Results

Weakened the regime

Cut the monarchy further off

Mass mobilization brought mass manipulation and in turn brought mass dissatisfaction

The shah would have been better off following Sir Robert Walpole’s famous motto: “Let sleeping dogs lie”

50th Anniversary stamps

Islamic Revolution, 1979

Erupted like a volcano

In age of republicanism he flaunted monarchism, shahism & pahlavism

Khomeni returned from exile

3 million people greeted him

More than 2781 demonstrators die during revolution

1977: stream of middle class out

1978: newspaper editorial against Khomeni

Feb 1978: violent clashes in many cities

Late march 1978: considerable property damage

Aug 19: Cinema went up in flames; demands: Burn Shah

Sep 8, 1978: Black Friday, crowd got shot cause of refusal of disband, pahlavis got end

Events of Revolution

The Islamic Constitution 1979

Corporatinginscription God is Great

Khomeni get constitutional powers unimagined by Shah

Consolidation (1980-89)

26 ministries

Islamic republic survived

Iran Iraq war initiated by Saddam Hussain

Remained until 8 years

Presidents (1980-2007)

Thermidor (1989-2005)

Transfer of power took place smoothly

Supreme leader could be seminary-trained cleric

Khomeni and Rafsanjani initiated a thermidor

Imam Ali had been a successful plantation owner

US-Iran Relations

Considered unelected leaders of Iran

Denouncing Iran as totalitarian nightmare

Considered it as threat to world in terrorism

US views about Iran

Conclusion

21st century as a major regional power

70 million people

Plays a key role in petroleum

Second largest proven reservoirs of gas and oil

Iran can’t be dismissed as a failed state

Country can’t be called as third world country

Iran History from 20th century and beyond(A Short Documentary)

“We view the past, and achieve our understanding of the past, only through the eyes of present”E.H.Carr

Thank You So Much for Listening