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 POWERHIS 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.