Iran – A Current Overview

3rd largest oil reserve & 2nd largest natural gas reserve

Imports more gasoline than any other country except U.S.

1978-1979 Revolution
2005 - Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
succeeds Khomeini

2007- 60% of population
under 30


Rise of fundamentalism – SHARI’A
Reza Shah Pahlavi

After WWII began a program of
Westernization (modeled after
Turkey)
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Land reform & ownership increased
Education improved
Women’s rights: voting, more
education, professionalism & western
dress
Carried on by son Mohammed Reza
Pahlavi (abdicated 1941)
REFORMS FAILED

Spending too much on non-essential
things (i.e. military instead of helping
people)
Iranian Revolution 1978-79
Iranian Revolution

Shiite, Ayatollah Khomeini




Exiled in 1964 – began Rev from
Paris
Grievances: corruption, police
heavy-handedness, modernization,
westernization, imperialism,
exploitation of underprivileged, &
illegitimate shah monarchy
52 US personnel hostage crisis of
’79 (444 days)
Iran became Islamic Republic


led by handful of powerful
ayotallahs & 180,000 mullahs
(priests)  THEOCRACY
“divine rule by clerics”, Khomeini
was the infallible supreme leader
Prediction:
How will this change in
leadership affect society &
culture in Iran??
Cuban Revolution

CAUSE

Corrupt government


Fidel Castro overthrew Fulgencio Batista
EVENTS
Batista ruled as dictator (40s)
 Guerrilla warfare begins (mid-50s)
 Castro takes over (‘59)
 New gov= communist
 Che Guevara – Argentinean, Marxist
revolutionary who allied with Castro, later
became Pres. of Cuban National Bank &
dealt w/US & USSR


Tried to help Bolivian Rev- captured & killed (‘67)
Cuban Revolution: Consequences



Democratic Constitution
(amendment allowed US
intervention)
1 of last 5 communist
governments in world
Better living conditions:


Redistribution of wealth,
stabilize population,
nationalized industries,
health & education
opportunities, laws to stop
enviro damage
Arts flourished: murals

Negatives
Repression of Spanish
 American monopolies
 Cuban Missile Crisis

End of Day Quiz




Name 1 cause of the Cuban Revolution.
Name 1 cause of the Iranian Revolution.
Name one event during the Iranian Revolution.
Name one consequence of the Cuban Revolution.
THE MIDDLE EAST

1900-1914
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Post- WWI

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Ottomans & WWI
Surge in nationalism (esp. Young
Turks)
1st Central Power to fall
Armenian Genocide
Betrayed by G.B. & France - land
was controlled by the League of
Nations
Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk)
Interwar Period

American oil companies hedged out British influence
& gained control over many oil facilities
 Saudi
Arabia
 Kuwait*
 Bahrain
Post WWII


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Pakistan independence from
GB (1947)
Syrian independence
(1944)
1948- 1st Arab-Israeli
War*
Turkish Crisis- Soviets
demanding lands (although
neutral during WWII) & US
sent aid…why?
Egypt
Gamal Abdul Nasser


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Came to power in 1952 –
member of the Free Officers
Movement
Allied w/Muslim Brotherhood
Loss of Arab-Israeli War (1948)
Broad social & economic reforms
Foreign policy:


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
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Defeat Israel
Arab unity
Agitate socialist rev
1956- forced G.B. out of Suez
Canal
REFORMS FAILED
Muslim Brotherhood

Founded 1928 by Hasan
al-Banna


Contempt for wealthy
Egyptian & Euro minority
that flourished in face of
mass poverty


Murdered in 1949
founded to remedy probs
Fundamentalist
Called for massive reforms
 Strikes, riots & assassinations

The Six Day War (1967)

It was a total victory for Israel who then took:


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The West Bank from Jordan
Golan Heights from Syria
Gaza Strip and Sinai from Egypt
1978 Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian
Pres. Anwar el-Sadat signed the Camp David Accords
(oversaw by Pres. Carter)
Israel returned Sinai and Egypt (a Muslim nation) recognized
Israel’s right to exist
 Won Nobel Peace Prize
 Muslim extremist assassinated Sadat
in 1981 – jailed political opponents (etc.)

Egypt after Nasser
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Anwar Sadat was his successor
Ended many programs, sought out private initiatives
Made peace with Israel
Expelled Russians
Opened Egypt to the west
Hosni Mubarak (successor) continued on similar path
MUSLIM FUNDAMENTALISM continues
 One
such group assassinated Sadat
Israel




Balfour Declaration (1917)  creation
of Israel
 required that Jews and Palestinians
divide land that was traditionally theirs
1930’s -1940 ~500,000 Jews arrive
Palestinians had the numbers but the Jews
had money & world sympathy
David Ben-Gurion (PM of Israel) - May
1948
“The Arab-Israeli Conflict”

PLO (Palestinian Liberation Organization) was created &
dedicated to reclaiming the land and establishing a
Palestinian state



Intifada’s (uprisings)
Terrorism
New Hostilities began in 2000
Israel elected Ariel Sharon as PM
and he built a wall between Palestine and Israel for protection


PLO leader Yasser Arafat died in 2004

New president signed a armistice with Israel ending the Intifada
Intifada c.1988 – Young Palestinians demonstrating in the streets
Israel & Palestine
“The Arab-Israeli Conflict”


“Right of Return”
9 million Palestinians living
outside of homeland


Diaspora (ghurba)
Israel (2007)
7.3 million Jews
 1.6 million Palestinians/nonPalestinians

OPEC
ORGANIZATION OF PETROLEUM EXPORTING COUNTRIES

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Oil= power
OPEC set the world price for oil and controlled the
amount available
1970 they cut supply


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Prices skyrocketed
Since the 1980s lost some of its power
Infrastructure &/or wealth in hands of minority
Kuwait
Iraq: “Vortex of Violence”

8% of world’s oil reserves

Shiites, Sunnis & Kurds

Urbanized, welfare state

9% of world’s oil reserves

1990 Gulf War

No deep water port

Iraqi invasion to “reclaim”
land
Iraq: “Vortex of Violence”

Saddam Hussein

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Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988)
Gulf War (1990)
Civil war
Operation Iraqi Freedom

1st “free” election (2005)

Civil War
Terrorism
al-Qa’ida destroyed the World Trade Center in New York on September 11, 2001
“Arab Spring”

Wave of demonstrations and protests (both non-violent
and violent), riots, and civil wars in the Arab world that
began on 18 December 2010