IRAN

IRAN

Angie Wei

Ciara Nenni

Ebba Anayah

Geography

•Tehran is Iran’s capital.

• Iran has a population of 76,923,300 people.

• Both male and female population are evenly divided

• Borders the Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf

• Has a total land area of 1.648 million. Sq km (which is slightly larger than Alaska)

• Total of 13 provinces

Government of Iran

• Government type: Islamic Republic; also known as Theocratic Republic

• Current president is Ahmadinejad • Ahmadinejad elected in 2009• Government lead by Shiite Muslims• Has 3 branches: Legislative, Executive, and Judicial• The president is the head of the executive • Two main political parties are the United Front of

Principalists and the Broad and Popular Coalition of Principalists

Economy• Natural Resources: Petroleum, natural gas, coal,

chromium, copper• Agriculture: mostly wheat, rice, sugar beets, fruits, nuts,

cotton• Economy mostly based off of services (45%). Agriculture

is 25% and 31% industry• Iran’s exports are mostly petroleum and petrochemical

products (80%)

Culture of Iran• Ethnic Groups: 51% Persian, 24% Azeri (People from

Azerbaijan, a countrey located just north of Iran) , 8% Giuaki and mazandarani, 7% Kurd, and 2% each of Lur, Baloch, and Turkmen

• Religions: main religion is Muslim (98%- Of the Muslim population, 89% are Shia, and 9% are Sunni) There is also a small population of Jewish, Christian, and Zoroastrian, a religion that focuses on the importance of humanity, sanctity of the four elements, and the importance of righteousness. Zoastrian once dominated Iran, but decreased immensely after Islam invaders took hold of Iran.

Overthrow of Mossadegh of 19 August 1953

• Mohammad Mossadegh was a Iranian political leader and the Prime Minister of Iran who supported the freedom of Iran during the time when Great Britain held the most of Iran. (18th century-19th century)

• Great Britain demanded much petroleum and natural gas. Mossadegh and many other Iranians found this unfair and fought for a “clean government” (Mossadegh)

• Great Britain still held hold of Iran. • Great Britain warns Mossadegh about an invasion if this were not to

be stopped. • GB’s attempts fail. GB joined with US’s CIA and form a plot to

overthrow Mossadegh.• August 19, 1953: GB invades Iran and overthrows Iran’s gov’t

successfully. Mossadegh escapes capture, but his home was burned to ashes.

Iranian Revolution

•Happened in 1979

•The shah and dictator, Mohammad Reza, was not favored among the people. Many strikes developed during his reign.

•Ayatollah Khomeini was the leader of the revolution. He lived in exile in both Iraq and France. Khomeini  became very powerful by having audiences of France and Britain.  He spread his ideas through cassettes that were smuggled into Iran by small groups of people.  There were many protests in 1978 to let Khomeini back into Iran, but the police killed seventy student protestors.   He was an important figure in the Iranian revolution.

•The shah moved out of Iran on January 6th, 1979, followed by the minister.

•Once the shah left, Khomeini returned to Iran and the revolution was over.

•Ayatollah became the new leader of Iran.

Iran-Iraq War

• 1980-1988- Sept. 22 Iraq invades Iran by land and air• Main conflict: control of Shatt al Arab waterway (essential

transportation path)• Waterway runs along border• Empties in Persian Gulf• Iran attacked Kuwati oil tankers in Gulf• “Operation Anfal” slaughtered people or forced them to

relocate• Many fled to Turkey• 1.5 million died

Continued…

• Iran treaty accepted by Kuwati

• Kuwati withdrew all troops in Iran territory

• Exchanged back all prisoners of war

• Last exchange was recently done

Bibliography• New York Times. "Iran." Iran News . New York Times, 29 Oct. 2010. Web. 15 Nov.

2010.

• "Flash." Iran Government. wbemaster, 23 Feb. 2003. Web. 15 Nov. 2010.

<http://www.irangovernment.com/IranGovernmentsite.html>. • N/A. “Dr. Mohammad Mossadegh Biography: The Mossadegh Project.”

mohammadmossadegh.com. n/a. Rumi shirts. 15 November 2010

• Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs. “Background Note: Iran.” U.S. Department of State Diplomacy in Action. July 23, 2010. About State.gov. 15 November 2010

• N/A. “Iran demographics Profile 2010.” indexmundi. November 3, 2010. CIA World Factbook. 15 november 2010

• Hooker, Richard. “The Iranian revolution.” wsu.edu. Hines, Richard. 6-6-1999

• N/A. “Geography” About.com. n/a. 1st, November, 2005. New York Times. 15 November 2010