ISSUE AREAS:

ENGAGING IRAN

History and Context

Including:

• The Islamic Republic
• Political Development since the Revolution
• Historial Background
• Statistics

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The Islamic Republic

The Islamic Republic was officially proclaimed on 1 April 1979. The Qanun e Asasi constitution was approved by national referendum, and since then there have been occasional amendments.

Supreme Leader
Ayatollah Khomeini (1979-1989)
Ayatollah Khamenei (1989- )
There is a separation of powers in the Islamic Republic among executive, judicial, and legislative branches. The Supreme Leader (faqih) arbitrates between the branches, supervising the whole system to ensure that the teachings of Islam are abided by. He holds considerable power, and is commander-in-chief of the armed forces. The elected Assembly of Experts, all of who are clerics and approved by the Council of Guardians, chooses him.

Executive branch: President and Council of Ministers
Ayatollah Khamenei (1981-1989)
Hojjat-ol-Eslam Rafsanjani (1989-1997)
Mohammed Khatami (1997-2005)
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (2005- )
The President is elected by universal suffrage every four years, and can serve a maximum of two terms. All candidates prior to election must be approved by the Council of Guardians. The President appoints and oversees a Council of Ministers to act as his cabinet, which must be approved by the Majlis (parliament).

Legislative branch: Majlis and Council of Guardians
The parliament is a bicameral legislature, consisting of the 290-member Majlis and the 12-member Council of Guardians. Bills put forward by the Majlis must be approved by the Council of Guardians as consistent with the constitution and Islamic principles before passing into law.

The Majlis is elected by universal suffrage every four years, with five seats set aside for religious minorities. The Council of Guardians must approve all candidates prior to election. Half the Council of Guardians are elected by the Majlis, half are chosen by the Supreme Leader. Given a history of dispute between the Majlis and the Council of Guardians, the Expediency Council (appointed by the Supreme Leader) was established in 1988 to mediate between them and advise the Supreme Leader on matters of national importance.

Judicial branch
The Supreme Leader appoints a head of the judiciary for five years, who in turn appoints a State Supreme Court. The Supreme Leader then also appoints a chief justice of the Supreme Court for five years. All judges must be experts in Islamic law.

Political Development since the Revolution

Following the Islamic Revolution many militant elements within Iran pressed for an extreme break from the past. The United States was an obvious focus for nationalist feelings, swiftly labelled as the 'Great Satan'. From November 1979 to January 1981 militants held over 60 Americans hostage at the US Embassy in Teheran, prompting the United States to sever diplomatic relations and impose economic sanctions in April 1980. This incident has had an enormous influence over US policy towards Iran ever since.

War

When Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein sought to take advantage of Iranian instability in 1980 by invading, many Western countries supported him in the costly but indecisive eight year conflict. The US was also engaged in a series of military encounters with Iranian forces in the Persian Gulf towards the end of the war, and the US Navy shot down a civilian airliner. In all, over 200,000 Iranians died in the conflict, some victim to chemical weapons and missile attacks, and the economy was left devastated. Shortly afterwards, in June 1989, Ayatollah Khomeini died, and was replaced by then President Ayatollah Khamenei.

Terror abroad

Concurrent with the war, Iran had exacerbated existing hostilities with its neighbours by seeking to export their Islamic revolution abroad, through groups such as Islamic Jihad. Action was backed in Bahrain (1981), Kuwait (1983) and Saudi Arabia (1987). Many believed Iran to be behind the 1996 bombing of the US military barracks at Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia. Over 100 people died in attacks on the Argentinean Jewish community in 1992 and 1994 thought to have been inspired by Iran.

Teheran has also inspired, funded and supplied the Lebanese Hezbollah militia that was partly responsible for driving Israel out of the Lebanon in May 2000. Hezbollah calls for the destruction of Israel and has opposed the peace proposals between Israel and the Palestinians. They have thousands of guerrillas and engage in terror, suicide bombings and kidnappings. They have an estimated 10,000 rockets and missiles in southern Lebanon. Militants who later joined Hezbollah killed 241 US marines in Beirut in 1983. It is, however, also a successful political movement with several Lebanese MPs and presides over a significant welfare programme.

In response to Iran’s continued involvement with international terrorism and its ideological challenge, the US has thrice tightened its trade sanctions against Iran - in 1987, 1995 and 1997.

Human Rights

Amnesty International’s reports a litany of human rights abuses. From their 2005 Annual Report they state:

Scores of political prisoners, including prisoners of conscience, continued to serve prison sentences imposed following unfair trials in previous years. Scores more were arrested in 2004, many in connection with press articles or publications both in print and on the Internet which were alleged to “endanger national security” or defame senior officials or religious precepts. Many of the families of those arrested also faced intimidation.

Independent human rights defenders were harassed. At least two individuals died in custody and 159 people were executed, including one minor. At least two of the 36 people who were flogged reportedly died following the implementation of the punishment; no investigations were carried out into these deaths. The true number of those executed or subjected to corporal punishment was believed to be considerably higher.

The presidencies of Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani (1989-1997) and, far more so, the moderate Mohammed Khatami (1997-2005), raised hopes of a change in the political climate of Iran and the possibility of a thaw in its relations with the US. In 2000 reformers won a majority in parliament, enacting notable pieces of legislation, while the Clinton Administration relaxed some of the harshest clauses of the trade sanctions. Iran condemned the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001, and has always been an enemy of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.

The conservatives, however, have retained their grip on government. They dominate the Council of Guardians and hold the sympathies of the Supreme Leader, allowing them to easily block any programme of significant reform. President Bush’s declaration in January 2002 that Iran formed part of an “axis of evil” and the continued attempt by the US to thwart Iran’s nuclear power programme has attracted almost universal condemnation within Iran, and strengthened the domestic support for the conservatives. There has recently been a surge of support for a regime that had previously been divided and increasingly unpopular. In February 2004 the conservatives returned a majority to the parliament and in June 2005 their representative, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, was elected president.

Historial Background

The first Iranian state was the Persian Empire, established in 546 B.C. by Cyrus the Great, first of the powerful Achaemenid dynasty. The empire was subsequently conquered in 330 B.C. by the Greeks; in 247 B.C by the Parthians; in 224 A.D. by the Sassanids; and in 642 A.D. by the Muslim Arabs.

Over the following centuries, the area was ruled by a succession of Arab, Persian and Turkic dynasties until the disparate territories were overcome by the Mongol hordes of Genghis Khan in the thirteenth century. After over two centuries of Mongol rule, the Iranian Safavid dynasty established a strong, centralised empire under Ismael I in 1501. Shia Islam became the official religion. But in the eighteenth century, Persia was weakened by civil wars and new dynasties again came to rule.

From 1779 to 1925 the Qajar dynasty ruled Persia, but they faced increasingly strong interference from Britain and Russia. Both interfered in Persian politics and forced trade concessions, while the latter also made territorial gain at Persia’s expense. Resentment of foreign intrusion combined with a desire for greater representation amongst the people, resulting in the Constitutional Revolution of 1905-1906 and formation of a parliament. But outside powers continued to exert influence, and in 1909 the Anglo-Persian Oil Company was formed to assume control of newly-discovered oil deposits in the area. Twentieth century Iranian politics was to be dominated by foreign interest in these oil reserves.

In 1925 the Qajar dynasty was overthrown in a military coup led by Reza Khan, who became Shah. After restoring order, he sought to modernise Persia and create economic and cultural links abroad. In 1934 he changed the name of the state to Iran. But his insistence on neutrality in the Second World War angered the Grand Alliance, and in 1941 Britain and Russia intervened to replace him with his son, Mohammed Reza Shah Pahlavi.

The new Shah’s compliance with foreign powers, mishandling of oil resources and repressive regime made him deeply unpopular. In 1951 the popular nationalist Mohammad Mossadeq was appointed prime minister, leading the charge for oil nationalisation. The British and Americans, sensing a significant threat to their access to oil, forced him from power two years later and restored the Shah. In return, the Shah gave a foreign consortium full control of all Iran’s oil facilities.

Although the 1950s and early 1960s marked a period of relative calm, the Iranian regime’s dependency on the West and continued economic underperformance gave rise to mounting popular discontent, led by the Islamic clergy. In 1964 the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini was exiled, and the Shah resorted to increasingly repressive measures, facilitated by imports of British and US military equipment in the 1970s. The British defence industry became increasingly dependent.

With the people alienated from the ruling elite, Khomeini was able to build up a powerful opposition group. A series of crippling strikes were organised in 1978, which caused riots. Despite fearful repression, the opposition continued, and many junior officers in the military refused to fight. The Shah fled the country in January 1979. The following month, Khomeini returned to Iran and appointed a provisional government.

Statistics

Maps of Iran

Carnegie: Iran’s nuclear sites
Monterey: maps and charts of Iran’s nuclear sites
GlobalSecurity: maps and related analysis of nuclear sites

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