Iranian Revolution is usually considered to be an attempt to resurrect a true Islamic government in the Middle East. Despite the revolution being considered an Islamic one, the groups involved were mostly non-Islamic and included communists, leftists, and so many other groups that had nothing to do with Islam. The truth is that most of them were not looking for an Islamic revolution whatsoever.
Once in power Islam was the last thing on Khomeini’s mind. I believe that he actually came to symbolize ‘change.’ What united the people of Iran around the revolution was that everyone wanted change because the Shah had failed to deliver on his promises, and any person could have become the leader, as long as they condemned the Shah. However, the so-called
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At the apex of this corrupt system, they had a powerful individual, the so called supreme leader, a position that has thus far been held by only two individuals: Ayat ullah Khomeni and then Ali Khomeni.
Moreover, Iran uses the Sunni-Shi’ah schism as a pretext to interfere in different regions. Just like Saudis claim to be the representatives of sunnis, Iran portrays itself as the official protector of the global Shi’ah order to achieve its aim of dominating the region. It is interesting to note that Iran has always presented the US as the devil and its leaders are seen constantly making aggressive statements against it, this in reality conceals the fact that on all key strategic issues Iran has consistently collaborated with the US. This is the secret love affair of US and Iran that only a few people pay attention to. There is strong evidence of Iran’s sharing of intelligence with the US against the Taliban government in Afghanistan. One of their ministers himself once highlighted Iran’s central role to the Northern alliance taking over Kabul and the help Iran gave the US in creating the puppet government in
This completely changed the perception of the United States within Iran. Many Iranians believed that “American influence and power made a mockery of their national autonomy and desecrated their religious beliefs” (Farber, 37). The real struggle came once the Shah sought asylum in the U.S. Iran believed this to be a betrayal and demanded the Shah be released to the revolutionaries. Due to the fact that the United States did not refuse the Shah, the revolutionaries took the embassy in Tehran and all of the people that worked there hostage. One of the hostages wrote back to his parents during the crisis “‘We will not be set free until shah is released and the longer we stay here like this the better is a chance for something terrible to happen’” (Farber, 156). The siege was led by Iranian students who supported the revolution and the Ayatollah Khomeini, the leader that the revolution had selected to take the place of the
Not only did the religious history play a large role in Iran’s beliefs but also foreign invaders have been imposing their power on the Iranian region for thousands of years. Iran...
Iran-Contra Affair With the 1960s and 1970s, came a growing need for change among the American people. A previously dominant liberal government was not taking a hard enough stance on the fight to end communism. All it took, was a final nudge to shift the vote from democratic to republican. For decades, U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East had depended on a friendly government in Iran. The newly appointed leader, the shah of Iran, began Westernizing the country and taking away power from the Ayatollah, powerful religious leaders.
Iran is so important because of its oil. Iran signed an agreement in 1942 allowing the British and the Soviets to defend their country from a possible German attack. This was mostly to protect their oil. American troops joined soon after. In the agreement, it said that the troops would leave six months after the war. In 1944, the British, Americans, and Soviets pressed for oil concessions. The Soviets decided to take action on Iran. By 1945, the oil situation was still unsettled, the war was coming to an end, and the American attitude toward the Soviet Union had changed dramatically. The Soviets had decided to take action in Iran. In 1946, the United States complained to the United Nations about the situation in Iran and accused the Soviets
Prior to the Islamic Revolution, Iran was ruled by the Shah, Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, and furthermore, not governed by religion. The Shah’s White Revolution launched a series of reforms in 1963 that are indicative of where women’s rights for Iran were heading prior to the Islamic revolution. The reforms included, giving women the right to vote, run for office and to become lawyers and judges. This large of a reform in regards to women’s rights, was far more drastic than anything Iran had experienced in the past, and the shock of these “extreme” measures, received a large backlash from over 90% of the population1, the Shia Muslims.
First, the Shah, out-of-touch with what his people wanted, became the catalyst for massive xenophobic and anti-Western feelings to spread throughout the nation. By giving up traditional Islamic ideals and becoming sort of a “puppet” for the U.S. and the Western world, the Shah made a mockery of himself and of those traditional Islamic values, which were paramount in Iran. For many years, Iranians wrote letters to the Shah, voicing their discontent with many aspects of his rule — the spread of the Bahá’í Faith, the collapse of Islamic traditions, and the crumbling economy. The Shah, however, did nothing to fix these issues. Instead, he designed a political reformation movement, hoping to silence his opponents, to introduce personal rights for women, and to establish a sense of fiscal equality. This series of reforms, which appeared to be a blatant attempt to Westernize Iran, became known as the “White
“CIA-funded coup against the secular, democratically elected prime minister of Iran, Muhammed Mossadeq, that anger and disillusionment with the U.S. spread across the region” (68). The “CIA-funded,” (68) raises red flags towards the government and the decisions they have made. The involvement in this situation caused the tension. Later Hasan exclaimed, “I condemn the actions of the U.S. government in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Yemen, without attacking my American friends in Houston, LA, or New York” (69). The previous quote explains how the U.S.’s involvement over seas has been set as priority by the government. Hasan points out in the second half of the quote that the government should also be looking at the conflict brewing at home. “America is not the American government. Nor is the U.S. border patrol” (69). This last quote puts everything the other argued in context. Hasan’s purpose was to merely show that the U.S. government has started the conflict with other countries and that the foreign policies should be changed instead of being unlawful. Mentioning that the government the citizens are a separate entity only reassures to the readers than Hasan is not insulting or degrading America as a
Over the course of the last century, the Islamic Republic of Iran (formerly known as Persia) has seen colonialism, the end of a dynasty, the installation of a government by a foreign power, and just over three decades ago, the popular uprising and a cleric-led revolution. These events preceded what could be considered the world’s first Islamic state, as politics and fundamentalist religion are inextricably linked in contemporary Iran. Looking at Iran from the mid 1940’s until the present day, one can trace the path that led to the rise of fundamental Islam in Iran in three distinct periods. The first is that which began with the rise of secular nationalism and the decline of Islam. In the second, the secular, western-friendly government eventually gave way to the Islamic revival in the form of a government takeover by hard-line clerics and disillusioned, fundamentalist youth; both motivated and led by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Rule of Iran by these fundamentalist clerics then led to the formation of the fundamentalist Islamic theocracy that governs present-day Iran. The current government has some democratic appearances, but all real power is in the hands of the supreme leader, an Ayatollah who is chosen by the Assembly of Experts, a group of clerics chosen by the Guardian Council. With the Iranian Revolution, political Islam was born, with the fundamentalists holding the reins of power in Iran to the present day.
In 1952 during the Cold War, Iran was under the rule of their prime minister, Muhammad Mossadegh, who wanted to nationalize the country's oil industry. Iran had been a large producer of oil and its industry, controlled by Britain and America, was thriving. Britain and American corporations were not in favor of Mohammad Mossadegh’s newly developed oil policies, so they made a secret plan to overthrow him. They were successfully able to overthrow Muhammad Mossadegh, and in 1953 a new government was developed and controlled by Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, Iran's new leader. The US has supported the Shah For twenty-six years and he became a central alley between the US and Iran. The Shah received military and political support from the US, and
The Iranian Revolution of 1979 was a religious uprising that involved the collapse of the longstanding Monarchy in Iran. In this essay, I will compare and contrast the background and ideology of the Iranian Revolution with the Russian Revolution of 1917. I will then outline the major differences and similarities between the two.
Arjomand, Said Amir. “Iran's Islamic Revolution in Comparative Perspective.” World Politics, Volume 38, Issue 3 (1986. 4), 383-414.
The 1953 Iranian coup d’état was the CIA’s first successful overthrow of a foreign government. It was seen as an action to stop a possible Iranian communist takeover led by Mohamed Mossadeq, the Iranian prime minister at the time. But in actuality, the U.S. and Britain were more afraid of the imposing Soviet threat in the region. Because Britain and other western countries issued sanctions on Iran as a consequence to oil nationalization, the Britain and the U.S. feared that Mossadeq would turn to the Soviet Union in an effort to stabilize Iran’s economy. Fearing that Iran would soon be influenced by communism, the U.S. looked at the option of regime change as an answer to the ongoing crisis. In 1953, under the Eisenhower administration, a CIA coup to overthrow Mossadeq was authorized. After three days of CIA organized riots in Iran, Mossadeq surrendered, Fazlollah Zahedi, as chosen by the CIA, succeeded Mossadeq as prime minster of Iran. Now that Mossadeq, once a leader of the democratic movement in Iran, was no longer a political force, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi came back to power, now with little political opposition and supported by the United States and Britain. The CIA coup was originally intended as a solution for the Iranian oil crisis, but its occurrence later caused undesirable results in future. Although the real reason for the CIA overthrow of the Iranian government was to protect geopolitical interests from the Soviet threat in the region, the United States, did not foresee the negative, long term effects of coup, some of which are still evident today.
In February of 1979, Muhammad Reza Shah was in exile and Ayatollah Khomeini arrived as the triumphant leader of a revolution. Throughout the remainder of the year, the execution of former prime ministers, SAVAK agents, and high- ranking military officers took place. Muhammad Reza Shah’s regime was no longer in power and the Iranian Revolution was in full effect, but what caused this rapid shift of power? In the years leading up to the revolution, the Shah implemented the White Revolution in attempts to modernize Iran. The White Revolution was an attempt to turn Iran into an economic power, however; it went against many of the core beliefs of Islam. The White revolution of the 1960’s and 1970’s caused the Iranian revolution because it marginalized
The education system in place when the shah was in charge was secular in nature, and the education system implemented by the Islamic regime was incredibly religious and based upon the teachings of Islam. If the students of Iran were not forced to switch from one education system to the other, then each system in their own way would have succeeded. However, since the students were forced to switch education systems, this caused the students to become rebellious. “I think that the reason we were so rebellious was that our generation had known secular schools,” (Satrapi, 2000, p. 98). The students had become accustomed to they ways of the secular schools, that when they were forced to switch to the strict rules of the education system of the Islamic regime, this caused pandemonium and ultimately led to rebellion. This switch is education system was the reason both forms of education ended up not succeeding but failing.
A revolution is a mass movement that intends to violently transform the old government into a new political system. The Iranian Revolution, which began in 1979 after years of climax, was an uprising against the Shah’s autocratic rule resulting in much religious and political change. Shah Muhammad Reza Pahlavi made efforts to remove Islamic values and create a secular rule and “westernize” Iran through his White Revolution. In addition, his tight dictatorial rule and attempts at military expansion felt threatening to the people, who desired a fairer governmental rule immensely influenced by Islam. Afterwards, governmental affairs became extremely influenced by Islamic traditions and law which created changes religiously and politically for years to come. Although the Iranian Revolution was both a political and religious movement in that it resulted in major shifts in government structure from an autocracy to a republic and that Islamic beliefs were fought to be preserved, it was more a religious movement in that the primary goal of the people was to preserve traditional ideology and in that the government became a theocracy intertwined with religious laws and desires of the people.