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Relations between Iran and the United States
The influence of ideologies on politics
Relations between Iran and the United States
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• The birth of Hezbollah from the ruins of the Amal movement
When the Iranian Revolution succeeded in 1979, Iran wanted to gain the admiration and the support of Arab countries, benefiting in particular from the support by the Shah of Iran and his relationship with Israel before the collapse of his regime. On this very first day of the victory of the revolution, Iran was keen to extend its bonds with the Islamic world, and when this was not possible in most cases, because of many complex causes of the revolution, Iran began to look for «organizations» instead of «regime’s or countries», in order to continue its role in Islamic issues. Iran was keen to show that this role was one of the foundations of the revolution and its beliefs, in order to free Iran from the charge of Persian racism.
Relations between Iran and Syria had entered a phase of strategic coordination, thanks to two men, Saddam Hussein and Musa al-Sadr, though the impact of each was quite different. Through Musa al-Sadr and his group in the Amal movement, including some leading Iranians such as Mustafa Chamran the first defence minister in the government of post-revolutionary Iran, the late Syrian President Hafez al-Assad got to know Ayatollah Khomeini and his ideas, to the extent that Iranian activists close to Khomeini, were carrying Syrian diplomatic passports, before the revolution in February 1979. After Musa al-Sadr, the former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein played a role in strengthening relations between Tehran and Damascus, without realizing the effects that this would have on Iraq and the region. Saddam engaged in a war with Iran shortly after the revolution. Not only did Tehran feel in danger, but a sense of danger has spread from Tehran to Dam...
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...awa party of Iraq, who grew up under the auspices of the Iranian political tide and felt the need of setting up a religious, political armed party.
As the relationship between Iran and the Amal movement was affected by the political differences between them which opened the door to the creation of Hezbollah, the same misunderstanding occurred between revolutionary Iran and the Fatah movement. Iran viewed the Palestinian revolution as a card in its struggle against the West, while the Fatah movement considered its relations with Iran as a way to enhance their power in the national struggle for the restoration of the occupied Palestinian territories. Just as the differences between Iran and Amal movement led to the birth of Hezbollah, the differences between Tehran and the Fatah led to the birth of Hamas and Islamic Jihad later.
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...
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.
In September 1980, a very destructive war with Iran was started by Saddam Hussein. This was a result of an invasion in Iran. This invasion spurred an eight year war. Saddam used c...
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
Thesis Statement: I want to show Iran’s dramatic change of regimes and the way its people were treated starting with Pahlavi’s authoritarian rule. I also want to discuss the turbulant realtionship bewteen Iran and the United States, and how this all makes the Iran Hostage Crisis.
Hezbollah or the party of Allah was established during the first Lebanon war in 1982 by Iran and with assistance of Syria, Hezbollah is a Lebanese Shi’ite Muslim terrorist organization which emerged from Baalbek district of Lebanon Bekaa valley. Hezbollah immediately gain the acceptance of the Shia population in south Lebanon specially Beirut. Hezbollah has been inspired by a group of young Iranian who were member of the Iranian Islamic Revolution; their goal was either expelling or killing of the Israeli who are in Lebanon through excessive reliance on physical violence such as series of crude guerrilla attacks like assassination, kidnapping and suicide bombing. Hezbollah is being supported from different countries such as from Arab nationalist, Syria, Iran and Iran‘s Quds forces since it is one of the most successful anti-Muslim military group which is located in the middle east. Hezbollah is an Islamist movements which has three aspects first it is community-oriented part which representing Shia population in Lebanon, second is a nationalist party which is fighting against Israel occupation of Lebanon and finally it is part of an axis allying of Iran and Syria, which renders a crucial actor in middle east. The ideology of Hezbollah has been shaped by the same radical Islam that is being preached by Ayatollah Khomeini and guiding by the principle of Islam. Sayyad Abbas Musawi was the first leader of Hezbollah, he was born in 1952, who was an influential Lebanese Shia cleric who work as a co-founder and secretary general of Hezbollah. He studies theology in a religious school which is Najaf, Iraq, where he was influence by the view of Ruhollah Khomeini, in 1992 he has been killed by Israel Defense Force. After Musawi died Hassa...
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.
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.
Hezbollah has been infiltrating Latin American for many years now, exploiting the resource rich countries in Central and South America. Sponsored by Iran, the terrorist organization has been crucial in Iran’s pursuit of nuclear energy and possibly nuclear weapons. Teaming together with Venezuela’s former president Hugo Chavez, Hezbollah has worked to mine Venezuela’s rich uranium deposits. Hezbollah has also been using many illegal activities common in Latin American counties to fund their terrorist organization. Some of these activities have included drug, gun and human smuggling, and counterfeiting. The organization has taken advantage of the porous United States border, to fund most of these activities.
Hezbollah is a radical shia terrorist group. But they have come a long way to receive the recognition they get today. Majority of the group's publicity has arisen from the ongoing Arab-Israeli conflict. They have put forth many thoughts and actions that have affected how this issue will finally be played out, and how it could end.
Terrorism in the Middle East has brought the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to the attention of the world. These terrorist groups use murder, bombs, threats, and other violent acts to get their way politically. Hamas, the organization that has replaced Fatah as the representative of the Palestinians, is a leading sponsor of terrorism. The Hamas are the leading reason there is not peace in the middle east as they strongly embrace terrorism.
(http://www.pomeps.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/POMEPS_BriefBooklet4_Syria-TEXT_WEB-1.pdf) Mona Yacoubian and Radwan Ziadeh. 4 May 2011 Project on Middle East Political Science. 13 Apr. 2012
The aftermath of the crisis was the international isolation of Iran. The US being a superpower, drove similar responses in its allies. Iran had lost a majority of their allies, which would hurt them during the war. In addition to the loss of the support of the Western countries, the Arab countries were also against Iran and supporting Iraq. The Arab countries also shared Iraq’s trepidations about the Iranian rhetoric of “exporting Islamic Revolution” (Karsh).
Although the Iranian Revolution was caused by combination of political and religious motivations and ideas, the desires of the people supporting the movement were more dominantly religious ideas that were wished to be imposed in society and in a new government. The Shah, or king, of Iran at the time was Muhammad Reza Pahlavi, who had developed relations with nations in “western” world, specifically with the United States. The United States supported the White Revolution, which was a series of social reformations the Shah made to remove Islamic v...