IRAN

1. IRAN

2. Iran • Capital: Tehran • 634,562 square miles • 4,000 feet above sea level • Population: 67 million • Major language: Persian • Religious affiliation • Shi’a Muslim 89% • Sunni Muslim 10% • Known as Persia until 1935

3. Impact of the Past • Irrigation made civilization possible • Disrupted waterworks had devastating consequences • Target of conquest • Natural crossroad

4. Impact of the Past • Indo-Europeans 15th century b.c.e • Cyrus and Darius • 6th century b.c.e. • Greeks under Alexander • Arab-Islamic in 7th cent. c.e. • Turkish tribes in 11th c.e.

5. Impact of the Past • Iran, formerly known as Persia • “the sleep of nations” • Far behind the west • Views this as an adversity • If and how Iran will move into modernity is one of the major questions?

6. The Arab Conquest • Islam means “submission to God’s will” • Islam arrived by the sword • Most Zoroastrianism, old religion, fled to India

7. The Arab Conquest • Islam taught all Muslims were equal • Persia adopted Arabic script • Arabs copied Persian architecture and civil administration • Under Persian Control for 6 centuries

8. The Arab Conquest • 1055: Turks • Mongols and Genghis Khan • The Mongol “World Conqueror” • Arrived in 1219 • Embraced Islam

9. The Arab Conquest “We may be conquered, but the conqueror always ends up adopting our superior culture and becomes one of us.”

10. The Arab Conquest • Safavids in 1501 boosted development of a Iranian identity • Switched from Sunni Islam to Shia Islam • Attack allowed them to consolidate control and develop Islam with Persian Characteristics

11. Islam:Sunni and Shi’ite (Shi’ia) • Split happened over the question of who was eligible to succeed Prophet Muhammad • Shi’ites: believe that legitimate rulership of the entire Islamic world could decend only through the heirs of the Prophet Muhammad • Shi’ites have a belief in the “hidden Imam” and he will return at the end of time and restore just and order • Shi’ites: all secular authority is ultimately illegitimate

12. Islam:Sunni and Shi’ite (Shi’ia) • Shi’ism: • Remains critical of monarchs and less sully reconciled with political order for its own sake • Extend a provisional legitimacy to rulers who let Islamic institutions flourish unmolested • Clergy is standing in for the hidden Imam • Hold a role like the priesthood in premodern Europe • Religious function is separate from the state • Clerics are most hostile towards power holders and enjoyed more independence • Enjoyed strong institutional base

13. Islam:Sunni and Shi’ite (Shi’ia) • Self organized, informal hierarchies that rested only on the esteem in which religious scholars held one another • Secure income from the voluntary religious tax • Refused to make peace with secular authorities • Religion and politics flows into one another: comprehensive Islamic society • Untainted by the prevailing injustice • No sense that some spheres of life lay outside of religion

14. Western Penetration • Western cultural, economic, and colonial penetration • 1722: Afghan invaders end Safavid rule • British and Russia dominance in Persia • Semi-colonial status: political and economic dependent on imperial designs • 1890 treaty by British= a monopoly over tobacco sales

15. Western Penetration • Western ideals of government- Christian Missionaries • 1906-1907 Constitutional Revolution • Est. 1st constitution • 1st elected parliament: Majlis • Two forces: • liberals who hated the monarchy/wanted western institutions, Muslim clerics who wanted a stronger role for Islam • Same combination will bring down the Shah in 1979 • Two have turned against each other over the future of Iran

16. Western Penetration • Corrupt and weak monarchies led to democratic constitutions • New Shah in 1907 shuts down Majlis • Flees to Russia under protest • Returns in 1911 but is forced back • 1907 Anglo-Russian Treaty cut Persia in two • Russia in the North/Britain in South • WWI turns into a zone of contention and chaos

17. The First Pahlavi • 1925: Reza Khan seizes power • Crowned as Shah • Dynasty lasted from 1925-1979 (Pahlavi) • Told the World “call us by our real name: Iran” • Nazi connection

18. The First Pahlavi • Wanted to modernize his country • Molded an Iranian army • European civil service • National bank • Replaced tradition and Islamic courts • Civil courts • Under western codes of justice • 1935 founded Iran’s 1st Western Style university • Economy grew • State supervision • Oil revenues Reza Khan

19. The First Pahlavi • Encouraged countrymen to adopt western dress • Asked women to stop wearing the veil • Kept press and Majlis obedient • Troublemakers died in jail • Reza Shah was a classic modernizing tyrant

20. The First Pahlavi • WWII Iran was to strategic to leave alone • Major oil producer • Conduit for U.S. supplies to desperate Russia • Again Russia in the North and British in the south • Both agreed to clear out 6 months post war • Reza shah titled support to Germany in 1941 • Reza Shah was exiled to South Africa and later died in 1944 • Reza Shah turn control over to his Son: Mohammed Reza Pahlavi

21. The First Pahlavi • WWII continued • Americans and British left in Iran in 1945 • Soviets did not leave (mark the start of the Cold War) • Stalin claimed ethnic groups in the north had right to merge with the Azeris of north Iran • Refused to leave • Set up Communist Azeri and Jurdish govt. in the north • 1946: President Truman delivered some harsh words, Iran’s PM promised Stalin an oil deal, Stalin withdraws • Majlis concealed the deal

22. The Last Pahlavi • 20th century was determined by Oil • Who should own and profit from Iran’s oil reserves? • Oil deposits discovered in 1908 • Under British concession • Anglo-Persian (Iranian) Oil Company

23. The Last Pahlavi • Persia received little from oil deal • Persians hated the rich foreign company • Especially an oil company who wrote their own rules • 1932 Reza Shah ended the lopsided concession • Forced the AIOC to pay higher royalties

24. The Last Pahlavi • AIOC: • 1950’s Iranians rallied around Prime Minster Muhammad Mossadegh • Nationalized the AIOC • Shah Muhammad Reza Pahlavi flees the country in 1953

25. The Last Pahlavi • British urged Washington to do something • US had the CIA destabilize the Tehran government • With $1million dollars Kermit Roosevelt hires a mob • Mossadegh was out • Shah was restored • U.S. wins cold war battle

26. The Last Pahlavi • Shah Muhammad Reza • Modernizing tyrant • “White Revolution” from above • Excellent relations with United States • Shah was U.S. pillar of stability in the Persian Gulf • U.S. was source of • Money, technology, and military hardware • Iranian students came to U.S. • American Businessmen surged into Iran

27. The Last Pahlavi • U.S. was too close the shah; supported by us • Shah was • Western-educated, Anit-communist, involved in rapid modernization • Iranian unrest went unnoticed • Under Nixon: sold them arms • Iran and Shah = two different things • Backing of the Shah alienated Iranians • Ignored how the Shah ruled: • Ruled by dreaded secret police: SAVAK • Tyrant was a tyrant • Worried about communism in north ignored the possible revolution from within

28. The Last Pahlavi • Revenue from oil: • 1963-64: $555 million • 1975-76: $20 Billion • Government Revenue • 1948 = 11% • 1960 = 41% • 1974-75 = 84% • 45% of GDP and 89% of foreign export receipts • GDP grew from 8% to 30% • GNP grew from $17.3 billion to est. $54.6 billion • Highest GNP in the “Third World”

30. The Last Pahlavi • Rentier state: a state that derives a substantial portion of revenue on a regular basis from payments by foreign concerns in the form of rent • Rentier economy: heavily supported by state expenditure while the state itself continuously receives rent from abroad.

31. The Last Pahlavi • State no longer had to rely on agriculture • Fast paced modernization process • Transformed Iranian economy from one based agriculture to one-product economy based on oil • Adopted substitution industrialization • Capital-intensive industries • Neglect small scale production and agriculture sector

32. The Last Pahlavi • No attempt to create a dynamic and open political system • Slogan “Plenty of administration and no politics” • Created the Rastakhiz (Resurgence) Party • 1975: Mass party • Entire Iranian population and encouraged everyone to join • Closed to opposition: • Subjected to harassment, imprisonment, and torture • Failed to realize the deprivation in terms of political participation • Caused the gradual erosion of the bonds linking state and civil society

33. The Last Pahlavi • What ended Shah rule • Too much money • 1973 boosted oil prices and took over oil extraction from foreign companies • Shah leading mover of OPEC • Oil prices quadrupled • Oil Revenues went for the “greater glory” of Iran and its army: not the people • OIL LED TO TURMOIL

34. The Last Pahlavi • New wealth caused great disruption • Shah promoted education • Saw Shah for what he was a tyrant • Corruption grew/people turned to the Mosque • Shah undermined the traditional culture values of Islam • Seized land from religious foundations • Influx of American culture: alcohol and sex • Military expenditures was a waste of money • Economic growth hastens revolution

35. The Last Pahlavi • Ayatollah Khomeini: • Criticized the Shah • Exiled to Iraq in 1964 • Forced to leave Iraq in 1978 • Live in Paris suburb • Recorded messages that were telephoned to cassette recorders in Iran • Bypassed Shahs control of the media • Helped bring him down

36. The Last Pahlavi • Things come to a head in 1970’s • Shah had made Iran a Debtor nation • Jimmy Carter makes human rights a foreign policy goal • Shah dictatorship comes under U.S. criticism • 1977 Carter and Shah had to retreat into White House • 1978 Shah facing huge demonstrations and dying of cancer • Shah mat “the king is trapped”

37. January 6th, 1979 the last Phalavi left Iran: Shah Mat