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Iran - background briefingUnlike many other Middle Eastern countries, Iran managed to remain independent throughout much of its history. Today it has a population of about 70 million people. The principal ethnic groups are Persian 51%, Azeri 24%, Gilaki and Mazandarani 8%, Kurd 7% and Arab 3%.
Iran is a Muslim country, with 89% Shi'a and 10% Sunni Muslims. The remaining 1% belong to Jewish, Bahai and Zoroastrian faiths. The Bahai and Zoroastrian faiths originated in Iran. The major languages of Iran are Persian (Fars) and Persian dialects 58%, Turkic and Turkic dialects 26%, Kurdish 9%, Luri 2%, Baluchi 1%, Arabic 1%, Turkish 1%. Iran is situated east of Iraq, beyond the Tigris River, Shatt Al-Arab waterway and east of the Persian Gulf, across from Saudi Arabia. To the north, it borders on former Soviet Central Asian countries including Armenia, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan and the Caspian Sea. It also borders on Afghanistan and Pakistan to the east and Turkey to the west. Iran is mainly semi-arid climate, but it is extremely rich in natural resources. It has nearly 10% of the world's proven oil reserves, and nearly 16% of the world's gas reserves. It also has considerable quantities of fairly low grade uranium. However, poor economic planning, sanctions by Western countries, low literacy, high birthrates and a long and bloody war with Iraq have kept Iran poor, with a per capita GDP of about US$7,000, and unemployment of about 16%. In recent years, government programs that encourage family planning and significant emigration have reduced the rate of population increase to about 1% a year. The birth rate is now about 17 per thousand, comparable to Western industrialized countries, and literacy is up to 79%. The history of Iran covers thousands of years, from the ancient civilization on the Iranian plateau, the Mannaeans civilization in Azerbaijan, Shahr-e Sookhteh (Burned City) in Zabol and the ancient Kingdom of Jiroft, followed by the kingdom of Elam and the Achaemenid, the Parthian, the Sassanian and following Empires to the modern Islamic Republic of Iran. During the 19th century Persia came under increasing pressure from both Russia and the United Kingdom, leading to a process of modernization that continued into the 20th century. By then, Iranians were longing for a change and thus followed the Persian Constitutional Revolution of 1905/1911. The social unrest culminated in Mirza Koochak Khan's movement in Northern Iran. In 1953 Iran's elected prime minister Mohammad Mosaddeq, was removed in a complex plot orchestrated by British and US intelligence agencies ("Operation Ajax"), provoked by the Prime-Minister's nationalization of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company. The Iranian monarchy was reinstated against the people's will, handing power back to former Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. Following Mosaddeq's fall, Pahlavi grew increasingly dictatorial. With strong support from the USA and the UK, the Shah further modernized Iranian industry but crushed civil liberties. His autocratic rule used systematic torture and other human rights violations, and led to the Iranian revolution in February 1979. After more than a year of political struggle between a variety of different groups, an Islamic republic was established under the Ayatollah Khomeini by a revolution. The new theocratic political system instituted some conservative Islamic reforms and an unprecedented level of direct clerical rule. In particular Iran distanced itself from the United States due to the US support for the Shah's autocratic regime. It also refused to recognize the existence of Israel as a state. The new government inspired various groups considered by a large part of the Western World to be fundamentalist. It engaged in brutal suppression of any domestic opposition from 1981, and over 120,000 political opponents have been executed since then. In 1980 Iran was attacked by neighbouring Iraq and the destructive Iran-Iraq War continued until 1988. In the June 2005 Elections, which the population boycotted, and the Revolutionary Guards manipulated, ultra-conservative Mahmoud Ahmadinejad became President. The Ayatollah Khomeini died in 1989, and was replaced by the current Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei. Ayatollah Khamenei was President of the Islamic Republic of Iran from 1981 to 1989. Sources include Wikipedia |
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© Walk Against the War Coalition 2003. |
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