Historyedit

Prehistoryedit

Archaeological artifacts confirm human presence in Iran since the Lower Palaeolithic. Neanderthal artifacts have been found in the Zagros region. From the 10th to the 7th millennium BC, agricultural communities flourished around the Zagros region, including Chogha Golan, Chogha Bonut, and Chogha Mish. The occupation of grouped hamlets in the area of Susa ranges from 4395 to 3490 BC. There are prehistoric sites across the Iranian Plateau, pointing to ancient cultures in the 4th millennium BC.

During the Bronze Age, the area was home to Iranian civilization, including Elam, Jiroft, and Zayanderud. Elam, the most prominent, continued until the Iranian empires. The advent of writing in Elam was parallelled to Sumer; the Elamite cuneiform developed beginning in the third millennium BC. Elam was part of the early urbanization of the Near East during the Chalcolithic period. Diverse artifacts from the Bronze Age, huge structures from the Iron Age and sites dating back to the Sassanid, Parthian and Islamic eras indicated suitable conditions for human civilization over the past 8,000 years in Piranshahr. From the 34th to the 20th century BC, northwest Iran was part of the Kura-Araxes culture, which stretched into the neighbouring Caucasus and Anatolia.

Ancient Iranedit

By the 2nd millennium BC, ancient Iranian peoples arrived from the Eurasian Steppe, rivalling the natives. As the Iranians dispersed into Greater Iran, it was dominated by Median, Persian, and Parthian tribes. From the 10th to 7th century BC, Iranian peoples, together with pre-Iranian kingdoms, fell under the Assyrian Empire, based in Mesopotamia. The Medes and Persians entered into an alliance with Babylonian ruler Nabopolassar, and attacked the Assyrians. Civil war ravaged the Assyrian Empire between 616 and 605 BC, freeing peoples from three centuries of Assyrian rule. The interference of the Assyrians in Zagros unified the Median tribes by Deioces in 728 BC, the foundation of the Median Kingdom and their capital Ecbatana, unifying Iran as a state for the first time in 625 BC. By 612 BC, the Medes with the Babylonians overthrown the Assyrian Empire. This ended the Kingdom of Urartu.

Persepolis, ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid Empire (550–330 BC), a World Heritage Site.

Achaemenid Empire at its greatest extent, around the time of Darius the Great and Xerxes I.

In 550 BC, Cyrus the Great defeated the last Median king, Astyages, conquering Median territories and establishing the Achaemenid Empire. Conquests under Cyrus and his successors expanded it to include Lydia, Babylon, Egypt, parts of the Eastern Europe, and lands west of the Indus and Oxus rivers. In 539 BC, Persian forces defeated the Babylonians at Opis, ending four centuries of Mesopotamian domination by the Neo-Babylonian Empire. In 518 BC, Persepolis was founded by Darius the Great as the ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid Empire, then the largest ever empire; it ruled over 40% of the world's population. The Empire had a successful model of centralized bureaucracy, multiculturalism, road system, postal system, use of official languages, civil service and large, professional army. It inspired similar governance by later empires. In 334 BC, Alexander the Great defeated the last Achaemenid king, Darius III and burned down Persepolis. After Alexander's death in 323 BC, Iran fell under the Seleucid Empire, and divided into Hellenistic states.

Iran remained under Seleucid occupation until 250–247 BC, when the native Parthians liberated Parthia in the northeast, and rebelled against the Seleucids, founding the Parthian Empire. Parthians became the main power, and the geopolitical arch-rivalry between the Romans and the Parthians began, culminating in the Roman–Parthian Wars. At its height, the Parthian Empire stretched from the north reaches of the Euphrates in present-day Turkey, to Afghanistan and Pakistan. Located on the Silk Road trade route between the Roman Empire and China, it became a commercial center. As the Parthians expanded west, they conflicted with Armenia and the Roman Republic.

After five centuries of Parthian rule, civil war proved more dangerous to stability, than invasion. Parthian power evaporated when Persian ruler Ardashir I, killed Artabanus IV, and founded the Sasanian Empire in 224 AD. Sassanids and their arch-rival, the Roman-Byzantines, were the world's dominant powers for four centuries. Late antiquity is one of Iran's most influential periods, its influence reached ancient Rome, Africa, China, and India, and played a prominent role in the mediaeval art of Europe and Asia. Sasanian rule was a high point, characterized by sophisticated bureaucracy, and revitalized Zoroastrianism as a legitimizing and unifying force.

Mediaeval period and Iranian Intermezzoedit

Following early Muslim conquests, the influence of Sasanian art, architecture, music, literature and philosophy on Islamic culture, spread Iranian culture, knowledge and ideas in the Muslim world. The Byzantine–Sasanian wars, and conflict within the Sasanian Empire, allowed Arab invasion in the 7th century. The empire was defeated by the Rashidun Caliphate, which was succeeded by the Umayyad Caliphate, then the Abbasid Caliphate. Islamization followed, which targeted Iran's Zoroastrian majority and included religious persecution, demolition of libraries and fire temples, a tax penalty ("jizya"), and language shift.

In 750, the Abbasids overthrew the Umayyads. Arab Muslims and Persians made up the rebel army, which was united by Persian Abu Muslim. In their struggle for power, society became cosmopolitan. Persians and Turks replaced Arabs. A hierarchy of officials emerged, a bureaucracy at first Persian and later Turkish which decreased Abbasid prestige and power for good. After two centuries of Arab rule, Iranian Muslim dynasties in the Plateau rose, appearing on the fringes of the declining Abbasid Caliphate. The Iranian Intermezzo was an interlude between Abbasid rule by Arabs, and the "Sunni Revival", with the 11th-century emergence of the Seljuks. The Intermezzo revived the Iranian national spirit and culture in Islamic form, and the Persian language. The most significant literature was Shahnameh by Ferdowsi, the national epic.

The blossoming literature, philosophy, mathematics, medicine, astronomy and art became major elements in the Islamic Golden Age. This Golden Age peaked in the 10th and 11th centuries, when Iran was the main theatre of scientific activities. The 10th century saw a mass migration of Turkic tribes from Central Asia to Iran. Turkic tribesmen were first used in the Abbasid army as mamluks (slave-warriors); and gained significant political power. Portions of Iran were occupied by the Seljuk and Khwarezmian empires. The result of the adoption and patronage of Iranian culture by Turkish rulers was the development of a distinct Turco-Persian tradition.

Between 1219 and 1221, under the Khwarazmian Empire, Iran suffered under the Mongol invasion of the Khwarazmian Empire. According to Steven Ward, "Mongol violence... killed up to three-fourths of the population of the Iranian Plateau, possibly 10 to 15 million people....Iran's population did not...reach its pre-Mongol levels until the mid-20th century." Others believe this to be an exaggeration by Muslim chroniclers. Following the fracture of the Mongol Empire in 1256, Hulegu Khan established the Ilkhanate Empire in Iran. In 1357, the capital Tabriz was occupied by the Golden Horde and centralised power collapsed, resulting in rivalling dynasties. In 1370, yet another Mongol, Timur, took control of Iran, and established the Timurid Empire. In 1387, Timur ordered the complete massacre of Isfahan, killing 70,000 people.

Early modern periodedit

Safavidsedit

Ismail I, founder of the Safavid Empire. And, the Shah Mosque in Isfahan, built under Abbas the Great, a masterpiece of Iranian architecture.

By the 1500s, Ismail I established the Safavid Empire, and chose Tabriz as capital. Beginning with Azerbaijan, he extended his authority over Iranian territories, and established Iranian hegemony over Greater Iran. The Safavids, along with the Ottomans and Mughals, were creators of the "Gunpowder empires", flourished from mid-16th, to the early 18th century. Iran was predominantly Sunni, but Ismail forced conversion to Shia, a turning point in Islam; Iran is the only official Shia nation today.

Relations between Safavids and the West began with the Portuguese, in the Persian Gulf, from the 16th century, oscillating between alliances and war up to the 18th century. The Safavid era saw integration from Caucasian populations and their resettlement within Iran's heartlands. In 1588, Abbas the Great ascended during a troubled period. Iran developed the ghilman system where thousands of Circassian, Georgian, and Armenian slave-soldiers joined the administration and military. The Christian Iranian-Armenian community is the largest minority in Iran today.

Abbas eclipsed the power of the Qizilbash in the civil administration, royal house and military. He relocated the capital from Qazvin to Isfahan. Tabriz returned to Iran from the Ottomans. Following court intrigue, Abbas became suspicious of his sons and had them killed or blinded. Following a gradual decline in the late 1600s and early 1700s, caused by internal conflicts, wars with the Ottomans, and foreign interference, the Safavid rule was ended by the Pashtun rebels who besieged Isfahan, and defeated Soltan Hoseyn in 1722. Safavids' legacy was the revival of Iran as an economic stronghold between East and West, an efficient bureaucracy based upon "checks and balances", their architectural innovations, and patronage for fine arts. They established Twelver Shīʿīsm as the state religion-it still is-and spread Shīʿa Islam across the Middle East, Central Asia, Caucasus, Anatolia, the Persian Gulf, and Mesopotamia.

Afsharids and Zandsedit

In 1729, Nader Shah Afshar drove out and conquered Pashtun invaders. He took back the Caucasian territories which were divided among the Ottoman and Russian authorities. Iran reached its greatest extent since the Sasanian Empire, reestablishing hegemony over the Caucasus, west and central Asia, arguably the most powerful empire at that time. Nader invaded India and sacked Delhi by the 1730s. His army defeated the Mughals at the Battle of Karnal and captured their capital. Historians have described him as the "Napoleon of Iran" and "the Second Alexander". Nader's territorial expansion and military successes declined following campaigns in the Northern Caucasus against revolting Lezgins. Nader became cruel as a result of illness and desire to extort more taxes to pay for campaigns. Nader crushed revolts, building towers from victims' skulls in imitation of his hero Timur. After his assassination in 1747, most of Nader's empire was divided between the Zands, Durranis, Georgians, and Caucasian khanates, while Afsharid rule was limited to a small state in Khorasan. His death sparked civil war, after which Karim Khan Zand came to power in 1750.

Compared to preceding dynasties, the Zands' geopolitical reach was limited. Many Iranian territories in the Caucasus gained autonomy and ruled through Caucasian khanates. However, they remained subjects and vassals to the Zand kingdom. It expanded to include much of Iran as well as parts of modern Iraq. The lands of present-day Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia were controlled by khanates - legally part of Zand rule, but actually autonomous. The reign of its most important ruler, Karim Khan, was marked by prosperity and peace. With his capital in Shiraz, arts and architecture flourished. Following Khan's death in 1779, Iran went into decline due to civil war within the Zand dynasty. Its last ruler, Lotf Ali Khan, was executed by Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar in 1794.

Qajarsedit

The Qajars took control in 1794 and founded the Qajar Empire. In 1795, following the disobedience of Georgians and their Russian alliance, the Qajars captured Tbilisi at the Battle of Krtsanisi, and drove the Russians out of the Caucasus, re-establishing Iranian suzerainty. In 1796, Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar seized Mashhad with ease, and ended Afsharid rule. He was crowned king and chose Tehran as capital; it still is today. His reign saw a return to a centralized and unified Iran. He was cruel and rapacious, while also viewed as a pragmatic, calculating, and shrewd military and political leader.

The Russo-Iranian wars of 1804–1813 and 1826–1828 resulted in territorial losses for Iran in the Caucasus: South Caucasus and Dagestan. The Russians took over Iran's integral territories in the region, which was confirmed in the treaties of Gulistan and Turkmenchay. The weakening of Iran made it a victim of the struggle between Russia and Britain known as the Great Game. Especially after the treaty of Turkmenchay, Russia was the dominant force in Iran, while the Qajars would play a role in 'Great Game' battles such as the sieges of Herat in 1837 and 1856. As Iran shrank, many South Caucasian and North Caucasian Muslims moved towards Iran, especially until the Circassian genocide, and the decades afterwards, while Iran's Armenians were encouraged to settle in the newly incorporated Russian territories, causing demographic shifts. Around 1.5 million people—20 to 25% of the population—died as a result of the Persian famine of 1870–1872.

Constitutional Revolution and Pahlavisedit

Between 1872 and 1905, protesters objected to the sale of concessions to foreigners by Qajar monarchs, leading to the Persian Constitutional Revolution in 1905. The first Iranian constitution and national parliament were founded in 1906; the Constitution recognised Christians, Jews, and Zoroastrians. This was followed by the Triumph of Tehran in 1909, when Mohammad Ali was forced to abdicate. The event ended the Minor Tyranny; the revolution was the first of its kind in the Islamic world.

The old order was replaced by new institutions. In 1907, the Anglo-Russian Convention divided Iran into influence zones. The Russians occupied north Iran and Tabriz and maintained a military presence for years. This did not end the civil uprisings and was followed by Mirza Kuchik Khan's Jungle Movement against the Qajar monarchy and foreign invaders.

Despite Iran's neutrality during World War I, the Ottoman, Russian, and British Empires occupied west Iran and fought the Persian campaign before withdrawing in 1921. At least 2 million civilians died in the fighting, the Ottoman-perpetrated anti-Christian genocides or the war-induced famine of 1917–1919. Iranian Assyrian and Iranian Armenian Christians, as well Muslims who tried to protect them, were victims of mass murders committed by the invading Ottoman troops.

Apart from Agha Mohammad Khan, Qajar rule was incompetent. The inability to prevent occupation during, and immediately after, World War I, led to the British-directed 1921 Persian coup d'état. Military officer Reza Pahlavi took power in 1925, becoming Prime Minister, monarch and establishing the Pahlavi dynasty. In 1941, during World War II, the British demanded Iran expel all Germans. Pahlavi refused so the British and Soviets launched a successful surprise invasion, which secured a supply line to the USSR and limited German influence. Pahlavi was exiled and replaced by his son, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. Iran became a major conduit for British and American aid to the Soviet Union and through which over 120,000 Polish refugees and Polish Armed Forces fled. At the 1943 Tehran Conference, the Allies issued the Tehran Declaration to guarantee the independence and boundaries of Iran. However, the Soviets established puppet states in north-west Iran: the People's Government of Azerbaijan and Republic of Mahabad. This led to the Iran crisis of 1946, one of the first confrontations of the Cold War, which ended after oil concessions were promised to the USSR, which withdrew in 1946. The puppet states were overthrown, and the concessions revoked.

1951–1978: Mosaddegh, Pahlavi and Khomeiniedit

Mohammad Mosaddegh

Mohammad Reza Pahlavi

Ruhollah Khomeini

In 1951, Mohammad Mosaddegh was democratically elected Prime Minister of Iran. Mosaddegh became popular after he nationalized the oil industry, which had been controlled by foreign interests. He worked to weaken the monarchy until he was removed in the 1953 Iran coup—an Anglo-American covert operation. Before its removal, Mosaddegh's administration introduced social and political measures such as social security, land reforms and higher taxes, including the introduction of tax on the rent of land. Mosaddegh was imprisoned, then put under house arrest until his death and buried in his home to prevent a political furore. In 2013, the US government acknowledged its role in the coup, including paying protestors and bribing officials. After the coup, Pahlavi aligned Iran with the Western Bloc and cultivated a close relationship with the United States to consolidate his power as an authoritarian ruler, relying heavily on American support amidst the Cold War.

The Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini first came to political prominence in 1963, when he led opposition to Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and his White Revolution. Khomeini was arrested after declaring Reza a "wretched miserable man" who had "embarked on the...destruction of Islam in Iran." Major riots followed, with 15,000 killed by the police. Khomeini was released after eight months of house arrest and continued his agitation, condemning Iran's cooperation with Israel and its capitulations, or extension of diplomatic immunity, to US government personnel. In November 1964, Khomeini was re-arrested and sent into exile, where he remained for 15 years.

Mohammad Reza Pahlavi became autocratic and sultanistic, and Iran entered a decade of controversially-close relations with the US. While Mohammad Reza modernised Iran and claimed to retain it as a secular state, arbitrary arrests and torture by his secret police, the SAVAK, were used for crushing opposition. Due to the 1973 oil crisis, the economy was flooded with foreign currency, causing inflation. By 1974, Iran was experiencing double-digit inflation, and despite large modernising projects, corruption was rampant. By 1976, a recession increased unemployment, especially among youths who had migrated to the cities for construction jobs during the boom years of the early 1970s. By the late 1970s, they protested against Pahlavi's regime.

Iranian Revolutionedit

As ideological and political tensions persisted between Pahlavi and Khomeini, demonstrations began in October 1977, developing into civil resistance, including secularism and Islamism. In 1978, the death of hundreds in the Cinema Rex fire in August, and September's Black Friday—catalysed the revolutionary movement, with nation-wide strikes and demonstrations paralyzing the country. After a year of strikes and demonstrations, in January 1979, Pahlavi fled to the US, and Khomeini returned in February, forming a new government. Millions of people gathered to greet him as he landed in the capital city Tehran.

Following the March 1979 referendum, in which 98% of voters approved the shift to an Islamic republic, the government began to draft a Constitution, and Ayatollah Khomeini emerged as Supreme Leader of Iran in December 1979. He became Time magazine's Man of the Year in 1979 for his international influence, and been described as the "virtual face of Shia Islam in Western popular culture". Following Khomeini's order to purge officials loyal to Pahlavi, many former ministers and officials, were executed. In the aftermath of the revolution, Iran began to back Shia militancy around the world to combat Sunni influence and establish Iranian dominance within the Muslim world. The Cultural Revolution began in 1980, with threats to close universities which did not conform to Islamization. All universities were closed in 1980, and reopened in 1983.

In November 1979, after the US refused the extradition of Pahlavi, Iranian students seized its embassy and took 53 Americans hostage. Jimmy Carter's administration attempted to negotiate their release, and to rescue them. On Carter's final day in office, the last hostages were set free under the Algiers Accords. The US and Iran severed diplomatic relations in April 1980, and have had no formal diplomatic relationship since. The crisis was a pivotal episode in Iran–United States relations.

Iran.E2.80.93Iraq_War_.281980.E2.80.931988.29">Iran–Iraq_War_(1980–1988)">Iran–Iraq War (1980–1988)edit

In September 1980, Iraq invaded Khuzestan, initiating the Iran–Iraq War. While Iraq hoped to take advantage of Iran's post-revolutionary chaos, the Iraqi military only made progress for three months, and by December 1980, the forces of Saddam Hussein had stalled. By mid-1982, Iranian forces began to gain momentum, successfully driving the Iraqis back into Iraq, and regaining all lost territory by June 1982. Iran rejected United Nations Security Council Resolution 514 and launched an invasion, capturing cities such as Basra. Iranian offensives in Iraq lasted for five years, with Iraq launching counter-offensives.

War continued until 1988, when Iraq defeated Iranian forces inside Iraq, and pushed Iranian troops back across the border. Khomeini accepted a truce mediated by the United Nations: both withdrew to their pre-war borders. It was the longest conventional war of the 20th century and second longest after the Vietnam War. Total Iranian casualties were estimated to be 123,000–160,000 KIA, 61,000 MIA, and 11,000–16,000 civilians killed. Since the downfall of Saddam Hussein, Iran has shaped Iraq's politics, and relations between the two has warmed immensely. Significant military assistance has been provided by Iran to Iraq, resulting in Iran holding a large amount of influence and foothold. Iraq is heavily dependent on the more stable and developed Iran for its energy needs.

Since the 1990sedit

In 1989, Akbar Rafsanjani concentrated on a pro-business policy of rebuilding the economy without breaking with the ideology of the revolution. He supported a free market domestically, favoring privatization of state industries and a moderate position internationally.

In 1997, Rafsanjani was succeeded by moderate reformist Mohammad Khatami, whose government advocated freedom of expression, constructive diplomatic relations with Asia and the European Union, and an economic policy that supported a free market and foreign investment.

The 2005 presidential election brought conservative populist and nationalist candidate Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to power. He was known for his hardline views, nuclearisation, and hostility towards Israel, Saudi Arabia, the UK, the US and other states. He was the first president to be summoned by the parliament to answer questions regarding his presidency.

In 2013, centrist and reformist Hassan Rouhani was elected president. In domestic policy, he encouraged personal freedom, free access to information, and improved women's rights. He improved Iran's diplomatic relations through exchanging conciliatory letters. The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) was reached in Vienna in 2015, between Iran, the P5+1 (UN Security Council + Germany) and the EU. The negotiations centered around ending the economic sanctions in exchange for Iran's restriction in producing enriched uranium. In 2018, however, the US under Trump Administration withdrew from the deal and new sanctions were imposed. This nulled the economic provisions, left the agreement in jeopardy, and brought Iran to nuclear latency. In 2020, IRGC general, Qasem Soleimani, the 2nd-most powerful person in Iran, was assassinated by the US, heightening tensions between them. Iran retaliated against Iraqi airbases, the largest ballistic missile attack ever on Americans; 110 sustained brain injuries.

Hardliner Ebrahim Raisi ran for president again in 2021, succeeding Hassan Rouhani. During Raisi's term, Iran intensified uranium enrichment, hindered international inspections, joined SCO and BRICS, and supported Russia in its invasion of Ukraine. In April 2024, Israel's airstrike on an Iranian consulate, killed an IRGC commander. Iran retaliated with UAVs, cruise and ballistic missiles; 9 hit Israel. Western and Jordanian military helped Israel down some Iranian drones. It was the largest drone strike in history, biggest missile attack in Iranian history, its first ever direct attack on Israel and the first time since 1991 Israel was directly attacked by a state force. This occurred during heightened tensions amid the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip.

In May 2024, Raisi was killed in a helicopter crash, First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber became acting president, and Iran will hold a presidential election in June.