 | Term | Definition |
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Achaemenid |
The first imperial dynasty in Iran, founded by Cyrus the great and overthrown by Alexander the Great. |
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Cyrus the Great |
The founder of the Achaemenid Persian Empire, conquered Babylon in 539 and liberated the Jews. Increasingly characterized in modern Iran as the Father of the Nation. |
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Dr.Mohammad Mosaddeq |
The nationalist prime minister who oversaw the nationalization of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company. Was overthrown in a coup orchestrated by the CIA and MI6 in 1953. |
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Mohammad Reza Shaw |
The second and last monarch of the Pahlavi Dynasty in Iran. |
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Fath Ali Shah |
Reigned during the period in which Iran was defeated by the Russians and lost its great power status. |
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Ayatollah |
Literally means sign of God, and is an honorific title given to most senior Shia jurists. |
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Al Qaeda |
An extremist sunni Islamic movement that views Shias as heretics |
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Baathist |
The ruling party in Iraq from 1968-2003 |
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Bazaar |
Persian for market, also used in a political sense to denote business interests |
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Fatwa |
A religious judgement. |
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Firman |
A royal decree |
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Friday prayers |
Weekly public prayers institutionalized in the Islamic Republic as a political event in which leaders follow communal prayers with a political speech.The most famous are held in Tehran University, but attendance has declined in recent years. |
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Guardian Council |
The supervisory body in the Islamic Republic, composed of six religious and six lay lawyers whose function is to assess the compatibility of parliamentary legislation with Islamic Law. Six are elected and six appointed by the Supreme Leader. Its powers were extended in 1990 to allow for the vetting of election candidates and supervision of elections. |
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Hardliners |
Those Iranian leaders with a dogmatic adherence to Islamic orthodoxy and authoritarianism. Opposed to democratic developments. |
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Hizbollah |
Literally The Party of God. A political group most active in Lebanon, also effectively an Iranian proxy in the Middle East, although it often works on its own accord |
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Imam |
In Sunni Islam denotes any prominent religious leader. In Shia Islam it is used to denote descendants of the Prophet Muhammad. |
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Imperial Calandar |
A calendar imposed by Mohammad Reza Shah in 1976, dating from the accession of Cyrus the Great. |
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Iran/Persia |
Iran is the name traditionally used by inhabitants of the country, while Persia was used by the Greeks and Romans and is derived from the southern province, Pars. In 1934, the Iranian government requested that foreigners desist from using Persia, but it has come back in recent years. |
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Jihad |
Literally means struggle, but has been generalized in the west to mean holy war. |
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Majlis |
The Parliament established following the Constitutional Revolution in 1906. |
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Mullah |
A member of the ulema |
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Reformists |
A term used to describe those who seek to reform the Islamic Republic and develop an Islamic Democracy |
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Revolutionary Guard |
The elite military organization of the Islamic Republic |
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Shah |
Persian term for king |
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Shia |
The minority branch of Islam, the state religion of Iran, and the majority in Iraq, Bahrein, and Azerbaijan. Divided into numerous sects |
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Taleban |
From taleb, which literally means student. Students of radical Sunni madrasahs, schools in Pakistan that espouse puritanical interpretations of Islam. |
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Ulema |
A religious scholar or cleric. |
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Oil in Iran |
Iran possesses the second largest oil reserves in the world, second only to those of Iraq. |
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Estimated population of Iran |
seventy-five million |
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Morgan Shuster |
An American merchant and banker invited by the Iranian Constitutional Government in 1911 to help reform the country's anarchic finances. |
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Safavid Dynasty |
Ruling dynasty in Iran from 1501-1736 |
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Nader Shah |
Ruler of Iran from 1736-1747, revived Iran and invaded India in 1739. |
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Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar |
Claimed himself Shah in 1796 |
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Russo Iranian war |
Lasted from 1804-1813 |
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Treaty of Finkenstein |
Signed in 1807, France agreed to train and supply Iran's army while Iran would declare war on Great Britain. |
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Treat of Golestan |
Signed in 1813 with Russia, recognized the cession of Iran's Caucasian territories to Russia |
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Treaty of Turkmenchai |
Signed in 1828 |
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Amir Kabir |
Sought to restore order to the Iranian kingdom from 1848-1851 but was forced to take his own life. |
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Baron Julius de Reuter |
Secured one of the most extensive concessions ever awarded in 1872 with Iran |
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Tobacco Revolt of 1892 |
Nationwide boycott |
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National Consultative Assembly |
Formed in 1905 to hold the government accountable, enact legislation, and limit the monarch's powers |
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Anglo-Persian Agreement in 1919 |
A deal denounced by Iranian nationalists as trying to make Iran into a British protectorate. |
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Anglo-Iranian Oil Company |
Payed more to the British government than to the Iranian government, and a source of substantial grievance for the Iranian people. |
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Kermit Roosevent |
CIA operative who personally delivered the firman dismissing Mosaddeq to the Shah to sign. |
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Three interpretations of the 1953 coup |
Monarchist perspective, that the Shah was reinstated through popular support of the people; Secular nationalist perspective, that Mosaddeq was overthrown because he had the courage and integrity to stand up to imperialists; Religious narrative, diminishes the role of the ulema in allowing the coup |
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Anglo-American myths of the 1953 coup |
Justified through Cold War necessity, that Mosaddeq was not actually a democratically elected leader, and that the Iranians could not handle democracy |
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American grants and loans to Iran in the 1950s |
Totaled roughly 1.1 billion, about half for military assistance and a little more than half for economic assistance |
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Iraqi Revolution of 1958 |
Made the Shah realize that something needed to change in Iran |
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White Revolution |
Essentially a land reform bill which replaced feudal tenant system with small landowners. Alienated the ulema and the landed aristocracy, and was viewed as being instituted by the Americans |
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1963 riots |
Led by Ruhollah Khomeini, a religious jurist who was catapulted to the top of the clerical leadership due to his political affiliations |
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Nuclear assistance to Iran |
In 1974 the US signed a 10 year agreement to supply Iran with enriched uranium for energy purposes |
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Sales of military equipment to Iran |
Amounted to 10.4 billion between 1972 and 1976 |
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Iran hostage crisis |
Lasted for 444 days, starting on 11/4/79, and not the first embassy seizure in that year. It was used by Khomeini to unify the Iranian public, although he was likely not one of the original orchestraters |
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Iran-Iraq war |
Began in September of 1980 and ended in August 1988. a result of poor diplomacy on Iran's part and aggression on Saddam Hussein's part. |
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Algiers Accord of 1981 |
US agreed not to interfere in the internal affairs of Iran and released 10 billion in frozen assets also ended formal relations between the US and Iran |
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Donald Rumsfeld in Iraq |
1984, coincided with the official restoration of relations to Iraq |
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Halabja |
A town in Iraq where Kurdish citizens were wiped out in gas attacks by Saddam Hussein's Anfal campagin |
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US in the Iran-Iraq war |
By 1987 the US had effectively entered in on Iraq's side by retaliating against Iranian attacks |
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USS Vincennes |
Attacked a civilian airliner killing 290 people. |
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President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani |
A mullah, shrewd politician and merchant who came to power in 1989 after Khomeini's death. He engineered key constitutional amendments, including increasing the power of the presidency |
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Salman Rushdie |
British author of the Satanic Verses, a novel some viewed as blaspheming against the prophet muhammad, was issued a fatwah and a death sentence. Iran had actually awarded him a prize for one of his earlier books |
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Abu Musa island |
An island that was apparently annexed by Iran yet of insignificant size of value, an international media problem for Iran |
