Iran – (Persia, until 1935)

Official name: Islamic Republic of Iran

Resource Rich, Regional Power in

Southwest Asia.
AIFC: Peace and Dialogue necessary
between the United States and Iran
 Iran – Geography
• Southwest Asia
• Mountains, deserts Eastern
Iran: high plateau, large salt
flats & vast sand deserts.
• High mountains, the Zagros
to the west, the Elborz in
North.
• Huge Oil & Gas Reserves in
Southwest, along Persian Gulf
, & possibly in the Caspian
Sea bed.
• Strait of Hormuz & Gulf of
Oman
 Countries Bordering Iran
• Pakistan
• Afghanistan
• Turkmenistan
• Azerbaijan
• Armenia
• Turkey
• Iraq
• Persian Gulf
• Sea of Oman
• Caspian Sea

In last 250 years, Iran has never attacked anyone. Iran

being a “danger” to its neighbors is a total falsehood.
 Regional Power
• 18th Largest Country in World. Its land mass is greater
than Britain, France, Germany, and Spain COMBINED.
• special geostrategic significance, Persian Gulf, Strait of
Hormuz, Gulf of Oman and Caspian Sea
• Iran is a founding member of the UN, NAM, OIC and
OPEC. Home to one of the world's oldest continuous
major civilizations, with historical and urban settlements
dating back to 7000 BC.
 Natural Resources Abound
• Petroleum & Natural • Lead
Gas reserves, 2nd in • Manganese
World • Zinc
• Coal • Sulfur
• Chromium • Uranium
• Copper • Arable land & good
• Iron Ore sources of water from
• Opec’s 2nd oil exporter rivers and mts.
 Demographics
• Population • Currency
70,495,782 Iranian rial
• 1 Million Refugees from • Life Expectancy
Afghanistan & Iraq
69
• Capital
Tehran: 12 million • GDP per Capita
• Area U.S. $6,800
1,648,000 square kilometers • Literacy Percent
(636,296 square miles) 84%
• Language • 63% in Iran Universities
Persian, Turkic, Kurdish, are women
Arab, Baluchi & various local
dialects •
• Religion
Shiite and Sunni Muslim
 Sectors of the Economy
• Iran’s automobile • Relative distribution of
production crossed the 1 population aged 10 and
million mark in 2005. Iran over in three major
economic sections are:
Khodro is the largest car
23.4 % agriculture, 31.8
manufacturer in the % industry, and 44.8 %
Middle-East. It has services.
established joint-ventures
with foreign partners on 4
continents.
 History – Britain, U.S Interference
• Constitutional Monarchy – Shahs 1&2
• Britain owned & operated the Iranian oil industry, centered in Abadan
• Prime Minister M. Mossadegh tried to nationalize Iran’s oil
• 1953: CIA overthrows Prime Minister M. Mossadegh & installed the Shah’s son, Reza
Pahlavi
• Under the Shah, US was turning Iran into a “Gendarme” or military accomplice. Shah
purchased awacks, fighter planes, etc. Atomic plant sold to Shah and U.S. began
training Iranian nuclear energy engineers. Meanwhile, outside of major cities, there
wasn’t electricity nor running water. In 1979, a revolutionary movement removed the
Shah. Iran became free of U.S.-British domination: the Islamic Republic of Iran.
• 8 year Iraq war supported by US, Britain and major powers- chemical weapons given
by Rumsfeld to Iraq in 1977, used against Iran’s Kurds in the North. U.S., Security
Council, West was silent of the crime.
• It is said by many Iranian historians that the U.S. hoped that Iraq would defeat
Khomeini and both governments would be so weakened they would not survive.
History had another story to tell.
Myths about Iran’s Government,
People & Culture
• It “wants” a nuclear bomb & is dangerous
• International Atomic Energy Agency: no bomb!
• Supreme Leader and Pres. Ahmadinejad: Nuclear
weapons are “immoral & obsolete” Under the
Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, (NPT) of which
Iran was one of first signers, Iran has a right to a
civilian nuclear energy program – to Iranian
people, it is their “inalienable right”.
 Myth: Iran supports “Terrorists”
• The Islamic
Government
supports the
struggle of the
Palestinian
People to self-
determination,
as well as other
liberation
movements.
 Myth: “Women in Iran are not
Free”
• 63% University students are women
• Women are employed in all sectors of the
economy: doctors, nurses, attorneys,
teachers, engineers, scientists, film makers,
artists, anthropologists, radio & TV
announcers, secretaries, and mothers, with
fully PAID maternity leave before and after
giving birth!
• According to the World Health Organization,
Iran’s comprehensive social protection system
includes highest level of pensions, disability
insurance, job training programs, & disaster relief
programs. National subsidies make basic food,
housing and energy affordable to all. Extensive
national network from primary health and
preventive care to sophisticated hospital care
covers the entire population, urban and rural.
Women are provided family planning,
contraceptive information, and pre-natal care.
• NOTE: WE DO NOT HAVE A NATIONAL
HEALTH CARE PLAN IN THE U.S.!
 Some Firsts in Iran
• Ahmadinejad chose Marzieh Vahid Dastjerdi, as health minister in
his new cabinet. "Women must have a greater role in the country's
affairs," she said, adding that half of all health ministry employees
were women and that there were 1.6 million women studying
medicine nationally. Dastjerdi, 50, is a trained gynecologist who
studied at the University of Tehran and became a university
professor. In 1993, she was involved in creating the Islamic
Association of Physicians, and after election to the Majlis in 1992,
became chair of its committee on women, family and youth. "Where
there are women and men working together, miracles take place,“
she said upon her confirmation.
 Another Myth: June Election Stolen &
Ahmadinejad’s Government is
Illegitimate
• Iran, like all societies, including ours, is a class society, with
different economic, political and social classes. A record 85%
of the voting age population voted in June’s election, one of
the highest rates in the world. To date, no credible data has
proven that the election was rigged; the opposition candidates
refused to accept Ahmadinejad’s overwhelming votes from
the working and poor classes throughout the country.
Mousavi, supported mostly by the secular, wealthy upper-
middle classes, won in Tehran, which is only a part of this
vast nation. Debates and struggles, just like in our Congress,
continue to take place in Iran, which is a normal process, &
part of the on-going revolutionary process in Iran.