CERCLE DIPLOMATIQUE - issue 02/2019

LE MONDE COMMENTARY
Iran 1979 - 2019
Aerial view on Tehran
(top) and a „Women only“
train carriage sign on the
floor of Tehran‘s metro.
A colourful mosque in the city.
focus here is living our dreams under those pressures
as an omnipresent aspect of life that permeates all our
thoughts and actions‘, explains Amin. Young people
did not benefit in any meaningful way from the JC-
POA.
The so called «Revolution Babies« have experienced
moments of heavy and serious political tension
but also witnessed a brief cut in sanctions after the
nuclear deal. However, after Donald Trump reinstated
them when he withdrew from the agreement in
2018, people lost hope. The slogan «DOWN WITH
US« once again fixed people‘s attention on the chronic
problems between Tehran and Washington.
The fear about new US-oil sanctions leads to frustration
in May 2019.
The big Islamic Revolution in 1979 was meant to
bring education progress, social advance, and a better
economic situation to the Islamic Republic. There
was also a big interest to share Iran‘s profit-making
oil-industry. ‘The Cat‘ (Iran) owns the world‘s second
largest gas and the fourth largest oil reserves,
thus making it the biggest source of combined hydrocarbon
deposits in the world. Now, 40 years later,
we are witnessing high unemployment. At least one
in four graduates can not find work, according to the
International Monetary Fund (cf. ‘Forty years later‘
@euronews.com), which predicts an unemployment
rate of 14 percent in 2019. The Iranian government
sees, of course, the bright side: Due to the latest
government statistics of the Islamic Republic, nearly
all Iranians can read today - compared to only 47
percent of the population in 1976. Much more people
also attend better education, with university enrolment
being at a top level now.
What remains to be seen now is if young people
will accept new pressure due to the US-sanctions or
if they will start to protest again. But one thing is quite
clear: With their stylish clothes, effortless English
and modish hair, the young people will create their
own future. If Europeans or Americans visit Iran,
they will see that the country is really different from
what they were thinking about. It is a modern country
with a modern and curious young population,
much friendlier than you would ever believe. ‘Wearing
a blue scarf does not mean being stupid or old
fashioned‘, says Elahe, a 29-year-old French teacher
in Tehran, and she adds: ‘A great introduction to
some of the country‘s rich cultural attractions is the
literary institute in Shiraz, which has a reputation as
a city of great poems and poets such as Hafez. Come
and spend some days with us here in Iran and then
you can judge‘.
PHOTOS:ADOBETSOCK
PHOTOS: AFP PHOTO/ ATTA KENARE“PICTUREDESK.COM; ADOBETSOCK
1979
The Islamic Revolution began in January 1978 with
major demonstrations against Shah Mohammad Reza
Pahlavi. The Shah, already suffering from cancer, could
not handle the following year of strikes and
demonstrations, and fled the country.
In February 1979, Ruhollah Khomeini returned from his
exile in Paris to Tehran and formed a new government.
Two referendi held in 1979 brought a new theocratic
constitution (December 1979) and an Islamic Republic
(April 1979) to Iran.
On 4 November 1979, some Muslim students seized the
United States Embassy and took 90 hostages at the
beginning. The US refused to return Pahlavi to Iran to
face trial. Attempts by the Jimmy Carter administration
to release the hostages, and a failed rescue attempt
helped force out Carter and brought Ronald Reagan to
power in Washington. As a result of the so called
“Algiers Accords“, the last hostages were finally set free
on Carter‘s final day in office.
1980
Abdolhassan Banisadr becomes the first President of
the new Islamic Republic of Iran.
1981
Ali Khamenei becomes President.
1980-1988
On 22 September 1980, the Iraqi army invaded the
western Iranian province of Khuzestan, launching the
Iran-Iraq-war with a lot of Iranian casualties. In 1988,
Khomeini accepted a truce mediated by the United
Nations. During the war, over 1 million educated
Iranians left the country.
February 1989
Fatwa of Khomeini to kill Salman Rushdie
June 1989
Khomeini dies. Ali Khamenei (who gets now the title
‘Ayatollah‘ without the religious education) becomes
Supreme Leader and Ali Rafsanjani becomes
President.
1995
US-sanctions against Iran (for support of terrorism)
1997
The moderate reformist Mohammad Khatami
becomes President for 2 periods and tries to build
political bridges to Europe.
1999
Demonstrations of reformist students - the hardliners
and the army arrest most of them.
2002
US-President George W. Bush calls Iran, Iraq and
North Korea the ‘axis of evil‘.
August 2002
The Iranian exile-opposition reports that Iran has a
secret nuclear programme.
2003
The human rights activist Shirin Ebadi wins the Nobel
Peace Prize.
2004
The Guardian Council rejects thousands of moderate
candidates for the Iranian Parliament (Majles) elections.
The hardliners and the conservatives get the majority
again.
2005
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a conservative hardliner and
mayor of Tehran, becomes President.
2006
Iran announces a ‘superior uranium enrichment‘. A
final ultimatum of the United Nations is ignored by
Tehran.
2008
Once again, the ultra-conservatives win the majority
of the seats in the Iranian Parliament.
2009
After the Presidential election, the Interior Ministry
announced that incumbent President Ahmadinejad
had won 62.63% of the vote, while Mir-Hossein
Mousavi had come in second place with 33.75%.
The election results were widely disputed, and
resulted in widespread protests, both within Iran and
in major cities outside the country, as well as the
creation of the Iranian Green Movement.
2013
Hassan Rohani, who calls himself ‘moderate‘, was
elected as President on 15 June 2013, defeating all the
hardliner candidates.
July 2015
The JCPOA (The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action),
commonly known as the Iran nuclear deal, is reached
in Vienna. The agreement on the Iranian nuclear
programme is signed by the five permanent members
of the United Nations Security Council - China, Russia,
France, United Kingdom, United States - and Germany
(all mentioned as the 5 plus 1) and Iran.
The aim of the deal: Iran fulfills its commitments
concerning the nuclear activities and the West allows
Iran to do investments again.
8 May 2018
President Trump announced the United States
withdrawal from JCPOA. Following the U.S.‘s
withdrawal, the EU enacted an updated blocking
statute on 7 August 2018 to nullify US sanctions on
countries trading with Iran. In November 2018, U.S.
sanctions came back into effect, intended to force
Iran to dramatically alter its policies, including its
support for militant groups in the region and its
development of ballistic missiles.
February 2019
Iran celebrates 40 years of the Islamic Revolution.
April 2019
US-President Trump designates Iran‘s Revolutionary
Guards a foreign terrorist group.
May 2019
Iran suspended some of its obligations under the
2015 agreement just one year after Trump‘s unilateral
termination of the nuclear deal. At the same time,
President Hassan Rouhani provided the five remaining
contractors Germany, Britain, France, China and
Russia with a 60-day ultimatum to implement their
commitments to protect Iran‘s oil and banking sectors
from US sanctions. Otherwise, his country will also
resume uranium enrichment to a higher degree than
allowed under the agreement.
An Iranian youth burns a
home-made American flag
outside the former US Embassy
in Tehran in November 2016,
during a demonstration marking
the anniversary of its storming by
student protesters that triggered
a hostage crisis in 1979.
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Cercle Diplomatique 2/2019
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