Susan M.

Pojer
Horace Greeley HS Chappaqua, NY
The Geography of Iran
Iranian Oil Resources
 Dr. Mohammad Mossadegh,
Prime Minister of Iran
 Became Prime Minister
in 1951.
 Nationalized the
foreign oil companies.
 Got rid of corrupt
military officials.
 Was toppled in a coup
aided by the America
CIA in 1953.
 The Shah of Iran
returns to power.
Q4
Shah Reza Pahlavi
(r. 1941 – 1977)

 Institutes Western
reforms & ties with
the West .
 But, the majority of
his people live in
poverty.
 Brutal suppression of
dissidents  SAVAK
Q5
 The Shah
& His Wife, Farah

Iranian elite/upper- and

intellectual classes: very
pro-Western.
 “The White Revolution”
The Shah’s Reform Program (1963)

1. Land reform – 90% of Iran’s peasants became land

owners.
2. Massive government-financed heavy industry
projects.
3. Granted women more political power – the right to
vote.
4. Poured government money into education –
especially in rural areas where illiteracy was very
high.
5. Profit-sharing for industrial workers.
6. Nationalization of forests and pasture lands.
 The Shah at George
Washington’s Home, 1950s
The Shah with Several
American Presidents
The Shah with President
Jimmy Carter
 Reasons for the
Fall of the Shah
 The Shah spent the oil profits for top of the line
American military hardware.

 Little money to reinvest back into the Iranian economy.

 Religious leaders angry with the Shah for too much

“Westernization.”

 Government corruption.

 The Shah’s constitutional violations of the basic human

rights of his citizens.
Anti-Shah
Protests
 The Shah’s Chief
Opponents?
1. Oil field workers.

2. Students and other intellectuals.

3. Middle class businessmen.

4. Iranian nationalists.

5. Muslim clerics.
Q6
Anti-American Pin
(1960s)
Iranian Students Protest
in Beverley Hills
 Anarchy & Revolution

The Shah leaves Iran on 1/16/79.

Ayatollah Khomeini
Leads the Revolution

Khomeini returns to Iran on

February 11, 1979.
Q7
Ayatollah Khomeini
(r. 1979-1989)
 1902 – 1989.
 Became an Islamic scholar
(studied in Qom).
 Began to speak out against
the Shah in the 1960s.
 Arrested and imprisoned
several times by the Shah.
 Deported in 1978 & went
to France.
 Triumphant Muslim
Clerics & Iranian Soldiers

A theocracy is created!
Q8
SAVAK Suspects Taken
The Fate of the Shah’s
Generals
Iran Revolutionary Poster

When the devil leaves, the angel returns!

American Embassy in
Tehran Taken Over

Q9
 52 Americans Held
Hostage for 444 Days!
President Carter Becomes
a Hostage, Too
Hostage Rescue Disaster
52 American Hostages
Released in Jan., 1981
The Khomeini
Revolution
 Women in Iran

A woman’s hijab
represents her Islamic and
moral values.
 Political Cartoon
Commentary

The dictatorship is gone! Bring on

the dictatorship!
 Support for the
Palestinian Cause
Funds Hamas and
Hezbollah.

The Ayatollah with

Yasir Arafat.
The Iran-Iraq War
(1980-1988)

Q10
The Iran-Iraq War:
Taking Sides
 Secretary Rumsfeld
& Saddam Hussein: 1983
 Iraqi Soldiers
At the Front

 375,000 Iraqi casualties & 60,000 POWs!

Iranian Soldiers

 Over 1,000,000
Iranian casualties!

Q11
Khomeini’s Death
(June, 1989)
Iranian Supreme Leader
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

The Ayatollah represents the

fundamentalist Mullahs.
Ayatollah Khatami

The Ayatollah is considered a

political moderate. Q12
Support for the Shi’ites
in Iraq Today

Moqtada al-Sadr, radical Shi’ite

leader in Fallujah, Iraq
 Another Nuclear
Power?

US satellite photo of Iranian

nuclear facility near Arak.
 An American view of
Iranian nuclear power

PINOCCHIAYATOLLAH
Scott Stantis (Birmingham News) 1/28/05
 A view of Iran’s nuclear
power from Al-Jazeerah

Nobody else (particularly Iran and Arab countries) should

have nuclear weapons except Israel, says Bush.
-- Hassan Bleybel 10/23/03
Another Future
Revolution?
 A “Shah” in the
Waiting?

Reza Pahlavi (III?),

43 year-old son of the deposed Shah.
 Bibliography
 “23Year Pictorial History of Iran.”
http://home.att.net/~iranshahr/
 “Iranian.com.”
www.iranian.com/Revolution/war.html.
 “Iran Hostage Anniversary.” CBS News.
www.cbsnews.com/stories/2001/01/18/
iran/main265244.shtml.