CLAN EBOR Country Profiles 

Iran

Iran was one of the first countries to be occupied by the early Islamic armies which burst out from Arabia in the seventh century.

Persia, as it was, had been one of the greatest empires of the ancient world, and has long maintained a distinct cultural identity within the Islamic world by retaining its own language and adhering to the Shia interpretation of Islam.

In 1979 the country became the centre of world attention when the monarchy was overthrown and a unique Islamic republic was declared, in which religious clerics - headed by Ayatollah Khomeini - wielded ultimate political control. There followed an unstable and bloody period, including an eight-year war with Iraq, in which the country's oil wealth plummeted from its previous high levels.

Two decades later, Iran appeared to be entering another era of political and social transformation with the victory of the liberals over the long-ruling conservative elite in parliamentary elections in 2000.

But the reformists, kept on the political defensive by powerful conservatives in the government and judiciary, failed to make good on their promises.

The elections of June 2005 dealt a blow to the reformists when Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Tehran's conservative mayor, became president.

Source - BBC Website

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