History of Iran
Gheissari et al, (2007) says that, the name Iran came to being in the year 1935 as it was referred to as Persia for most of its previous history. Persia was one of the strongest empires that was fully surrounded with mountain ranges and which similarly was constantly attacked by Arabs, Turks and Mongols. The Great Britain and Russia started having interest in the country in the early 20th century when they discovered oil. The United States on the hand started becoming interested in the country after the end of the world war two mostly because of its oil reserves. The United States and Britain in the year 1953 significantly helped in planning for a coup so that they would remove the then Prime Minister Mohammed and bring in Shah Reza back to power. In the subsequent years, Iran became more allied to U.S.A and Britain and therefore received a boost of their military and economic aid hence making it one of the strongest military powers. Shah Reza was removed from power after a long Islamic revolution and Khomeini came to power. In 1995 the U.S. suspended any kind of trade with Iran because of the nuclear ambitions that they had. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won the 2005 presidential elections that focused on pressing on with the country’s nuclear activities. In the next year, it announced that it had manufactured uranium and this made sanctions be imposed on it. In 2009, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was declared the presidential winner which brought about a lot of protests from the supporters of Hossein Mousavi whos appeal to Iran’s Guardian Council was unsuccessful (Barthold, 2014).
Famous People from Iran
Mahmoud Ahdmadinejad is the sixth president of Iran who ruled from 2005 to 2013. He has been significantly criticized in Iran and internationally because of his economic policies and also because of how it was said that he did not care about human rights. He introduced a gas rationing plan that greatly helped in the reduction of the country’s fuel consumption. His second term election was strongly disputed through a lot of protests in the country.
Hassan Rouhani is the current president of the country. He was also the deputy speaker of the 4th Islamic Consultative assembly and the 5th deputy speaker of the National Security Council. In addition, he was the one who spearheaded the country’s former nuclear negotiating team. Ruhollah Khomeini he was a politician as well as the country’s religious leader. Additionally, he was the one who led the 1979 revolution that led to the overthrow of Reza Pahlavi. This made him become the country’s Supreme leader a constitutional position of the highest ranking political and religious authority in the land (Barthold, 2014).
Ali Khamenei is the current supreme leader of the country and also a Shia Cleric. He similarly has been the president from 1981 to 1989. His right arm is paralysed from an attempted assassination that occurred in 1981. Omar Khayyam is a philosopher who came up with one of the most important treatises on algebra that were written before these modern times. Ali Daei is a former national football player and currently Persepolis coach. Since 2007 to 2013 he was a member of the FIFA Football Committee. Golshifteh Farahani is one of the best country’s actress who works internationally and who currently resides in France. Sami Yusuf in the year 2003 released a song album that sold over seven million copies. When he released his second album after two years he was named Islam’s Biggest Rock Star for he was able to attract young fans from all over the world.
Iran’s Geography
This country has so many plateaus and mountains. In the north it is dominated by Elburz Mountains and Zagros Mountains on its Western side. The country’s eastern and central area is covered by plateaus of Iran. Dasht-e Kavir is sandstone and a salty desert plateau that is actually one of the hottest places in the whole world. The biggest river in the country is the Karun while Lake Urmia is the biggest lake in the country. The country’s highest point reaches a high of 18,934 ft. All the streams in the country are seasonal and variable. Water in the country is stored naturally underground. The country has also some built dams that play an important role in harnessing the country’s water reserves (Gheissari et al, 2007).
Iran’s Government
Alamdari (2005) says that, the country’s government is led by a Supreme Leader who is selected by an assembly of experts for a life term, the supreme leader is the one mandated with coming up with the country’s domestic and also foreign policies not forgetting nuclear programs. In addition, they are the ones who command Iran’s armed forces. The supreme leader also has the power to appoint or fire the top most military officials and the heads of the judiciary and also has the power of declaring war or peace. The government is also made up of the Guardian Council that comprises of 12 members half being clerics and the other half being jurists. They have the power of either approving or rejecting legislations that have been passed by parliament.
The parliament is the body mandated in the country with proposing, passing legislation that ought to be approved by the Guardian Council. The main coalitions in parliament include conservatives and reformists. They similarly have the power of approving and firing cabinet ministers through confidence votes. They also approve half of the guardian council members that have been recommended by the supreme leader. Finally, they approve the budget that has been submitted by the president. There is also an assembly of experts that is made up of 86 Islamic scholars who have the mandate of electing the Supreme leader. In the event the Supreme leader is incapacitated or corrupt they are the ones who can remove him (Alamdari , 2015).
The expediency council, advices the supreme leader on policies to make, and also are responsible of coming up with solutions that may arise from deadlocks between the lawmakers and Guardian Council. The president performs administrative role in this country. They select cabinet members and the ones who are mandated to implement the policies made by the Supreme leader. Finally the president is the proposer of the budget. The Cabinet is led by the president and they assist in the implementation of the policies that have been set by supreme leader and the laws passed by parliament.
Iran’s Economy
The country derives most of its revenues from the oil sector. The government owns and operates on various enterprises in the country. The top personal income tax rate is 35% while the corporate tax rate is at 25%. In the country, all property transfers are subject to a standard tax while the overall tax burdens equals 6.4% of the total domestic income. The government spends 15.5% of the GDP of tax and oil revenue for the last three years. The budget deficits have averaged 1.7% of GDP. The public debt of the country is at 17.1% of the country’s GDP. Trade is also an important factor to the country’s economy; this is because the value of exports and imports taken together makes 43% of the country’s GDP. 15.2% is the averagely applied tariff. Domestic barriers and internationals sanctions significantly reduce foreign investment in the country (Roff, 2015).
Iran’s transportation
In Iran one can either use a private or shuttle taxi. Shuttle taxis travel between the main streets and squares of the city. Ttaxi stations are almost in all the squares and in most of the city’s streets. There are numerous yellow and green taxis that wait on lines with the names of their destinations. There are also some agency and telephone taxis that normally carry people from hotels and their homes. All the cities in Iran have bus transportation and is usually the best way of escaping the crowded streets in the cities. Metro transportation gives you the fastest reach to almost any location in Tehran. There are also VIP buses for longer trips that are much more comfortable plus a service of juice and cookies. In addition, there are also private cars that may transport one in between the cities and carries a maximum of four passengers.
Iran’s Military
Brooks (2007) says that, the armed forces of the country are made up of the Army, the Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Law Enforcement force. All these forces total to more than 500,000 personnel. The ministry of defense is the one that is responsible planning logistics and funding the armed forces. The armed forces comprise of the army, the navy and the air force. It has been reported that that Iran is one of the countries capable in conducting cyber warfare activities.
Iran’s transnational Issues
Currently, Iran is a source, transit and destination for women and girls that have been trafficked for the sole purpose of servitude and sexual exploitation. Boys from Bangladesh are Afghanistan are trafficked and passed through Iran to go to Persian Gulf where they are forced to be laborers. The country has also been downgraded to Tier 3 because of reports saying that the authorities beat up traffickers together with executing them. Iran is also a key transshipment point Asian heroin to Europe. It has the highest percentage of the population in world that uses opiates. Finally, it is one of the few countries that lack enough anti-money-laundering laws (Rollins & Wyler, 2013).
UAE-Iran relations
These two countries have good diplomatic ties with each other as they all have embassies in each other countries. In addition, they also have strong economic ties as there is a sizable number of Iranians in Dubai with close to 8,000 traders and trading firms in their names. Around 10% of Dubai’s population is made up of Persians. The trade between Dubai and Iran was almost 12 billion dollars while the exports from UAE to Iran are four times more than its imports from Iran. Some outstanding conflicts that have been between these two countries are such as conflicts arising over two islands in the Persian Gulf where UAE challenges Iran’s sovereignty while Iran sees them as inseparable parts.
References
Alamdari, K. (2005). The Power Structure of the Islamic Republic of Iran: transition from populism to clientelism, and militarization of the government. Third World Quarterly, 26(8), 1285-1301.<http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01436590500336690>
Barthold, V. V. (2014). An historical geography of Iran. Princeton University Press.< https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=Baz_AwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&d q=iran+geography&ots=qypUTDUyYt&sig=2nPLJZbxUsz- FHFVCQeRZBpOGWc&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=iran%20geography&f=false>geogr aphy
Brooks, R. (2007). Creating military power: The sources of military effectiveness. Stanford University press.<https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=jHYqXJA0i6QC&oi=fnd&pg=P P13&dq=iran+military+power&ots=U96Mhl83CQ&sig=qZEzeNBJRkLkbwP_JYaDUS vuEJM&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=iran%20military%20power&f=false>
Gheissari, A., Nasr, V., & Nasr, S. V. R. (2009). Democracy in Iran: history and the quest for liberty.OxfordUniversitypress.<https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=9x8TDA AAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR9&dq=iran+history&ots=2-58R9GEx- &sig=ZRxu4kvRnVCyYOxxUcmMmm_pFKQ&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=iran%20his tory&f=false>
Roff, W. R. (2015). Islam and the Political Economy of Meaning (RLE Economy of Middle East): Comparative Studies of Muslim Discourse. Routledge.<https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=pe8jCQAAQBAJ&oi=fnd& pg=PP1&dq=iran+economy+2015&ots=wQ1mKPRTqh&sig=ELGPKqlH4tnEt8Fi30FK SI1KRSQ&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false>
Rollins, J., & Wyler, L. S. (2013). Terrorism and transnational crime: Foreign policy issues for Congress (Vol. 1). Congressional Research Service.<https://www.everycrsreport.com/files/20130611_R41004_91aec4806badbec499 f707178ae6968b193790e3.pdf>