Timeline Iran (Persia)
thru 2004
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Iran news: http://www.payvand.com/news/
Government: http://www.irib.com/News.enframe.htm
CyberIran: http://www.CyberIran.com
Wikipedia: http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Iran
Sogdiana was a
province of ancient Persia
between
the Oxus and Jaxartes Rivers, later known as Uzbekistan. The extinct
Iranian
language of Sogdiana was spoken there.
(WUD, 1994, p.1264,1353)
See also Persia
40Mil BC The entire Tibetan Plateau
underwent major uplifting. Vast ranges rose from the Himalayas on the
east to Afghanistan’s Hindu Kush and Iran’s Elburz mountains on the
west.
(SFC, 5/19/06, p.B7)
2200BC A statue of the Sumerian king Entemena of
Lagash was made about this time. The head was later lost and in 2003
the remaining body was looted after the fall of Baghdad. In 2006 it was
returned to Iraq’s National Museum.
(SFC, 7/26/06, p.A3)
1792BC-1750BC Hammurabi, king of Babylon, established
a code of laws during this period that became known as the Code of
Hammurabi. They were inscribed on a basalt column, later found at Susa,
Iran. One of the laws was that if a married woman was caught lying with
another man, both should be bound and thrown into the river.
(WH, 1994, p.13)(SFEC, 10/20/96, Z1 p.2)(Econ,
4/12/08, p.91)
c226CE In Iran Zoroastrianism was revitalized as a
state religion under the Sassanians.
(WSJ, 2/2/00, p.A24)
224-641CE The Sassanid Dynasty ruled over Persia.
(ATC, p.32)
227-261CE The Sassanids (A.D. 227-651), ruled the
Persian Empire despite attempts by the Roman Empire (27 B.C.-A.D. 476)
and later the Byzantine (or Eastern Roman) Empire to conquer it. Bam
was founded during the Sassanian Period along one of the East-West
trade routes collectively known as the Silk Road.
(HNQ, 12/22/00)(SFC, 12/27/03, p.A12)
451 Apr 13, A Persian Army of
300,000 men under Mushkan Nusalavurd arrived at a place between Her and
Zarevand (now Khoy and Salmast in Iran) to face the Armenian forces.
(MH, 12/96)
614 Christian Palestine was
invaded by the Persians. The 5th century monastery of St. Theodosius
east of Beit Sahour near Bethlehem was destroyed by the Persians.
(SFEC, 12/22/96, p.T3)(WSJ, 4/5/02, p.W12)
633 Gen Khalid ibn al-Walid sent a
letter to the Persian emperor that said: “Submit to our authority and
we shall leave you and your land and go against others. If not, you
will be conquered against your will by men who love death as you love
life.”
(WSJ, 10/19/01, p.W19)
c633 Nikbanou, a 7th century
Persian Zoroastrian princess, fled to a mountain refuge at Chak Chak to
escape Arab horsemen planting the green pennants of Islam in Iranian
soil.
(AP, 7/15/04)
651 Yazdegird III, the last
Sassanian king, was murdered.
(WSJ, 2/2/00, p.A24)
700-800 According to Iraqis Muslim forces “liberated”
Iraq from the Persians in the 8th century qadissiyah battle.
(SFC, 2/1/02, p.A18)
781 Yakib ben Laith, a Saffarid
prince from an eastern Iranian dynasty, stripped the sanctuaries of
Bamiyan, Afghanistan, of their metal idols.
(WSJ, 12/20/01, p.A13)
818 Imam Reza, a descendant of the
Prophet Muhammad, died. Shiites later believed that he was fed
poisonous grapes by a Sunni leader of the Muslim world. Reza was buried
in Sanabad, which later became known as Mashad, “place of martyrdom.” A
major shrine grew at the site and by 2007 the Imam Reza Shrine
Foundation was the largest (bonyad) in Iran and accounted for 7.1% of
the country’s GDP.
(WSJ, 6/2/07, p.A12)
838 Jan 4, Babak, Persian social
and religious reformer, was martyred.
(MC, 1/4/02)
967 Dec 7, Abu Sa'id ibn Aboa
al-Chair, Persian mystic, was born.
(MC, 12/7/01)
1010 Abolqasem Firdawsi
(Ferdowsi), a Persian poet, completed the “Shanameh,” or “Book of
Kings.” It is an epic of more than 50,000 rhyming couplets weaving the
history of ancient shahs with myth and legend. One might call it the
Iliad of Persia. Over the centuries shahs have had the poem copied and
illustrated by the best artists of the day. In 2006 Dick Harris made an
abridged translation to English in prose.
(WSJ, Amy Gamerman, p. A-18, 10-13-94)(WSJ, 3/7/06,
p.D8)
1094 The Islamic terrorist
organization Nizari Ismailiyun, a Shiite politico-religious sect, was
founded by Hasan-e Sabah. He and his followers captured the hill
fortress of Almaut in northern Iran, which became their base of
operations.
(www.jihadwatch.org/dhimmiwatch/archives/006664.php)
1162-1227 Genghis Khan was born in the Hentiyn Nuruu
mountains north of Ulan Bator. His given name was Temujin, “the
ironsmith.” He seized control over 5 million square miles that covered
China, Iran, Iraq, Burma, Vietnam, and most of Korea and Russia. "In
Search of Genghis Khan" is a book by Tim Severin. He was succeeded by
his son Ogedai, who was succeeded by Guyuk. Ogedai ignored numerous
pleas from his brother Chaghatai to cut down on his drinking and died
of alcoholism as did Guyuk.
(SFC, 4/14/96, T-10)(WUD, 1994, p. 591)(WSJ,
1/11/99, p.R6)
1177 Lal Shahbaz Qalandar (d.1274)
was born as Seyyed Shah Hussain Marandi in Marand (near the city of
Tabriz) in Azerbaijan (at this time a part of Iran). He is also known
as Shaikh Hussain Marandi. He migrated to Sindh and settled in Sehwan
and was buried there. He was a Sufi in the regions that lie in the
Sindh province of Pakistan.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shahbaz_Qalander)
c1200 Rashid al-Din, statesman and
historian, lived in Persia.
(WSJ, 5/7/01, p.A20)
1207-1273 Jalal ud-din Rumi (Jelaluddin Rumi),
Persian poet and mystic. He was born in Balkh, Afghanistan, and later
fled the Mongol invasions with his family to Konya (Iconium), Anatolia.
His work “Mathwani” (Spiritual Couplets) filled 6 volumes and had a
great impact on Islamic civilization. He founded the Mevlevi order of
Sufis, later known as the “whirling dervishes.” In 1998 a film was made
about the Sufi poet’s influence on the 20th century. In 1998 Kabir
Helminski edited “The Rumi Collection” with translation by Robert Bly
and others. His work also included the “Shams I-Tabriz” in which he
dismissed the terminology of Jew, Christian and Muslim as “false
distinctions.” The poet Rumi was also known as Mowlana.
(WUD, 1994, p.762)(SFC, 7/9/96, p.B5)(SFEC, 9/20/98,
DB p.50)(SFEC, 10/25/98, BR p.6)(WSJ, 9/7/01, p.A14)
1244 Aug 23, Khwarezmian Turks
expelled the crusaders under Frederick II from Jerusalem. Jerusalem’s
citadel, the Tower of David, surrendered. The Turks ruthlessly
decimated the population, leaving only 2,000 people, Christians and
Muslims, still living in the city. This attack triggered the Europeans
to respond with the Seventh Crusade.
(HN,
8/23/98)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khwarezmian_Empire)
1292 Dec 9, Sa'di, great Persian
poet (Orchard, Rose Garden), died.
(MC, 12/9/01)
1371 Ubaid Zakani, Persian writer,
died. His work included “Mush va Gorbeh” (Mouse and Cat), a match for
Rabelais when it comes to mocking religion.
(WSJ, 2/8/06,
p.A16)(www.britannica.com/eb/article-13737)
1379-1390 Khwaja Shams ud-Din Hafiz (b.c1310-1326),
Persian poet, died.
(SSFC, 10/23/05, p.E3)(www.thesongsofhafiz.com/)
1571 Jan 27, Shah Abbas, King of
the Safavid dynasty in Persia (1587-1629), was born. He established a
monopoly on the production and sale of silk and used the wealth to
develop the city of Isfahan. Fearful of assassination he turned on his
own family, executed one son, and blinded 2 sons, his father and his
brothers.
(WSJ, 1/11/99,
p.R8)(http://4dw.net/royalark/Persia/safawi3.htm)
1587 Abbas I (16) became Shah of
Persia following the forced abdication of his father, Shah Muhammad
Khodabandeh. A revolt by Qizilbash leaders finally removed Khodabandeh
from power and installed his son Abbas as shah.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safavid_Dynasty)(www.bartleby.com/67/813.html)
1587 Mohammad Khodabandeh, Shah of
Persia, died.
(PC, 1992 ed, p.203)
1598 Iranian emperor Shah Abbas
(1571-1629) moved his capital to Isfahan. English brothers Anthony and
Robert Shirley (~1581-1628) soon arrived in Iran with 26 followers and
joined the Persian service under Abbas and remaining for a number of
years.
(Econ, 2/21/09, p.86)(http://tinyurl.com/cbrsb9)
1612 The square of Esfahan,
Persia, was built.
(SSFC, 1/14/07, p.G5)
1650 The Khaju bridge in Esfahan,
Persia (Iran), was built over the Zayandeh Rood river.
(SSFC, 1/14/07, p.G5)
1723 Border treaties or notes
between Iran and Russia were signed in this year and followed again in
1725, 1732, 1813, 1828, 1881, 1893, 1954, 1957 and 1962.
(WSJ, 8/3/01, p.A2)
1826 Sep 26, The Persian cavalry
was routed by the Russians at the Battle of Ganja in the Russian
Caucasus.
(HN, 9/26/99)
1829 Feb 11, Alexander Griboyedov
(b.1795), Russian diplomat, playwright and composer, was beheaded by a
mob attack on the Russian embassy in Tehran. Griboyedov was protecting
an Armenian eunuch, who had escaped from the harem of the Persian shah
along with 2 Armenian girls. The Russians let the incident pass after
an Iranian apology. They were already at war with the Turks and in
regional competition with the British.
(WSJ, 2/10/96,
p.A18)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandr_Griboyedov)
1839 Jews in Mashad, Iran, were
forcibly converted to Shiite Islam following a pogrom.
(SFC, 10/20/01, p.A10)
1850 Jul 9, Bb, Bahi prophet, was
executed in Tabriz, Iran.
(MC, 7/9/02)
1852 In Iran Mirza Hoseyn 'Ali
Nuri (Baha' Ullah, b.1817), founder of the Baha’i Faith, became aware
of his mission as a messenger of God while in the notorious Teheran
prison known as the Black Pit for involvement in the unsuccessful
attempt in 1852 on the life the shah of Persia, Naser od-Din. Released
and exiled to Baghdad in 1853, Baha’ Allah revived the Babi faith that
had sprung from Shi’ah Islam in the 1840s. He went on to found the
Baha’i movement that subsequently spread throughout the world.
(HNQ, 4/6/99)(HN, 11/12/00)
1863 In Iran the Baha’i faith was
founded by Hussain Ali (b. Nov 12, 1817). It reflected the attitudes of
the Shiah sect with an emphasis on tolerance. Among its principles are
full equality between the sexes, universal education and the
establishment of a world of a world federal system. The Baha'i Faith
was founded in Iran by a man named Baha'u'llah, which literally means
"The Glory of God".
(WUD, 1994, p.111)(SFC, 10/30/98, p.A20)
1879 The Cyrus Cylinder was
discovered by the Assyro-British archaeologist Hormuzd Rassam in the
foundations of the Esagila, the main temple of Babylon, and was later
placed in the British Museum in London. The cylinder was created
following the Persian conquest of Babylon in 539 BC, when Cyrus
overthrew the Babylonian king Nabonidus and replaced him as ruler,
ending the Neo-Babylonian Empire. It was later considered as the
world's first declaration of human rights.
(http://tinyurl.com/lma678)(AFP, 2/7/10)
1900 May 17, Ayatollah Ruhollah
Khomeini (d.1989), Iran's spiritual and revolutionary leader (1979-89),
was born.
(HN,
5/17/98)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruhollah_Khomeini)
1901 English millionaire William
Knox D’Arcy arranged to pay £40,000 in cash and company stock to
the Shah of Tehran, Muzaffar al-Din, for the right to drill for oil in
western Persia. The deal included a pledge, should commercial
production begin, to pay the Persian government 16% of annual profits
until 1961.
(ON, 8/08, p.1)
1904 Jan 19, A team of oil
drillers led by George Reynolds and funded by English millionaire
William Knox D’Arcy, struck oil at Chiah Surkh, Persia, but by March
the volume dwindled to an unprofitable trickle.
(ON, 8/08, p.2)
1905-1911 Iran’s Constitutional Revolution took
place. The revolution led to the establishment of a parliament in
Persia (Iran).
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Baskerville)
1906 A coalition of clerical
grandees, progressive intellectuals and bazaar traders forced the shah
of Iran to promulgate Iran’s first constitution and establish a
parliament.
(Econ, 6/10/06, p.85)
1907 Britain and Russia carved
Iran into spheres of influence.
(WSJ, 4/2/07, p.A6)
1908 May 26, The first major oil
strike in the Middle East took place as engineers working for British
entrepreneur William Knox D'Arcy and led by George B. Reynolds hit a
gusher more than 1,100 feet below ground in Masjid-i-Suleiman, Persia
(Iran). The Concessions Syndicate Limited, later the Anglo-Persian Oil
Co., included the Burmah Oil Company of Glasgow, Scotland, and the
Persian oil project of William Knox D'Arcy.
(WSJ, 9/13/99, p.R4)(WSJ, 4/2/07, p.A6)(AP, 5/26/08)
1908 Jun 26, Shah Muhammad Ali’s
forces squelched the reform elements of Parliament in Persia.
(HN, 6/26/98)
1909 Apr 19, In Persia Howard
Baskerville (b.1885), an American Presbyterian preacher, was shot dead
while trying to break the siege of Tabriz as a defender of the new
Iranian constitution.
(Econ, 7/17/10,
p.87)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Baskerville)
1910 Jan 21, A British-Russian
military intervention took place in Persia.
(MC, 1/21/02)
1911 May, Morgan Shuster
(1877-1960), an American lawyer, began serving as treasurer-general of
the Persian empire. In December under Russian and British pressure, the
vice-regent of Persia expelled Shuster from office against the will of
the Persian parliament.
(Econ, 7/17/10, p.87)
1912 Morgan Shuster, American
financial expert, authored “The Strangling of Persia.” He describes his
failed efforts to introduce virtuous financial practices in Iran in the
face of British and Russian barriers.
(WSJ, 10/6/07, p.W8)
1919 Oct 26, Mohammed Riza
Pahlevi, the Shah of Iran (1941-79). He was overthrown in 1979 and died
in the United States, was born.
(HN, 10/26/98)(MC, 10/26/01)
1921 Feb 20, Riza Khan Pahlevi
seized control of Iran. Pahlevi marched into Tehran with 2,500 soldiers
and took over the government. Britain helped topple the Qajar dynasty
and replaced it with Reza Shah Pahlavi, a former military officer. Five
years later he was crowned Shah and placed the crown upon his head with
his own hands, as did Napoleon.
(NG, Sept. 1939, p.330)(WSJ, 4/2/07, p.A6)
1921 The Soviet Union and Iran
signed agreements concerning the Caspian Sea.
(SFC, 8/11/98, p.A8)
1925 Khuzestan, an autonomous Arab
emirate once known as Arabistan, was annexed by the British-backed shah
of Iran. The area, inhabited by the Ahwazi Arabs, was rich in oil and
by 2006 produced about 90% of Iran’s oil.
(SSFC, 11/5/06, p.A16)
1925 The documentary film "Grass"
was made by Merian C. Cooper and Ernest Schoedsack. It was about the
migration of a tribe of Persian nomads.
(SFC,11/21/97, p.C17)
1926 Apr 25, In Iran, Reza Kahn
was crowned Shah and chose the name "Pehlevi".
(HN, 4/25/98)
1926 Aug 20, There was an uprising
against Reza Shah Pahlavi in Persia.
(MC, 8/20/02)
1932 Reza Shah revoked the
Anglo-Persian Co. oil monopoly.
(WSJ, 4/2/07, p.A6)
1933 Antoin Sevruguin (b.
late1830s), photographer, died. He was the son of a Russian diplomat
posted to Tehran. Sevruguin worked in Tehran and captured on film the
last decades under the rule of the Qajar dynasty.
(SFC, 11/30/99, p.A24)
1934 Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani
was born.
(WP, 6/29/96, p.A20)
1935 Mar 22, Reza Shah Pahlavi
renamed Persia to Iran, which in Farsi means Aryan. It reflected the
shah’s identification with Hitler’s Third Reich.
(SFC,11/19/97, Z1 p.7)(HN, 3/22/97)(SSFC, 1/8/06,
p.D1)
1935 In Iran worshippers at the
Shrine of Imam Reza in Mashad protested a dress code that demanded
Western-style brimmed hats. A riot broke out a troops opened fire.
(WSJ, 6/2/07, p.A12)
1937 Oct, Amin al-Husseini, the
Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, was exiled from Palestine. He sought fled to
Iraq and in 1941 sought refuge in Iran.
(www.ccc.nps.navy.mil/si/dec02/middleEast.asp)
1940 Jul 26, In Iran the Shah's
police squad unexpectedly arrived at the residence of opposition
politician Mohammad Mossadegh (1888-1967), searching and ransacking his
house. Although no incriminating evidence against him was found, he was
taken to the central prison in Tehran nonetheless. Mossadegh was
released in November, but was kept under house arrest until 1941 when
Mohammad Reza, ascended to the throne.
(www.mohammadmossadegh.com/biography/)
1940 The Soviet Union and Iran
signed more agreements concerning the Caspian Sea.
(SFC, 8/11/98, p.A8)
1941 Aug 25, British and Soviet
forces entered Iran, opening up a route to supply the Soviet Union.
(HN, 8/25/98)
1941 Aug 27, The Shah of Iran
abdicated the throne to his son Reza Pahlavi. Britain forced Reza Shah
to abdicate and installed his son Mohammed.
(www.indiana.edu/~league/1941.htm)(WSJ, 4/2/07, p.A6)
1941 Oct, British, USSR and other
allied forces invaded Iran to break up the Iran-Nazi alliance. Amin
al-Husseini, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, left the country under
disguise with the Italian delegation and relocated to Germany.
(SSFC, 1/8/06, p.D8)
1943 Nov 28, President Roosevelt,
British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Josef Stalin
met in Tehran, Iran, to map out strategy during World War II.
(AP, 11/28/97)(DT internet 11/28/97)(HN, 11/28/98)
1943 Dec 1, President Roosevelt,
British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Josef Stalin
concluded their Tehran conference and agreed to Operation Overlord
(D-Day).
(AP, 12/1/00)
1945 Sep 13, Iran demanded the
withdrawal of Allied forces.
(HN, 9/13/98)
1945 The Kurdistan Democratic
Party (KDP) was founded by Mullah Mustafa Barzani. He played a major
role in establishing the short-lived Kurdish Republic of Mehabad, “Red”
Kurdistan, in Iran. In the 30s and 40s he had organized “Pesh merga”
guerrillas from clans in the Zagros region.
(SFC, 9/4/96, p.A7)(WSJ, 12/20/02, p.A14)
1946 Jan 19, The first complaint
heard by the United Nations Security Council was made by Iran and
directed against the Soviet Union. Iran alleged Soviet interference in
its internal affairs and the refusal to remove Soviet troops from
Iranian territory. The very first session of the UN had begun just days
earlier, on January 10, 1946, in London. The issue was resolved
without UN intervention.
(HNQ, 6/2/00)
1946 Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi
separated from his Egyptian wife, Queen Fawzieh. He took up with Parvin
Ghaffari in a 3-year affair later documented by Ghaffari in the 1997
book “Until Darkness.”
(SFC, 7/12/97, p.C1)
1949 The Univ. of Michigan,
despite great protest among the student body, bestowed an honorary
degree to Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran.
(LSA, Fall, 2007, p.24)
1951 Feb 12, Shah Pahlavi married
Princess Soraya Esfandiari Bakhtiari (d.2001 at 69). They divorced in
1958. In 1991 Soraya authored her autobiography “Le Palais des
Solitudes” (The Palace of Solitudes).
(SFC, 10/26/01, p.D7)
1951 Mar 7, Shah Ali Razmara of
Iran was assassinated.
(MC, 3/7/02)
1951 Mar 15, The Iranian
parliament (the Majlis) voted to nationalize the Anglo-Iranian Oil
Company (AIOC) and its holdings, and shortly thereafter elected a
widely respected statesman and champion of nationalization, Mohammed
Mossadegh as Prime Minister.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abadan_Crisis_timeline)
1951 Jun 24, Persian army took
over nationalized oil installations.
(MC, 6/24/02)
1951 Sep 27, Persian troops
occupied oil refinery at Abadan.
(MC, 9/27/01)
1951 There was a struggle to
nationalize Iranian oil.
(SFEC, 4/13/97, BR p.4)
1952 Nov, Kermit Roosevelt, a CIA
operative, was approached by the British Foreign Office about
organizing the overthrow of Prime Minister Mossadegh, who had presided
over the nationalization of British-owned oil operations.
(SFEC, 6/11/00, p.D6)
c1952 Hossein Ali Montazeri (30)
became a “marja,” one of the top religious sources for consultation by
Shiite Muslims.
(WSJ, 1/13/98, p.A19)
1953 Mar, The US CIA’s Tehran
station reported that an Iranian general had approached the US embassy
for support in an army-led coup. Based on this information Allen
Dulles, director of the CIA, approved $1 million to be used to help
bring about the fall of Prime Minister Mossadegh. Pres. Eisenhower gave
the CIA the ok to overthrow the elected government of PM Mohammad
Mossadegh. Mossadegh had nationalized the Anglo-Iranian Oil Co. after
Britain refused to compromise and split profits 50-50. In 2003 Stephen
Kinzer authored "All the Shah's Men: An American Coup and the Roots of
the Middle East Terror."
(SFEC, 4/16/00, p.A18)(SSFC, 8/24/03, p.M6)
1953 Aug 15, In Iran a CIA plot,
masterminded by Kermit Roosevelt, to unseat PM Mossadeq failed. A 2nd
attempt succeeded on August 19.
(Econ, 5/15/10, p.92)
1953 Aug 16, Shah Pahlavi of
Persia and princess Soraya fled to Baghdad and then Rome.
(MC, 8/16/02)
1953 Aug 19, Gen'l. Zahedi ousted
PM Mossadegh and became the Premier of Iran in a bloody coup that left
300 dead. Britain and the US CIA under Allen Dulles planned a secret
mission to overthrow the government. PM Mossadeq had sought to
nationalize the Anglo-Persian Oil Co. The US government made a formal
apology for the coup in 2000. A 1954 CIA description of the coup was
made public in 2000. In 1979 Kermit Roosevelt (d.2000) published
“Countercoup: The Struggle for the Control of Iran,” an account of his
role in the coup. In 2010 Darioush Bayandor authored “Iran and the CIA:
The Fall of Mossadeq Revisited.”
(SFC, 11/20/53, p.A1)(SFC, 11/15/99, p.E6)(SFC,
5/29/97, p.A4)(WSJ, 3/20/00, p.A1)(SFEC, 4/16/00, p.A18)(SFEC, 6/11/00,
p.D6)(WSJ, 4/2/07, p.A6)(Econ, 5/15/10, p.91)
1953 Aug 20, Iran’s PM Mossadeq
was arrested. He was soon tried for treason, and sentenced to three
years in prison.
(www.associatepublisher.com/e/m/mo/mohammad_reza_pahlavi.htm)
1953 Aug 21, US CIA officials
funneled $5 million to Iran to help the coup leaders consolidate power.
(SFEC, 4/16/00, p.A18)
1953 Aug 22, Shah of Persia
returned to Teheran.
(MC, 8/22/02)
1953 Sep 5, US gave Persian
premier Zahedi $45 million aid.
(MC, 9/5/01)
1954 Mar, A history of the CIA
sponsored 1953 coup in Iran was written by Donald N. Wilbur
(1908-1997), an expert in Persian architecture and one of the "leading
planners" of the operation "TP-Ajax."
(SFEC, 4/16/00,
p.A18)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Wilber)
1954 An agreement with the Shah
gave American and British companies control of 80% of Iran’s oil
interests.
(SFC, 2/18/02, p.B4)
1954 The Soviet Union and Iran
negotiated the Astara-Hosseingholi line to mark their boundary on the
Caspian Sea.
(WSJ, 8/3/01, p.A2)
1955 Iraq joined with Britain,
Turkey, Iran and Pakistan in the Baghdad Pact, a loose alliance
intended to check soviet influence in the region. The Baghdad Pact was
formed at the prompting of the U.S. in an effort to block Soviet
pressures on the northern tier of Middle Eastern states. The U.S.
provided military and economic aid to the pact members.
(HNQ, 7/28/98)(SFC, 9/24/02, p.A10)
1960 Sep 14, Iraq, Iran, Kuwait,
Saudi Arabia and Venezuela formed OPEC. Fuad Rouhani (1907-2004) of
Iran served as its 1st secretary-general. In 1964 he was succeeded by
Abdul Rahman Bazzaz of Iraq.
(HN, 9/14/98)(WSJ, 7/28/03, p.A8)
1960s The Mujahedeen-e Khalq
(MEK), a militant Iranian political organization, was formed in Tehran.
(http://complete911timeline.org/entity.jsp?entity=mujahedeen-e_khalq)
1962 Jun, A police attack on the
Faizieh Theological School in Qom started Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's
rebellion against the Shah.
(WSJ, 8/11/99, p.A1)
1962 Aug 18, In Iran brothers,
Ahmad and Mahmoud Khayami founded "Iran National" to manufacture cars.
After the 1979 Islamic Revolution it became known as Iran Khodro. Their
later Paykan design was based on the 1967 Hillman Hunter, which was
originally designed and manufactured by the British Rootes Group.
Mahmoud Khayami is also known for starting the Kourosh Department
Stores: the first large retail chain stores of Iran, not unlike their
American counterparts Sears and Kmart.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahmoud_Khayami)
1962 Sep 1, Some 10,000 died in an
earthquake in western Iran.
(SC, 9/1/02)
1963 Jun 5, A state of siege was
proclaimed in Iran and Ayatollah Khomeini was arrested.
(MC, 6/5/02)
1963 Left leaning students
sympathetic to Iran’s former PM Mohammed Mossadeq, deposed in 1953,
founded Mujahedin e-Kalq (People’s Mujahedin of Iran).
(WSJ, 5/8/08, p.A10)
1965 The People’s Mujahedeen of
Iran (PMOI) was founded as a youthful underground opposition to the
Shah. The group was also known as the Mujahedeen-d Khalq Organization
(MEK of MKO). Its leader Massoud Rajavi fled to France in 1981 and then
relocated with his followers to Iraq in 1986, where Saddam Hussein gave
them a big base at Camp Ashraf.
(Econ, 4/11/09, p.47)
1967 Mar 5, Mohammed H. Mosaddeq
(b.1882), former prime minister of Iran (1951-53), died in Iran
following a period of house arrest. He had been ousted in a military
coup organized by the CIA and British intelligence.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohammad_Mossadegh)
1967 Oct 26, The Shah of Iran
crowned himself and his Queen after 26 years on the Peacock Throne.
(AP, 10/26/97)
1968 Aug 31, In northeast Iran
some 7-12 thousand people died in the 7.8 Dasht-e Bayaz earthquake,
which also destroyed 60,000 buildings.
(WUD, 1994, p.1687)(www.bssaonline.org/cgi/content/abstract/59/5/1751)
1969 The New Wave in Iranian film
was begun by Dariush Mehrjui with “The Cow.” It was about a poor
village that loses its only cow.
(SFEC, 4/23/00, DB p.52)
1969-1972 Douglas MacArthur II (d.1997 at 88) served
as US ambassador to Iran. He escaped a kidnap attempt in 1970.
(SFC,11/17/97, p.A23)
1970 In Iran velayet el-faqih, the
idea of guardianship as rule, was advanced by the Ayatollah Ruhollah
Khomeini in a series of lectures and later formed the basis of the
constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
(Econ, 3/21/09,
p.46)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guardianship_of_the_Islamic_Jurists)
1971 Feb 2, The Ramsar Convention,
officially titled “The Convention on Wetlands of International
Importance, especially as Waterfowl Habitat,” was developed and adopted
by participating nations at a meeting in Ramsar, Iran. It came into
force on December 21, 1975. The US ratified the Ramsar agreement in
1986.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramsar_Convention)(NH,
5/01, p.35)
1972 Apr 10, A 6.9 earthquake in
the Iranian province of Fars killed over 5,000 people.
(http://bssa.geoscienceworld.org/cgi/content/abstract/63/6-1/2071)
1975 Mar 6, OPEC held a meeting in
Algiers attended for the first time by its members’ top leaders. Here
the Algiers Accord between Baghdad and Teheran put an end to their
border dispute and brought all Iranian help to the Kurdish rebellion to
a halt. The United States abruptly withdrew its support for the Kurds
and the rebellion collapsed. Many thousands of Kurdish fighters and
their families were forced to flee to Iran to escape the pursuing Iraqi
army.
(http://mondediplo.com/2002/10/06timeline)(SFC,
11/19/07, p.A11)
1975 Future film director Mohsen
Makhmalbaf was imprisoned at 17 for protesting against the Shah. He was
spared execution due to his youth.
(SFC, 5/14/97, p.E6)
1977 Nov 15, Pres. Jimmy Carter
welcomed the Shah of Iran to Washington, DC.
(http://tinyurl.com/2rhmfk)(www.kipnotes.com/James%20E.%20Carter.htm)
1978 Sep 8, The Shah's troops
opened fire on protesters in Tehran, killing several hundred
demonstrators.
(http://tinyurl.com/hc3fc)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranian_Revolution)
1978 Nov 4, In Iran the worst
anti-Shah demonstrations occurred. PM Sharif-Emami (d.1998 at 87 in
NYC), handed in his resignation after 2 months in office. Shah Pahlavi
then appointed Gholam Riza Azhari and tried a military approach as the
nation erupted in revolt.
(SFC, 6/24/98, p.C2)(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_Iranian_Islamic_revolution)
1978 Nov 4, US National Security
Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski called the Shah of Iran to tell him that
the US would "back him to the hilt."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranian_Revolution)
1978 Nov 6, Muhammad Reza Pahlavi,
the Shah of Iran, appointed a military government. In a nationwide
television address, he admitted to the past mistakes and told the
nation he had heard the sound of their revolution.
(WUD, 1994,
p.1691)(http://bss.sfsu.edu/behrooz/Hist-Revolution.htm)
1978 Nov 26, Muslim religious
leaders and politicians seeking to topple Shah of Iran called a general
strike that virtually paralyzed the country.
(AP, 11/26/02)
1978 Dec 2, Anti-Shah protesters
poured through Tehran chanting "Allah is great."
(http://tinyurl.com/3aaywr)
1978 Dec 11, Massive
demonstrations took place in Tehran against the Shah. In Isfahan, Iran,
40 people were killed and 60 wounded during riots against the Shah.
(WUD, 1994, p.1691)(HN, 12/11/98)
1978 Sep 16, In northeast Iran a
magnitude 7.7 earthquake killed 25,000 people.
(WUD, 1994, p.1691)(AP, 6/22/02)
1978 Nov 5, In Iran the worst
anti-Shah demonstrations occurred.
(WUD, 1994, p.1691)
1978 Nov 6, Muhammad Reza Pahlav,
the Shah of Iran, appointed a military government. In a nationwide
television address, he admitted to the past mistakes and told the
nation he had heard the sound of their revolution.
(WUD, 1994,
p.1691)(http://bss.sfsu.edu/behrooz/Hist-Revolution.htm)
1978 Nov, Sharif-Emami (d.1998 at
87 in NYC), prime minister, handed in his resignation after 2 months in
office. Shah Pahlavi then appointed Gholam Riza Azhari and tried a
military approach as the nation erupted in revolt.
(SFC, 6/24/98, p.C2)
1978 Dec 11, In Isfahan, Iran, 40
people were killed and 60 wounded during riots against the Shah.
(WUD, 1994, p.1691)
1978 Hedayat Eslaminia and his
family fled Iran. He was a minister of the Shah and reportedly fled
with a fortune. In Jul, 1984, he was kidnapped and slain by his son
Reza in California.
(SFC, 5/1/98, p.D7)
1979 Jan 8, The US advised the
Shah to get out of Iran.
(HN, 1/8/99)
1979 Jan 16, Shah Mohammed Reza
Pahlevi fled Iran for Egypt as millions united with Ayatollah Khomeini
calling for his death. The Shah of Iran was overthrown in a revolution
led from exile by the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who established a
Muslim Theocracy. Iran was overwhelmingly Shiite, which believes that
authority is invested only in descendants of Muhammad’s son-in-law,
Ali, who is buried in An Najaf, Iraq. The Shah of Iran fled and the
Ayatollah Khomeini took charge.
(NG, 5/88, p.653)(TMC, 1994, p.1979)(HN,
1/16/99)(AP, 1/16/05)
1979 Jan 30, The civilian
government of Iran announced it had decided to allow Ayatollah Ruhollah
Khomeini, who'd been living in exile in France, to return.
(AP, 1/30/98)
1979 Feb 1, Ayatollah Ruhollah
Khomeini received a tumultuous welcome in Tehran as he ended nearly 15
years of exile.
(AP, 2/1/97)
1979 Feb 11, Followers of
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini seized power in Iran, nine days after the
religious leader returned to his home country following 15 years of
exile. Premier Bakhtiar resigned.
(AP, 2/11/97)
1979 Feb 14, Armed guerrillas
attacked the U.S. embassy in Tehran.
(HN, 2/14/98)
1979 Feb 16, Nematollah Nassiri
(b.1911), Iranian general and head of the Savak intelligence agency
during the rule of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, was executed.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nematollah_Nassiri)
1979 Mar 1, Molla Mustafa Barzani
(75), Iranian Kurd leader (KDP), died in Washington, DC.
(www.kdp.pp.se/old/barzani.html)
1979 Mar 18, Iranian authorities
detained American feminist Kate Millett, a day before deporting her and
a companion for what were termed "provocations."
(AP, 3/18/99)
1979
Apr 1, Iran proclaimed to be an Islamic
Republic after the fall of the Shah.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran)
1979 May 13, In Tehran, Iran, the
Shah and his family, who had fled in January, were sentenced to death.
(http://openweb.tvnews.vanderbilt.edu/1979-5/1979-05-13-ABC-8.html)
1979 Aug 8, In Iran the
revolutionary prosecutor banned the leading left-wing newspaper,
Ayandegan. 5 days later hezbollahis broke up a Tehran rally called by
the National Democratic Front, a newly organized left-of-center
political movement, to protest the Ayandegan closing.
(http://tinyurl.com/3cssq4)
1979 Aug 18, Iran Ayatollah
Khomeini sent the army to attack and occupy Paveh, Sanandaj and Saghez.
Having defeated the Kurds in the cities, he appointed Khalkhali, as
head of security for Kurdistan, who proceeded with a series of summary
trials and executions.
(www.sarbazan.com/Massacre.asp)
1979 Aug 23, Iranian troops
entered Iraqi Kurdish territory.
(www.jamestown.org/terrorism/news/article.php?articleid=2373658&printthis=1)
1979 Aug 27, In Sanandaj, Iran, 11
Kurdish prisoners were executed by a firing squad following a 30 minute
trial under Shiite cleric Sadegh Khalkhali. Jahangir Razmi, a
photographer for Iran’s independent Ettela’at newspaper, captured the
execution on film. Within hours an anonymous photo of the execution ran
across 6 columns of the paper. On Sep 8 the newspaper was seized by the
Foundation for the Disinherited, a state-owned holding company. On
April 14, 1980, the photo won a Pulitzer Prize. In 2006 Razmi made
public 27 images from the execution that he had kept hidden.
(WSJ, 12/2/06, p.A1)
1979 Oct 22, The US government
allowed the deposed Shah of Iran to travel to New York for medical
treatment. This decision precipitated the Iran hostage crisis.
(AP, 10/22/97)
1979 Nov 4, The US Embassy was
taken over by Iranian students and a hostage crisis began. 90 people,
including 63 Americans, were taken hostage at the American embassy in
Teheran, Iran, by militant student followers of Ayatollah Khomeini who
demanded the return of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi to Iran for trial. He
was undergoing medical treatment in New York City. The students held 52
American hostages for 444 days, and were released on the day of the
inauguration President Ronald Reagan, January 20, 1981. In 2005 David
Harris authored “The Crisis: The President, the Prophet and the Shah –
1979 and the coming of Militant Islam.” In 2006 Mark Bowden authored
“Guests of the Ayatollah: The First Battle in America’s War With
Militant Islam.”
(WSJ, 11/19/96, p.A1)(AP, 11/4/97)(HN,
11/4/98)(SSFC, 4/3/05, p.F4)(WSJ, 4/29/06, p.P10)
1979 Nov 5, Iran's Ayatollah
Khomeini declared US "The Great Satan."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Satan)
1979 Nov 6, In Iran PM Bazargan
resigned as Ayatollah Khomeini (1902-1989) supported the student
seizure of the US embassy.
(www.britannica.com/eb/topic-272687/Iran-hostage-crisis)
1979 Nov 8, ABC-TV aired
"Iran Crisis: American Held Hostage" with Frank Reynolds 4 days after
the beginning of the Iran hostage crisis. The late-night news program
evolved into “Nightline” on March 24, 1980. Ted Koppel (b.1940) soon
became the anchor of nightly news on Iranian Hostages (ABC).
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nightline)
1979 Nov 12, President Carter
announced an immediate halt to all imports of Iranian oil and freezes
Iranian assets in US. Executive Order 12170 halted oil imports from
Iran.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran_hostage_crisis)
1979 Nov 17, Iran's Ayatollah
Khomeini ordered the release of 13 female and black American hostages
being held at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran.
(AP, 11/17/97)
1979 Nov 18, Ayatollah Khomeini
said the rest of the US hostages may be tried as spies if the Shah is
not released.
(http://openweb.tvnews.vanderbilt.edu/1979-11/1979-11-18-ABC-2.html)
1979 Dec 15, The deposed Shah of
Iran left the United States for Panama, the same day the International
Court of Justice in The Hague ruled that Iran should release all its
American hostages.
(AP, 12/15/99)
1979 An Islamic Revolution took
over Iran.
(SFEC, 4/13/97, BR p.4)
1979 The government began fighting
the Kurdish Democratic Party.
(WSJ, 7/11/96, p.A10)
1979 Germany began to build a
1,000-megawatt light-water nuclear reactor at Bushehr. Germany later
abandoned the project and it was given over to Russia.
(SFC, 3/7/98, p.A7)
1979 In Iran the population was
estimated at 34 million and the government urged the populace to breed
an Islamic generation.
(SFC, 5/15/98, p.D2)
1980 Jan 25, Abolhassan Bani-Sadr
was elected as Iran's first president since the 1979 Islamic
revolution. Though he won an overwhelming majority of the popular vote,
he did not have the support of the predominantly fundamentalist
parliament.
(http://www.80s.com/Icons/Bios/abolhassan_bani_sadr.html)
1980 Jan 28, Six US diplomats who
had avoided being taken hostage at their embassy in Tehran flew out of
Iran with the help of Canadian diplomats.
(AP, 1/28/98)
1980 Feb 4, Abolhassan Bani-Sadr
was installed as president of Iran by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
(AP, 2/4/00)
1980 Mar 6, Islamic militants in
Tehran said that they would turn over the American hostages to the
Revolutionary Council.
(HN, 3/6/98)
1980 Mar 10, Iran's leader,
Ayatollah Khomeini, lent his support to the militants holding the
American hostages in Tehran.
(HN, 3/10/98)
1980 Mar 19, The US appealed to
the International Court of Justice on hostages in Iran.
(http://tinyurl.com/3xp87b)
1980 Mar 23, The deposed Shah of
Iran arrived in Egypt.
(http://openweb.tvnews.vanderbilt.edu/1980-3/1980-03-23-CBS-2.html)
1980
Apr 1, The pro-Iranian Dawah Party claims
responsibility for an attack on Iraq’s Deputy Prime Minister, Tariq
Aziz (b.1936), at Mustansiriyah University, Baghdad.
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/737483.stm)
1980 Apr 7, The US broke
relations with Iran during the hostage crises. Pres. Carter ordered all
Iranian diplomats expelled from the US and prohibited any further
exports to the nation. Pres. Carter signed Executive Order 12205 for
economic sanctions against Iran.
(HN,
4/7/97)(www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=33235)
1980 Apr 23, Albert Hakim, a
wealthy arms merchant, unexpectedly skipped town the day before a US
rescue mission. The Iranian exile and CIA informant worked for the CIA
near the Turkish boarder handling the logistics of the rescue mission
in Tehran. Hakim had purchased trucks and vans and rented a warehouse
on the edge of Tehran to hide them in until they were needed for the
operation. In July, 1981, Hakim approached the CIA with a plan to gain
favor with the Iranian government by selling it arms.
(www.donhopkins.com/drupal/node/104)
1980 Apr 24, An American assault
team held 44 Iranians hostage for about 3 hours when their bus stumbled
upon the remote desert site. The failed operation was commanded by
Colonel Charles Beckwith, founder of the US Delta Force. The mission
resulted in the deaths of 8 US servicemen. The US hostage rescue failed
when a plane collided with a helicopter in Iran. The 1996 Iranian film:
"Sandstorm" depicting the event was set for release in Feb, 1997.
(WSJ, 11/19/96, p.A1)(AP, 4/24/97)(HN, 4/24/98)
1980 Apr 30, Terrorists seized the
Iranian Embassy in London. Only after the incident was over did it
become known that Iraq had trained and armed the gunmen in order to try
to embarrass Iran.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranian_Embassy_Siege)
1980 May 5, A siege at the Iranian
embassy in London ended as British commandos and police stormed the
building. Nineteen hostages were rescued; two others had already been
killed by their captors; four of the five hostage-takers also were
killed.
(AP, 5/5/00)
1980 May 24, Iran rejected a call
by the World Court in The Hague to release the American hostages.
(AP, 5/24/97)
1980 Jul 11, American hostage
Richard I. Queen, freed by Iran after eight months of captivity because
of poor health, left Tehran for Switzerland.
(PGA, 12/9/98)(AP, 7/11/01)
1980 Jul 27, On day 267 of the
Iranian hostage crisis, the deposed Shah of Iran (1941-1979) died at a
military hospital outside Cairo, Egypt, at age 60.
(AP, 7/27/00)
1980 Sep 22, Iraq under Saddam
Hussein invaded Iran following border skirmishes and a dispute over the
Shatt al-Arab waterway. This marked the beginning of a war that would
last eight years. Iraq invaded Iran striking refineries and an
oil-loading terminal on Kharg Island. The Iraqis used the political
instability in Iran to try to capture long-disputed territory. They
attacked across the Shatt al Arab River, a trunk of the great
Tigris-Euphrates river system.
(http://tinyurl.com/2n5z2f)(AP, 9/22/97)(NG, 5/88,
p.653,663)
1980 Dec 21, Iran requested $24
billion in US guarantees to free hostages.
(http://rescueattempt.tripod.com/id12.html)
1980 Dec 26, Iranian television
footage was broadcast in the United States, showing a dozen of the
American hostages sending messages to their families.
(AP, 12/26/05)
1980 US Sec. of State Alexander
Haig reported in a 1981 memo uncovered by the October Surprise Task
Force that leaders of several friendly countries in the Middle East
told him on a trip in 1981 that Jimmy Carter had given Iraq’s Saddam
Hussein the green light to invade Iran in 1980.
(WSJ, 8/9/96,
p.A11)(www.consortiumnews.com/archive/xfile5.html)
1980-1988 Iran and Iraq engaged in war. [see Sep 22,
1980] The number of casualties was estimated at well over a million.
The US provided covert battle planning assistance to Iraq.
(V.D.-H.K.p.312)(SFC, 2/24/98, p.A9)(SSFC, 8/18/02,
p.A1)
1981 Jan 19, The United States and
Iran signed an agreement paving the way for the release of 52 Americans
held hostage for more than 14 months. Iran signed after accepting a US
offer for the return of $7.9 billion in frozen assets.
(AP,
1/19/98)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran-United_States_Claims_Tribunal)
1981 Jan 20, Iran released 52
Americans held hostage for 444 days, minutes after the presidency had
passed from Jimmy Carter to Ronald Reagan.
(AP, 1/20/98)
1981 Feb 26, Three British
Anglican missionaries, detained in Iran since August 1980, were
released.
(www.cedmagic.com/museum/press/ced-timeline.html#02-1981)
1981 Jun 11, Earthquake in
southeast Iran killed at least 1,500 people.
(SFC, 3/21/98, p.A9)(AP, 6/11/03)
1981 Jun 22, In Iran Abolhassan
Bani-Sadr was dismissed from the presidency by Ayatollah Ruhollah
Khomeini. Shortly thereafter he fled to Paris, where he had lived in
exile during the reign of the Shah.
(www.80s.com/Icons/Bios/abolhassan_bani_sadr.html)
1981 Jun 28, In Tehran, Iran, a
powerful bomb exploded at the headquarters of the IRP while a meeting
of party leaders was in progress. 73 persons were killed, including the
chief justice and party secretary general Mohammad Beheshti, four
cabinet ministers and 27 Majlis deputies. The Mujahedin e-Kalq carried
out the bombing. Those killed included Premier Mohammad-Javad Bahonar
and Pres. Mohammad-Ali Rajaei.
(www.country-data.com/cgi-bin/query/r-6395.html)(WSJ, 5/8/08, p.A10)
1981 Jul, In Iran members of the
Union of Communists tried to seize control of the Caspian town of Amol.
At least seventy guerrillas and Pasdaran members were killed before the
uprising was put down.
(www.country-data.com/cgi-bin/query/r-6395.html)
1981 Aug 30, Mohammad Javad
Bahonar, prime minister of Iran, was assassinated by a bomb.
(www.country-data.com/cgi-bin/query/r-6395.html)
1981 Aug, Oliver North (b.1943)
was assigned to White House duty as Chief Middle East arms-sales
adviser to Secretary of Defense Casper W. Weinberger. He was fired on
November 25, 1986, for selling arms to Iran, and diverting Iran arms
sales proceeds to the contras.
(www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/walsh/chap_02.htm)
1981 Sep 27, In Iran the Mojahedin
used machine guns and rocket-propelled grenade launchers against units
of the Pasdaran. Smaller left-wing opposition groups, including the
Fadayan, attempted similar guerrilla activities.
(www.country-data.com/cgi-bin/query/r-6395.html)
1981 Sep, In Iran a Supreme
Judicial Council circular to the revolutionary courts permitting death
sentences for "active members" of guerrilla groups. Fifty executions a
day became routine; there were days when more than 100 persons were
executed.
(www.country-data.com/cgi-bin/query/r-6395.html)
1981 Oct 2, In Iran Hojjatoleslam
Ali Khamenehi was elected president.
(www.country-data.com/cgi-bin/query/r-6395.html)
1981 Oct 28, In Iran the Majlis
elected Mir-Hosain Musavi, a protégé of the late Mohammad
Beheshti, as prime minister.
(www.country-data.com/cgi-bin/query/r-6395.html)
1981 In Iran Ayatollah Khomeini
declared the celebration of “Al-Quds Day,” the Arabic name for
Jerusalem Day, to be held on the last day of Ramadan as an annual
denunciation of Israeli control of the holy city.
(WSJ,2/13/97, p.A18)(www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15343184/)
1981-1983 Up to 25,000 suspected opponents to
clerical rule were executed in Iran during this period according to
estimates by Amnesty Int'l.
(SFC, 2/11/04, p.A10)
1982 Apr 7, Sadegh Ghotbzadeh
(b.1936), Iran’s minister of foreign affairs, was arrested. He was
convicted of plotting against the government and executed on Sep 15.
(www.cedmagic.com/home/ced-digest/ced-digest-vol-07/ced-digest0714.html)
1982 May 25, Iranian troops
reconquered Khorramshahr.
(SC, 5/25/02)
1982 Jul 4, Four Iranians, charge
d'affaires Mohsen Musavi, diplomat Ahmad Motovasselian, photographer
Kazem Akhavan and driver Mohammad Taqi Rastgar Moghaddam, were seized
at a Lebanese Forces checkpoint north of Beirut. In 2006 Samir Geagea,
former head of the disbanded Lebanese Forces, said that they were
killed by Christian militiamen.
(AP, 5/19/06)
1982 Jul 14, Iran launched a
"Ramadan-offensive" in Iraq.
(http://tinyurl.com/3xp9jz)
1982 Sep 15, Iran's former foreign
minister, Sadegh Ghotbzadeh, was executed after he was convicted of
plotting against the government.
(AP, 9/15/97)
1982 Oct 2, A truck bomb in Tehran
killed 60 and injured 700. Authorities blamed ''American mercenaries.''
(http://tinyurl.com/2j23lb)
1982 Nov 17, In Iraq the Supreme
Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) was created to
increase Iranian control over Iraqi opposition groups belonging to the
same Shiite faith as most Iranians. In 1999 it had 4-8000 fighters in
southern Iraq.
(USAT, 3/24/99,
p.18A)(http://jamestown.org/terrorism/news/article.php?articleid=2373425)
1983 Feb 7, Iran opened an
invasion in the southeast of Iraq.
(HN, 2/7/99)
1983 Dec 12, A truck bomb exploded
at the US Embassy in Kuwait. Shiite Muslims backed by Iran drove
bomb-laden trucks into six targets. The most deadly of these struck the
US Embassy, killing five persons and wounding 62. Other trucks
destroyed the French embassy and several Kuwaiti installations
(www.danielpipes.org/article/173).
(WSJ, 4/28/05, p.A1)
1983 In Iran the Fajr Int'l. Film
Festival began. In 2004 the 22nd festival established its own web site
(www.fajrfilmfest.com).
(SFC, 2/10/04, p.D8)
1984 Feb 1, Iraq launched a new
series of air attacks on Iran’s shipping.
(www.iranchamber.com/history/iran_iraq_war/iran_iraq_war2.php)
1984 Feb 22-1984 Mar 16, Iran’s
offensive Operation Kheibar captured the Iraqi Majnoon Islands in the
Haur al-Hawizeh marshes. Britain and the US sent warships to the
Persian Gulf following an Iranian offensive against Iraq.
(HN,
2/22/98)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran-Iraq_War)
1984 Feb 29-1984 Mar 1, In one of
the largest battles of the Iran-Iraq war, the two armies clashed and
inflicted more than 25,000 fatalities on each other.
(www.iranchamber.com/history/iran_iraq_war/iran_iraq_war2.php)
1984 Mar 5, The US accused Iraq of
using poison gas against Iran. Iraq had used tabun against Iran. This
was the first use ever of a nerve agent in war.
(http://tinyurl.com/2jd895)(www.fas.org/nuke/guide/iraq/cw/program.htm)
1984 Mar 17, Iraq used tabun
against Iran. This was the first use ever of a nerve agent in a
conventional battle.
(www.fas.org/irp/gulf/cia/970409/970409_cia_95224_95224_01.html)
1984 Aug 12, In San Francisco a
driver on an apparent suicide mission smashed head-on into a packed
cable car climbing the Hyde Street hill. The driver, an Iranian alien,
was killed and at least 23 people were injured.
(SSFC, 8/2/09, DB p.42)
1984 Dec 4, A five-day hijack
drama began as four armed men seized a Kuwaiti airliner en route to
Pakistan and forced it to land in Tehran, where the hijackers killed
American passenger Charles Hegna.
(AP, 12/4/04)
1984 Dec 9, In Iran a five-day
hijack drama ended when Iranian commandos captured the Kuwaiti plane. 4
armed men had seized a Kuwaiti airliner en route to Pakistan and forced
it to land in Tehran, where the hijackers killed American passenger
Charles Hegna.
(AP, 12/4/04)
1985 Aug 15, Iraq launched its
first air raid on Iran’s Kharg oil-island.
(www.eia.doe.gov/cabs/iraqchron.html)
1985 Nov 17, Olaf Palme stopped an
illegal shipment of 80 HAWK missiles through Sweden from Israel to
Teheran, as he mediated an end of the Iran-Iraq war for the UN.
(http://www.skog.de/writers/e040831.htm)
1985 Iran began research in a
secret uranium enrichment program. From 1985 to 1997 China was Iran’s
most important nuclear partner.
(SFC, 11/28/03, p.A3)(SFC, 9/18/06, p.A1)
1986 Jan 17, President Reagan
approved a finding that authorized the sale of weapons to Iran through
third parties.
(www.thedubyareport.com/family.html)
1986 Aug 19, A car bomb killed 20
in Tehran, Iran.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Car_bomb)
1986 Oct 21, Pro-Iranian
kidnappers in Lebanon claimed to have abducted American Edward Tracy.
He was released in August 1991.
(AP, 10/21/97)
1986 Nov 3, "Ash-Shiraa," a
pro-Syrian Lebanese magazine, broke the story of U.S. arms sales to
Iran, a revelation that escalated into the Iran-Contra affair.
(AP, 11/3/97)
1986 Nov 6, The Iran
arms-for-hostages deal was revealed and damaged the Reagan
administration.
(HN, 11/6/99)
1986 Nov 10, President Ronald
Reagan refused to reveal details of the Iran arms sale.
(HN, 11/10/98)
1986 Nov 13, President Reagan
publicly acknowledged that the US had sent "defensive weapons and spare
parts" to Iran in an attempt to improve relations, but denied the
shipments were part of a deal aimed at freeing hostages in Lebanon.
(AP, 11/13/06)
1986 Nov 21, The US Justice
Department began the inquiry into the National Security Council in what
became known as the Iran-Contra scandal; Lt. Col. Oliver North shredded
important documents. Albert Hakim (d.2003) was the financial person
behind the arms-for-hostages deal.
(HN, 11/21/01)(SFC, 4/29/03, A21)
1986 Iraq’s Saddam Hussein allowed
the People's Mujahedeen, known as the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, to establish
a base, Camp Ashraf , to launch raids into Iran.
(AP, 1/23/09)
1987 Jan 7, The US House of
Representatives, by House Resolution 12, established the Select
Committee to Investigate Covert Arms Transactions with Iran. The US
Senate passed a similar resolution a day earlier. The two Chambers
instructed their respective Committees to work together and charged
them with investigating, among other things, any activity of any
officer or entity of the United States Government relating to the Iran
initiative.
(www.pinknoiz.com/covert/weinberger.html)
1987 Jan 17, A Reagan
Administration official who initiated the arms shipments to Iran,
acknowledged that the US had virtually no independent intelligence to
support its policy.
(http://tinyurl.com/py89w)
1987 Mar 4, President Reagan
addressed the nation on the Iran-Contra affair. He took full
responsibility for the affair acknowledging his overtures to Iran had
"deteriorated" into an arms-for-hostages deal. Michael Ledeen, Pentagon
employee, later authored "Perilous Statecraft: An Insider's Account of
the Iran-Contra Affair."
(AP, 3/4/98)(HN, 3/4/98)(SFC, 5/14/03, p.A19)
1987 Jul 31, Iranian pilgrims and
riot police clashed in the Muslim holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia.
The Saudi government blamed Iranians for the resulting 400 deaths.
(AP, 7/31/97)
1987 Aug 1, Iranians attacked the
Saudi Arabian and Kuwaiti embassies in Tehran as word spread of rioting
in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, a day earlier that claimed some 400 lives, most
of them Iranian pilgrims.
(AP, 8/1/97)
1987 Aug 2, More than a million
people gathered in Tehran, calling for the overthrow of the sheiks of
Saudi Arabia, where hundreds of Iranian pilgrims had died in rioting in
the Muslim holy city of Mecca.
(AP, 8/2/97)
1987 Aug 8, In the Persian Gulf, a
US Navy F-14 "Tomcat" fighter fired two missiles at an Iranian jet
approaching an unarmed U.S. scout plane. Both missiles missed their
target and the Iranian plane flew off.
(AP, 8/8/97)
1987 Aug 25, Saudi Arabia
denounced Iran's government as a "group of terrorists," and said its
forces would deal firmly with any Iranian attempts to attack the
Saudis' Muslim holy places or vast oil fields.
(AP, 8/25/97)
1987 Aug, Mehdi Hashemi, Iranian
aid of Ayatollah Khomeini, was tried for being “at enmity with God” and
“corrupt on earth.” Hashemi was sentenced to death and executed in
September.
(http://tinyurl.com/hra7a)
1987 Sep 28, Mehdi Hashemi,
Iranian aid of Ayatollah Khomeini, was shot for treason.
(http://openweb.tvnews.vanderbilt.edu/1987-9/1987-09-28-CBS-9.html)
1987 Oct 8, US helicopter gunships
in the Persian Gulf sank three Iranian patrol boats after an American
observation helicopter was fired on. Two of six Iranian crewmen taken
from the water later died.
(AP, 10/8/97)
1987 Oct 16, In the Persian Gulf,
an Iranian missile hit a re-flagged Kuwaiti ship in the first direct
attack on the tanker fleet guarded by the U.S.
(AP, 10/16/97)
1987 Oct 18, President Reagan
summoned congressional leaders to the White House to announce he had
decided on what action to take in response to an Iranian missile attack
on a US-flagged tanker off Kuwait two days earlier. The next day, US
destroyers bombarded an Iranian offshore oil rig.
(AP, 10/18/97)
1987 Oct 19, US Navy warships
disabled the 1st of 3 Iranian oil platforms in the Persian Gulf in
retaliation for an Iranian missile attack on a U.S.-flagged tanker off
Kuwait. [see Apr 18, 1988]
(AP, 10/19/97)(HN, 10/19/02)
1987 Oct 22, The US Navy
acknowledged that it had deployed 5 dolphins to the Persian Gulf to
search for Iranian mines.
(http://tinyurl.com/g9o9d)
1987 Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Iranian
director, made his film "The Peddler," described by Film Comment as the
strongest hell-on-earth film since “Taxi driver.”
(SFC, 5/14/97, p.E1)
1987 The film “Where Is the
Friend’s Home” was directed by Abbas Kiarostami.
(SFEC, 4/23/00, DB p.52)
1987 The Baha’i Institute of
Higher Education began following the virtual banning of Bahais from
Iranian universities after the Islamic revolution of 1979.
(SFC, 10/30/98, p.A20)
1987 Iran acquired centrifuge
designs for a uranium enrichment program that was similar to technology
used in Pakistan.
(SFC, 11/28/03, p.A3)
1988 Feb 11, Iran launched a
campaign to retake the Fao Peninsula from Iraq with US planning
assistance. Chemical weapons were used in the attack.
(SSFC, 8/18/02,
p.A12)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Faw_Peninsula)
1988 Mar 1, Iraq said it had fired
16 missiles into Tehran in the first long-range rocket attack on the
Iranian capital since the Iran-Iraq war began.
(AP, 3/1/98)
1988 Mar 16-1988 Mar 17, Iraqi
jets dropped a variety of chemical weapons on the Kurdish town of
Halabja and some 5-7,000 residents were killed immediately. The Kurdish
city of Halabja, held by Iranian troops and Iraqi Kurdish guerrillas
allied with Tehran, was bombed by Iraq. Estimates of casualties varied
from several hundred to several thousand.
(SFC, 7/1/02,
p.A6)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halabja_poison_gas_attack)
1988 Apr 5 A 15-day hijacking
ordeal began as gunmen forced a Kuwait Airways jumbo jet to land in
Iran.
(AP, 5/5/97)
1988 Apr 17, The
newly-restructured Iraqi Army began a major operation named "Ramadan
Mubarak" aimed to clear the Iranians out of the peninsula. The Iranians
were expelled from the peninsula within 35 hours, with much of their
equipment captured intact.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Faw_Peninsula)
1988 Apr 18, The United States
destroyed two more Iraqi oil platforms, after a mine in the Persian
Gulf injured 10 crewmen aboard a U.S. frigate. In 2003 a World Court in
a 14-2 decision ruled the US was wrong but doesn't need to pay damages.
(AP, 11/7/03)
1988 Jul 3, The US Navy USS
Vincennes shot down an Iranian Airbus A-300 in the Persian Gulf from
the cruiser ship Vincennes shortly after it took off from Bandar Abbas
for Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. All 290 people aboard were
killed after the crew of the Vincennes misidentified the plane as an
Iranian F-14 fighter. In 1996 the US paid $131.8 million in
compensation of which half would go directly to the families of the
people killed. Iran filed suit in World Court in 1989 and settled out
of court in Feb, 1996.
(WSJ, 2/23/96, p.A-1)(SFC, 4/26/96, p.A-14)(AP
7/3/97)(AP, 7/03/10)
1988 Jul 8, Iran's parliamentary
speaker, Hashemi Rafsanjani, said his nation would not seek revenge
against the United States for shooting down an Iranian jetliner over
the Persian Gulf, killing 290 people.
(AP, 7/8/98)
1988 Jul 14, Speaking before the
U.N. Security Council, Iran's foreign minister, Ali-Akbar Velayati,
denounced the U.S. downing of an Iranian jetliner as "a barbaric
massacre." Vice President Bush replied that the U.S.S. Vincennes had
fired in self-defense.
(AP, 7/14/98)
1988 Jul 22, Iran and Iraq said
they would send their foreign ministers to New York to meet with U.N.
Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar, after Iran said it would
accept a U.N. cease-fire resolution.
(AP, 7/22/98)
1988 Jul 23, Iran accused Iraq of
pushing deep into Iranian territory and using chemical weapons. The
March 16 Iraqi chemical attack at Halabja killed thousands and in 1999
was still causing genetic damage and deaths.
(AP, 7/23/97)(USAT, 3/24/99, p.18A)
1988 Jul 26, U.N. Secretary
General Javier Perez de Cuellar met twice with Iran's foreign minister
in the first formal talks about a cease-fire for the eight-year war
between Iran and Iraq.
(AP, 7/26/98)
1988 Jul 27, U.N. Secretary
General Javier Perez de Cuellar held separate peace talks with the
foreign ministers of Iraq and Iran on a cease-fire in the
eight-year-old Persian Gulf war.
(AP, 7/27/98)
1988 Aug 1, Iran said it would
honor an immediate cease-fire in its eight-year-old war with Iraq.
(AP, 8/1/98)
1988 Aug 7, Iranian Foreign
Minister Ali Akbar Velayati signaled his government's acceptance of
Iraq's modified peace proposal aimed at bringing about a cease-fire in
the Persian Gulf.
(AP, 8/7/98)
1988 Aug 8, U.N. Secretary-General
Javier Perez de Cuellar announced a cease-fire between Iran and Iraq.
(SFC, 2/24/98, p.A9)(AP, 8/8/98)
1988 Aug 20, A cease fire between
Iran and Iraq took effect after 8 years of war.
(www.un.org/Depts/dpko/dpko/co_mission/uniimogbackgr.html)
1988 Aug 25, Iran and Iraq
began talks to end their 8 year war.
(www.un.org/Depts/dpko/dpko/co_mission/uniimogbackgr.html)
1988 Nov 26, Kazem Sami, leader of
a liberal Islamic movement, was murdered.
(SFC, 12/10/98, p.C2)
1988 The film “The Cyclist” was
directed by Mohsen Makhmalbaf. It was about an Afghani refugee who
raises money for his dying wife by riding a bicycle for 7 days as
people bet on him.
(SFEC, 4/23/00, DB p.52)
1988 Iran began paying unrelated
living donors for their kidneys. After 11 years it had eliminated its
kidney transplant waiting list.
(Econ, 10/11/08, p.81)
1989 Feb 14, Iran's Ayatollah
Khomeini called on Muslims to kill Salman Rushdie, author of "The
Satanic Verses," a novel condemned as blasphemous. Several translators
of the book were later killed or wounded.
(TMC, 1994, p.1989)(SFEC, 8/31/97, p.A2)(AP, 2/14/99)
1989 Feb 17, Iran's President Ali
Khamenei said Salman Rushdie, author of "The Satanic Verses," could
save himself from a death sentence pronounced by Ayatollah Khomeini if
he were to apologize for his book, which was regarded as blasphemous.
(AP, 2/17/99)
1989 Feb 19, Iran's Ayatollah
Khomeini rejected the apology of "Satanic Verses" author Salman
Rushdie, exhorting Muslims to "send him to hell" for committing
blasphemy.
(AP, 2/19/99)
1989 Feb 20, Members of the
European Economic Community decided to withdraw their top diplomats
from Iran to protest Ayatollah Khomeini's order for Muslims to kill
author Salman Rushdie.
(AP, 2/20/99)
1989 Feb 21, President Bush called
Ayatollah Khomeini's death warrant against "Satanic Verses" author
Salman Rushdie "deeply offensive to the norms of civilized behavior."
(AP, 2/21/99)
1989 Feb 22, Iran's Ayatollah
Khomeini, who had sentenced author Salman Rushdie to death, said
economic sanctions would not change his stance, and that publication of
Rushdie's "The Satanic Verses" was a sign from God that Iran should not
reach out to the West.
(AP, 2/22/99)
1989 Feb 24, Writer Salman Rushdie
was sentenced to death by the Iranian government for writing Satanic
Verses.
(HN, 2/24/99)
1989 Mar 7, Britain dropped
diplomatic relations with Iran over Salmon Rushdie's book.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Satanic_Verses_(novel))
1989 Jun 3, Ayatollah Ruhollah
Khomeini (89), Iran's spiritual and supreme leader, died.
(AP, 6/3/97)(SFC, 8/15/97, p.A15)
1989 Jun 20, Soviet President
Mikhail S. Gorbachev greeted the speaker of Iran's parliament, Hashemi
Rafsanjani, who was visiting Moscow.
(AP, 6/20/99)
1989 Jul 13, Abdul Rahman
Qassemlu, Kurd leader in Iran, was murdered.
(http://tinyurl.com/ecm98)
1989 Aug 3, Hashemi Rafsanjani was
sworn in as president of Iran.
(AP, 8/3/99)
1989 Aug 4, Iranian President
Hashemi Rafsanjani offered to help end the hostage crisis in Lebanon,
prompting President Bush to say he was "encouraged."
(AP, 8/4/99)
1989 Nov 3, A Lebanese magazine
reported that the United States had been secretly selling arms to Iran
in the hope of securing the release of American hostages held by
pro-Iranian groups in Lebanon. This was the start of the Iran Contra
Scandal.
(MC, 11/3/01)
1989 Nov 4, Iran marked the 10th
anniversary of the seizure of the U.S. Embassy.
(AP, 11/4/99)
1989 Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali
Montazeri protested the execution of thousands of political prisoners.
This frustrated Ayatollah Khomeini and caused him to dump Montazeri as
heir apparent.
(WSJ, 1/13/98, p.A20)
1990 Mar 15, Iraq executed
London-based journalist Farzad Bazoft, claiming he was a spy.
(AP, 3/15/00)
1990 Jun 21, An estimated 50,000
Iranians were killed in a magnitude 7.3 to 7.7 earthquake. The
earthquake killed some 35,000 people in Gilan and neighboring Zanjan
province.
(SFC, 3/1/97, p.C1)(AP, 6/21/00)(AP, 6/22/02)
1990 Jun 27, Salman Rushdie,
condemned to death by Iran, contributed $8600 to help their earthquake
victims.
(SC, 6/27/02)
1990 Sep 10, Iran agreed to resume
full diplomatic ties with onetime enemy Iraq.
(AP, 9/10/00)
1990 Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Iranian
director, made his film "Time of Love," a depiction of adultery in
three segments.
(SFC, 5/14/97, p.E6)
1990 The Fertility Regulation
Council was established.
(SFC, 5/15/98, p.D2)
1990 Kazem Rajavi, exiled Iranian
opposition leader, was shot to death in Geneva.
(AP, 4/9/06)
1991 Jan 28, The US military
reported that more than 60 Iraqi fighter-bombers had taken refuge in
Iran, where they were impounded by the Iranian government.
(AP, 1/28/01)
1991 Apr 1, Iran released British
hostage Roger Cooper after 5 years.
(OTD)
1991 Aug 6, Former Iranian PM
Shahpour Bakhtiar and his chief of staff were killed in Bakhtiar’s
residence outside Paris. Their bodies were found 2 days later. In 1994
Ali Vakili Rad was arrested in Switzerland and sentenced to life in
prison for stabbing Shapour Bakhtiar to death. In 2010 France issued a
deportation order to send Rad back to Iran shortly after Tehran freed a
young French academic accused of spying.
(AP, 8/8/01)(AP, 5/17/10)
1991 Oct 7, Former assistant
secretary of state Elliott Abrams pleaded guilty to withholding
information from Congress in the Iran-Contra scandal.
(www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/walsh/summpros.htm)
1991 Dec 13, Iran’s Pres. Akbar
Hashemi Rafsanjani visited Sudan with some 157 officials. He signed
agreements to train Sudan’s Popular Defense Forces, a version of Iran’s
Revolutionary Guards, and agreed to pay China $300 million for weapons
ordered for Sudan.
(Econ, 4/4/09, p.50)(http://tinyurl.com/d6ruxp)
1991 In Iran Majid Majidi directed
his film “Baduk.” It was about children kidnapped by a slave trader.
(SFC, 7/9/02, p.D2)
1991 The Iranian film "The Legend
of Sigh" was directed by Tamineh Milani.
(SFEC, 11/28/99, DB p.57)
1991 Iran’s government began
fighting elements of the Mujahedeen-e Khalq (MEK).
(WSJ, 7/11/96, p.A10)
1991 142 aircraft were flown to
Iran from Iraq to escape destruction at the outset of the Gulf War.
Tehran repainted the planes and used them for its own forces. In 1997
Iraq appealed to the UN for help in getting the planes back.
(WSJ, 9/23/97, p.A1)
1991 Iran’s first nuclear reactor
was supplied by China.
(SFC, 9/18/06, p.A1)
1992 Apr, The Iranian Mujahedeen-e
Khalq (MEK), a militant opposition group, attacked Iranian assets in 13
countries simultaneously.
(WSJ, 7/11/96,
p.A10)(http://complete911timeline.org/entity.jsp?entity=mujahedeen-e_khalq)
1992 Sep, In Germany Sadiq
Sarafkindi and three other exiled Iranian Kurdish dissidents were slain
at the Mykonos restaurant in Berlin. In 1997 a German court concluded
that the murders were sponsored by the top political leadership of Iran
and orchestrated by a secretive “Committee for special Operations,” and
carried out by the Iranian Vevak security service.
(SFC, 4/11/97, p.A1)
1992 Nov 4, Iran's Islamic
Republic News Agency announced the arrest of American businessman
Milton Meier, who had lived in Iran for 17 years, on charges of illegal
business dealings and espionage.
(AP, 11/4/97)
1992 Nov 23, Iran added a
Russian-built submarine to its navy, becoming the first Gulf nation to
field a submarine.
(AP, 11/23/02)
1993 Mar 16, Mohammed Hussein
Nagdi, Iran diplomat, resistance fighter, was murdered in Rome, Italy.
(http://farrid.20m.com/sr.html)
1993 New laws withdrew food
coupons and subsidized health insurance from families after the birth
of a 3rd child.
(SFC, 5/15/98, p.D2)
1994 Jul 18, In Buenos Aires a
terrorist attack killed 86 (96) people at the city’s Jewish Center, the
Argentine Israelite Mutual Aid Society (AMIA). Some 300 people were
injured. In 1996 three senior policemen and a retired officer were
charged in connection to the bombing. Iran denied any role. Police
inspector, Juan Jose Ribelli, accepted a $2.5 million several days
before the attack for providing the car in which the bomb exploded. It
was later revealed that he and his colleagues sold protection to car
thieves in return for stolen goods. In 2000 Ahmad Behbahani (32) told a
60 Minutes journalist from a refugee camp in Turkey that Iran was
behind the 1994 bombing in Argentina. In 2002 it was reported that Iran
paid Pres. Menem $10 million to cover up Iran’s involvement. In 2004 a
federal court acquitted 5 men of being accessories to the bombing.
(SFC, 7/15/96, p.A12)(WSJ, 8/1/96 p.A1)(WSJ,
11/24/97, p.A1)(SFC,12/9/97, p.B10)(HN, 7/18/98)(SFC, 6/6/00,
p.A10)(SFC, 7/22/02, p.A1)(SFC, 9/3/04, p.A18)(NYT, 10/8/04, p.A12)
1994 A 2-hr pre-nuptial class was
made mandatory for all couples planning marriage.
(SFC, 5/15/98, p.D2)
1995 Mar 15, President Clinton
issued an executive order formally blocking a $1 billion contract
between Conoco and Iran to develop a huge offshore oil tract in the
Persian Gulf.
(AP, 3/15/00)
1995 Apr 30, President Clinton
announced he would end U.S. trade and investment with Iran, denouncing
the Tehran government as "inspiration and paymaster to terrorists."
(AP, 4/30/00)
1995 May 4, An Iranian nuclear
official said spent fuel from Iran's Russian-made reactors, potential
raw material for nuclear bombs, would be returned to Russia for
safeguarding.
(AP, 5/4/00)
1995 The Iranian film "Pari" was
produced. It was directed by Dariush Mehrjui and adopted from J.D.
Salinger’s “Franny and Zooey.” UD showing was barred in 1998 due to
copyright.
(SFC, 11/23/98, p.E2)
1995 The film “The Snowman” was
directed by Davoud Mirbaqeri. It was about an Iranian man who dresses
as a woman in order to obtain an American visa.
(SFEC, 4/23/00, DB p.52)
1995 Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Iranian
director, made his film “Salaam Cinema.” He used a documentary
technique to make his film on auditioning actors.
(SFC, 5/14/97, p.E6)
1995 The film "The White Balloon"
was directed by Jafar Panahi of Iran.
(SFC, 1/30/98, p.E17)
1995 Iran awarded a $1 billion
contract to the American oil firm Conoco, but US Pres. Clinton scuttled
the deal and subsequently banned US companies from most forms of
trading with Iran. He accused Tehran of continued support for
international terrorism. Iran then awarded the oil contract to the
French firm Total.
(SFC, 4/14/96, p.A-14)
1995 The Taliban regained Herat
and Tajik commander Ismail Khan fled for exile in Iran. Khan returned
in 1997 and was captured by the Taliban and imprisoned for nearly 3
years.
(SFC, 11/13/01, p.A2)
1995 Alireza Azmandian, US
educated engineer, returned to Iran to teach at Tehran Univ. and opened
a private office to promote positive thinking and self-help. By 2008 he
had published 2 self-help books and his business, The Center for
Technology of Thought, occupied an entire floor of a commercial
building.
(WSJ, 6/30/08, p.A1)
1996 Jan 30, Iran tested a Chinese
missile designed to attack ships by flying under their radar and could
be fired from boats with a range of miles.
(WSJ, 1/30/96, p.A-12)
1996 Apr 27, The southern Iranian
town of Baft, 350 miles Southeast of Tehran, was invaded by
millions of cockroaches, locusts, and grasshoppers.
(SFC, 4/27/96, p.A-7)
1996 May 14, Turkmenistan and Iran
opened a rail link.
(WSJ, 5/14/96, p.A-1)
1996 Jul 9, "The Iranians: Persia,
Islam and the Soul of a Nation" by Sandra Mackey was reviewed and
panned by Abbas Milani, author of "Tales of Two Cities: A Persian
Memoir."
(SFC, 7/9/96, p.B4)
1996 Jul 13, Tehran, Iran, has
been invaded by thousands of lizards and snakes over the past three
months. Military exercises nearby or rising levels of groundwater have
been cited as possible reasons.
(SFC, 7/13/96, p.A10)
1996 Aug 12, Iran and Turkey
agreed to connect their power networks.
(WSJ, 8/13/96, p.A7)
1996 Sep 24, Iran expected
delivery of its 3rd Russian-made submarine within 6 months, as part of
its navy buildup in the Persian Gulf.
(SFC, 9/24/96, p.A14)
1996 Sep, Iran delivered at least
$500,000 to Bosnian Pres. Alija Izetbegovic for his campaign.
(SFC, 12/31/96, p.A10)
1996 Nov 5, Government officials
announced that a gas pipeline would begin to be built in March to carry
gas from Iran to Turkey.
(SFC, 11/6/96, p.A25)
1996 Dec 5, The Parliament passed
legislation that banned the use of foreign words and names in the
country. Only Farsi language names would be allowed.
(WSJ, 12/6/96, p.A12)
1996 The US passed the Iran-Libya
Sanctions Act (ILSA). It barred US and foreign investments of more than
$40 million in the development of Iran’s energy sector.
(SFEC, 7/27/97, p.D8)
1997 Feb 1, In Iran 5 people were
killed and 44 injured when worshipers stampeded at the entrance to a
mosque in Kermanshah.
(SFC, 2/3/97, p.C3)
1997 Feb 4, In northeastern Iran 2
earthquakes with aftershocks killed at least 72 people. Some 43
villages were damaged. Another quake followed the next day.
(SFC, 2/5/97, p.A9)(SFC, 2/6/97, p.A1)
1997 Feb 28, A 6.1 earthquake at
Ardebil in northwest Iran struck at 4:27 p.m. local time. The quake
damaged 83 villages and killed at least 500 people.
(SFC, 3/1/97, p.C1)(SFEC, 3/2/97, p.A15)
1997 Mar 1, Rescue teams fought
snow, high winds and wild dogs as they tried to bring help to an
earthquake-devastated region in northwest Iran, where the death toll
was estimated at 3,000.
(AP, 3/1/98)
1997 Mar 14, A C-130 military
cargo plane crashed near Mashad in northeastern Iran and all 86 people
aboard were believed killed.
(SFC, 3/15/97, p.A19)
1997 May 10, A 7.1 earthquake hit
in northeastern Iraq centered on the town of Qaen. More than 2,400
people were reported killed. The death toll was reduced to 1,560 with
60,000 left homeless.
(SFEC, 5/11/97, p.A1)(WSJ, 5/12/97, p.A1)(SFC,
5/14/97, p.A10)
1997 May 23, In Iran presidential
elections put conservative speaker Ali Akbar Nateq Nouri against
left-leaning cleric Mohammad Khatami (54). Former Culture Minister
Mohammad Khatemi won in a landslide over hard-liners in the ruling
Muslim clergy.
(WSJ, 3/20/97, p.A12)(AP, 5/23/98)(SFEC,
5/25/97, p.1)
1997 Jun 22, Iran and Iraq opened
their border after 17 years and asked the UN for an inspection post
there, giving Iraq a 4th exit point for its goods.
(WSJ, 6/27/97, p.A11)
1997 Aug 13, In Tehran Ali Reza
Khoshruy Kuran Kordiyeh (“the vampire”) was flogged and hung for the
rape, murder and burning of 9 women in a crime spree that began in
March.
(SFC, 8/14/97, p.C3)
1997 Aug 23, Pres. Khatami
appointed the first woman vice-president, Masoumeh Ebtekar, and ended
an 18-year ban on commercial flights to Saudi Arabia.
(WSJ, 8/25/97, p.A1)(SFC, 5/28/98, p.A8)
1997 Sep 29, Iranian warplanes
bombed anti-Tehran rebel bases inside Iraq.
(WSJ, 9/30/97, p.A1)
1997 Sep 29, Turkish planes
attacked Kurdish rebel positions in northern Iraq and drove the
guerrillas toward the Iran border.
(WSJ, 9/30/97, p.A1)
1997 Oct 3, US Defense Sec.
William Cohen ordered the Nimitz Carrier Battle Group to the Persian
Gulf as a warning to Iran and Iraq to stop incursions into the
US-enforced “no-fly” zone in southern Iraq.
(SFC, 10/4/97, p.A8)
1997 Nov, Grand Ayatollah Hossein
Ali Montazeri criticized the hard-line religious leadership. The
authorities shut him off from contact with supporters.
(WSJ, 1/13/98, p.A20)
1997 Dec 8, In Iran leaders of the
55-member Organization of the Islamic Conference gathered to overcome
historic divisions and promote Islamic solidarity.
(SFC,12/9/97, p.B3)
1997 Dec 11, The 55-member
Organization of the Islamic conference ended their meeting in Iran with
the declaration that “the killing of innocents is strictly forbidden in
Islam.” The group also called for full respect for the dignity and
rights of Muslim women and criticized Israel for “state terrorism.”
(SFC,12/12/97, p.B2)
1997 Dec 14, Iran's new president,
Mohammad Khatami, called for a dialogue with the people of the United
States -- a nation reviled by his predecessors as "The Great Satan."
(AP, 12/14/98)
1997 Dec 29, Turkmenistan and Iran
activated a key 125 mile gas pipeline. Plans were to make it part of a
network to Europe but for now the gas was only bound to northeastern
Iran.
(SFC,12/30/97, p.B2)
1997 The film "Gabbeh" by Mohsen
Makhmalbaf was in Farsi and set in southeastern Iran.
(SFC, 9/29/97, p.E2)
1997 The Iranian film "A Moment of
Innocence" was shown at the SF Film Festival. It was based on a 1974
incident where the director, Mohsen Makmalbaf, tried to disarm one of
the Shah’s police.
(SFC, 4/23/97, p.D1)
1997 The film “Taste of Cherry”
was directed by Abbas Kiarostami. It was about a man looking for
someone to bury him.
(SFEC, 4/23/00, DB p.52)
1997 The US State Dept. designated
the Iranian National Liberation Army (NLA), the armed wing of the
Mujahedeen-e Khalq (MEK), a terrorist organization.
(SFC, 5/6/00, p.A14)
1997 Iran carried out 199
executions in this year.
(SFC, 4/23/98, p.A13)
1998 Jan 7, Pres. Mohhamad Khatami
endorsed cultural relations with the US but no political ties in a
preliminary effort to “crack the wall” of hostility between the two
countries.
(SFC, 1/8/98, p.A12)
1998 Feb 17, An Iranian crowd
cheered as U.S. wrestlers carried the Stars and Stripes into an
international meet in Tehran.
(AP, 2/17/99)
1998 Feb, Iran began to close down
shipments of illicit Iraqi oil.
(SFC, 3/16/98, p.A8)
1998 Mar 14, In Iran a 6.4
earthquake hit in the southeast and at least 5 people were killed and
thousands left homeless.
(SFEC, 3/15/98, p.A22)(AP, 3/14/99)
1998 Apr 2, Iran and Iraq began a
war prisoner exchange involving nearly 6000 men, mostly Iraqis.
(WSJ, 4/3/98, p.A1)
1998 Apr 4,Gholamhossein
Karbaschi, the mayor of Tehran, was arrested by the judiciary on
charges of corruption. He was convicted and began a 2 year sentence in
May 1999.
(SFC, 4/798, p.A12)(WSJ, 5/7/99, p.A1)
1998 Apr 5, Iran and Iraq
exchanged 1,589 prisoners of war, bringing the number to over 4,000. Up
to 30,000 prisoners were thought to be held by both sides.
(SFC, 4/6/98, p.A16)
1998 Apr 10, An earthquake in the
northeast killed 12 people and left 1,500 homeless in the Khorasan
province.
(SFEC, 4/12/98, p.A16)
1998 Apr 14, The Clinton
administration agreed to create a Persian-language radio service to
transmit anti-government propaganda into Iran. $1 million was also
pledged to Voice of America for non-propaganda Persian-language
programming. Radio Azadi (Radio Liberty) initially broadcast for 3
hours daily from Prague, Czechoslovakia. In 2002 the name was changed
to Radio Farda and programming increased to a 24-hour cycle.
(SFC, 4/15/98, p.A12)(WSJ, 6/13/08, p.A10)
1998 Apr 15, Mayor Karbaschi of
Tehran was freed from prison on bail.
(SFC, 4/16/98, p.A12)
1998 Apr 22, The UN Commission on
Human Rights called on Iran to halt torture, amputations and stonings.
(SFC, 4/23/98, p.A13)
1998 May 15, The population was
estimated at 63 million.
(SFC, 5/15/98, p.D2)
1998 Jun 20, Iran reversed its
opposition to a UN plan, passed the previous day, permitting Iraq to
spend $300 million of revenues from the oil-for-food program to buy
spare parts to rebuild its oil industry.
(SFEC, 6/21/98, p.A25)
1998 Jun 21, In the soccer World
Cup Iran knocked out the US team 2-1.
(SFC, 6/22/98, p.A8)
1998 Jul 11, Mayor Karbaschi gave
a 4-hour defense statement at the close of his trial in Tehran. He was
accused of misappropriating public funds.
(SFEC, 7/12/98, p.A17)
1998 Jul 22, Iran conducted a
successful Shahab 3 missile test with a medium-range of 800 miles.
(SFC, 7/23/98, p.A1)(SFEC, 11/1/98, p.A23)
1998 Jul 23, Tehran’s Mayor
Karbaschi was convicted and sentenced to 5 years in prison for
corruption.
(WSJ, 7/24/98, p.A1)
1998 Jul 27, It was reported that
Russia and Iran were supporting The Northern Alliance of rebel groups
fighting against the Taliban.
(SFC, 7/27/98, p.A9)
1998 Jul, Iraq and Iran agreed to
allow 12,000 Iranians to visit shrines in Iraq each month.
(SFEC, 8/16/98, p.A24)
1998 Aug 8, The first daily
newspaper dedicated to women’s issues, the daily Zan, was launched by
Faezeh Hashemi. She was the daughter of former Pres. Akbar Hashemi
Rafsanjani.
(SFEC, 8/9/98, p.A16)
1998 Aug 8, In Afghanistan the
Taliban overran Mazar-i-Sharif and killed 9 of 11 diplomats from Iran.
8 of the dead were diplomats, the 9th was a journalist.
(SFC, 9/11/98, p.D4)(SFC, 9/18/98, p.D8)
1998 Sep 2, Iran began war games
with 70,000 soldiers near the Afghanistan border.
(SFC, 9/3/98, p.C2)
1998 Sep 10, US wrestler Sam
Henson took first place in the World Wrestling Championships in Iran.
He defeated Namik Abdullavev of Azerbaijan. Iranians stood for the US
anthem for the first time in 19 years.
(SFC, 9/11/98, p.D4)
1998 Sep 22, In NYC Mohammad
Khatami, Pres. of Iran, said that the 10-year fatwa (religious edict
for the death of Rushdie) dispute over author Salman Rushdie is
“completely finished.”
(SFC, 9/23/98, p.A11)(SFC, 9/25/98, p.A13)
1998 Sep 28, Two senior Iranian
clerics claimed that the $2.5 million reward for Rushdie’s death was a
fatwa that must be enforced.
(SFC, 9/29/98, p.A10)
1998 Sep 29, In Iran security
officials raided homes and offices of members of the Baha’i faith. It
was an effort to shut down the Bahai Institute of Higher Education.
(SFC, 10/30/98, p.A20)
1998 Oct 5, In Iran the Islamic
authorities told a group of writers to give up efforts to reactivate an
independent association of authors.
(SFC, 10/6/98, p.A12)
1998 Oct 7, It was reported that
Mehdi Mozaffari, an Iranian scholar at the Univ. of Aarhus in Denmark,
had published “Fatwa: Violence and Discourtesy.” He made the case that
there was never a true fatwa (religious edict) issued by Ayatollah
Khomeini against Salman Rushdie.
(SFC, 10/7/98, p.A10)
1998 Oct 7, The 12-member Guardian
Council published the list of candidates eligible to run for the
Assembly of Experts. The experts select Iran’s spiritual leader. 126
were approved of 396 who applied for the Oct 23 elections.
(SFC, 10/8/98, p.C16)
1998 Oct 8, Iran border troops
claimed a victory and said it inflicted heavy casualties over Taliban
militia. The Taliban denied any fighting.
(USAT, 10/9/98, p.14A)
1998 Oct 12, In Iran the Khordad
Foundation raised its reward for the killing of Salman Rushdie to $2.8
million.
(SFC, 10/13/98, p.A11)
1998 Oct 23, Voters selected the
86-member Assembly of Experts, who in turn will select the
supreme leader of the country. Candidates for the Assembly were tested
and graded on Islamic law by the 12-member Council of Guardians, who
were in turn appointed by the supreme leader. The turnout was low and
Conservatives won at least 54 of the 86 seats.
(WSJ, 10/22/98, p.A1)(SFC, 10/24/98, p.A14)(SFC,
10/26/98, p.A7)
1998 Nov 13, A village was leveled
in Fars province and 5 people were killed after 5 strong earthquakes
hit the area.
(SFC, 11/21/98, p.A6)
1998 Nov 22, Dariush Forouhar and
his wife Parvenah were found stabbed to death in their home in Tehran.
He was the leader of the nationalist Iran Nation Party and they were
outspoken critics of the Islamic government. In 2000 former agents of
the Intelligence Ministry confessed to playing roles in the 1998
killings of 4 writers and dissidents.
(SFC, 11/24/98, p.A14)(SFC, 1/3/01, p.A12)
1998 Dec 7, Pres. Clinton
announced the removal of Iran from the list of drug problem countries
due to an energetic campaign to eliminate opium poppies.
(SFC, 12/8/98, p.A12)
1998 Dec 9, In Iran the body of
Mohammed Mokhtari, a prominent writer missing for a week, was found. It
appeared that he was murdered by strangulation. Shortly later Mohammad
Jafar Pouyandeh (45), another dissident writer, was reported missing.
Pouyandeh was later found murdered.
(SFC, 12/10/98, p.C2)(SFC, 12/11/98, p.A22)(SFC,
12/15/98, p.A14)
1998 Dec 14, Authorities arrested
several suspects in the recent string of murders of opposition figures.
Pirouz Davani, leader of the United Left, and Rostami Hamedani, an
activist with Davani, were reported missing.
(SFC, 12/15/98, p.A14)
1998 Dec 17, US and British forces
launched more missiles on the 2nd day of attacks against Iraq. The
strikes included some 100 cruise missiles with 2,000 pound warheads. At
least 25 people were killed and 75 injured over 2 days. Pres. Boris
Yeltsin withdrew the Russian ambassador from Washington and demanded an
immediate end to military action. France and Italy expressed strong
opposition while Germany rallied to support the US and Britain. A stray
US missile hit Khorramshahr, Iran. The US later apologized.
(SFC, 12/18/98, p.A1,3)(SFC, 12/21/98, p.A20)
1998 Dec 21, The World Association
of Newspapers awarded the 1999 Golden Pen of Freedom award to exiled
Iranian writer Faraj Sarkuhi, former editor of the cultural journal
Adineh.
(SFC, 12/22/98, p.C4)
1998 The Iranian film "Children of
Heaven" starred Mir Farrokh Hashemian and was directed by Majid Majidi
and was nominated for an Oscar
(WSJ, 1/22/99, p.W3)(SFC, 2/5/99, p.C3)(SFEC,
11/28/99, DB p.56)
1998 The Iranian film "The Mirror"
starred Mina Mohammad-Khani and was directed by Jafar Panahi. It was
about a young girl lost on the streets of Tehran.
(SFC, 1/15/99, p.D6)
1998 The Iranian film "Two Women"
was directed by Tahmineh Milani.
(SFC, 3/24/00, p.C3)
1998 Christiane Bird, writer for
the NY Daily News, spent 3 months in Iran and in 2001 authored her
travelogue “”Neither East Nor West.”
(WSJ, 4/27/01, p.W12)
1999 Jan 3, Some 327,000
registered as candidates to the 200,000 local posts for the Feb 26
elections, the first since the 1979 revolution.
(WSJ, 1/5/98, p.A1)
1999 Jan 5, In Iran the
Intelligence Ministry said that rogue intelligence officers were
responsible for 5 killings last year of government critics.
(SFC, 1/6/99, p.A6)
1999 Feb 9, In Iran the head of
the intelligence ministry, Qorbanali Dorri-Najafabadi, resigned along
with 3 deputies due to last year's killings of dissident writers and
politicians.
(SFC, 2/10/99, p.A10)
1999 Feb 11, Pres. Khatami marked
the 20th anniversary of the revolution that toppled the shah and called
for reduction of tensions with the outside world.
(SFC, 2/12/99, p.A17)
1999 Feb 24, In Iran 3 Kurds died
while fighting police during a protest over the capture of Ocalan.
(WSJ, 2/25/99, p.A1)
1999 Feb 25, In Iran Pres. Khatami
supported 50 candidates that hard-liners attempted to disqualify from
local elections.
(SFC, 2/26/99, p.E3)
1999 Feb 26, Elections were
planned for cities, towns and village councils. These were the first
elections since the 1979 revolution.
(WSJ, 12/29/98, p.A1)
1999 Mar 11, Pope John Paul II met
with Mohammad Khatami of Iran.
(SFC, 3/12/99, p.A14)
1999 Apr 10, In Iran Gen'l. Ali
Sayyad Shirazi, deputy chief of the joint staff command of the Iranian
armed forces, was gunned down in front of his home in Tehran by men
dressed as city cleaners. The murder was attributed to terrorists, a
euphemism for the opposition Mujahedeen-e Khalq (MEK). In 2007 French
judicial authorities said they have the authority to investigate the
case because the political wing of the People's Mujahedeen is based in
Auvers-Sur-Oise, north of Paris.
(SFEC, 4/11/99, p.A11)(AP, 9/18/07)
1999 Apr 22, The Parliament began
proceedings to impeach culture minister Ayatollah Mohajerani for
excessive media freedom.
(SFC, 4/23/99, p.D3)
1999 Apr 28, The US announced that
it would allow US firms to sell food and medicine to Iran, Sudan and
Libya.
(SFC, 4/29/99, p.A3)
1999 Apr, 13 members of the Jewish
community in Fars province were detained on charges of spying for the
US and Israel.
(SFC, 6/9/99, p.C4)
1999 May 7, A series of
earthquakes hit southern Iran and at least 26 people were killed in
Fars province.
(SFC, 5/8/99, p.C14)
1999 May 12, Pres. Khatami began a
tour of the Arab world with a visit to Syria.
(SFEC, 5/16/99, p.A24)
1999 May 14, Pres. Khatami arrived
in Saudi Arabia. He was the first Iranian leader to visit there since
1979.
(SFEC, 5/16/99, p.A24)
1999 May 17, In Iran the judiciary
set a $20,000 legal limit on the diyeh (blood money), the amount a
killer can pay to a victim's family to avoid execution.
(SFC, 5/18/99, p.C12)
1999 May 18, Britain and Iran
agreed to exchange ambassadors for the 1st time in 20 years.
(SFC, 5/19/99, p.A12)
1999 May 26, It was reported that
the Iranian Parliament had earlier this year reauthorized Pres.
Khatami's $100 million annual budget to support radical groups opposed
to the Middle East peace process.
(WSJ, 5/26/99, p.A22)
1999 Jun 10, In Iraq a truck bomb
killed 6 members of an Iraq-based Iranian opposition group, the
Mujahadeen-e Khalq (MEK), which recently claimed to have killed a top
general in Tehran.
(WSJ, 6/10/99, p.A1)
1999 Jun 11, Iraq accused Iran of
firing 3 Scud-B missiles on the Ashraf camp of the Mujahedeen-e Khalq
(MEK) guerrilla group, located 50 miles from the Iranian border.
(SFC, 6/12/99, p.C1)
1999 Jun 11, Ayatollah Mohammad
Yazi told worshipers that the world should pay him heed as the highest
justice official in Iran and that 13 Iranian Jews would be tried under
Islamic law for treason.
(SFC, 6/22/99, p.A11)
1999 Jun 21, It was reported that
Saeed Ememi, a central suspect in a series of murders of Iranian
intellectuals and dissidents, had committed suicide in jail.
(SFC, 6/21/99, p.A10)
1999 Jun 23, Iran announced that
it had set up a $128 million fund for compensations to dispossessed
owners of large plants seized in 1979. Property of the former royal
Pahlavi family and 50 others was not included.
(SFC, 6/24/99, p.A12)
1999 Jul 7, In Iran the parliament
approved general outlines for new press restrictions.
(SFC, 7/8/99, p.A9)
1999 Jul 9, In Iran police and
vigilantes attacked a student rally protesting a ban of the daily Salam
in Tehran.
(SFC, 7/10/99, p.A10)
1999 Jul 10, In Iran some 25,000
gather to protest against Ayatollah Ali Khomenei in Tehran.
(SFEC, 7/11/99, p.A17)
1999 Jul 11, In Iran some 10,000
students demonstrated in Tehran with protests in other major cities.
Two security chiefs responsible for the raid on a student dormitory,
that prompted the demonstrations, were fired.
(SFC, 7/12/99, p.A8)
1999 Jul 12, In Iran student
protests spread to 18 cities across the country. In Tehran security
forces and fundamentalist vigilantes emptied Tehran Univ. in a campaign
to crush the demonstrations.
(SFC, 7/13/99, p.A8)
1999 Jul 13, In Tehran police
fired tear gas at thousands of protesters as street battles spread
across the city. Tens of thousands of security forces countered the
protesters.
(SFC, 7/14/99, p.A1)
1999 Jul 14, Iranian hard-liners
answered a week of pro-democracy rallies with one of their own, sending
100,000 people into the streets of Tehran.
(SFC, 7/15/99, p.A1)(AP, 7/14/00)
1999 Jul 17, In Iran the Select
Council of Sit-In Students called off student protests and faxed a
communiqué to news organizations calling for meetings with
government leaders.
(SFEC, 7/18/99, p.A21)
1999 Jul 17, The front page of the
Economist featured a photograph of Ahmad Batebi (21), an Iranian
student, holding aloft a T-shirt bespattered with the blood of a fellow
protester. He was soon arrested and told “you have signed your death
warrant.” A global outcry reduced his sentence to 15 years. In 2008 he
escaped to Iraq and then moved to America.
(Econ, 7/12/08, p.18)
1999 Jul 18, British ambassador
Nick Browne presented his credentials to Pres. Khatami following a
decade-long break in relations.
(SFC, 7/19/99, p.A12)(SFC, 2/9/02, p.A9)
1999 Jul 19, In Iran the secret
police alleged that student leader Manouchehr Mohammadi had confessed
to serving US-based "spies and Zionists."
(SFC, 7/20/99, p.A12)
1999 Jul 22, In Iran The Culture
and Islamic Guidance Ministry moved against 3 newspapers for printing a
secret letter from the Revolutionary Guards warning that their patience
with "insults against the system" was running out.
(SFC, 7/22/99, p.A13)
1999 Jul 27, The US eased
sanctions against Iran, Libya and Sudan to allow the sale of food,
medicine and medical equipment.
(SFC, 7/27/99, p.A5)
1999 Aug 4, In Iran the daily
Salam newspaper was banned for 5 years and publisher Mousavi-Khoeiniha
was barred from journalism.
(SFC, 8/5/99, p.A14)
1999 Aug 13, Iran agreed under
pressure to join Turkey for simultaneous military operations against
the PKK.
(SFC, 8/14/99, p.A10)
1999 Oct 7, In Iran the Asr-e
Azadegan began publishing. It replaced the Neshat, which was closed by
conservative clerics after 149 editions.
(SFEC, 10/10/99, p.A26)
1999 Nov 2, In southeastern Iraq a
missile hit the Habib camp of the dissident Mujahedeen-e Khalq (MEK)
near the border. At least 5 people were killed and Iran was blamed for
the attack.
(SFC, 11/4/99, p.A18)
1999 Nov 4, Some ten-thousand
Iranian students rallied outside the former US Embassy in Tehran to
mark the 20th anniversary of its seizure by Islamic militants.
(AP, 11/4/00)
1999 Nov 12, A clerical jury found
Abdollah Nouri, a former interior minister and director of the Khordad
newspaper, guilty on 15 counts of sacrilegious articles and insulting
the government.
(SFC, 11/12/99, p.D2)
1999 Nov 21, Afghanistan and Iran
resumed trade following recently imposed UN restrictions on Afghanistan.
(SFC, 11/22/99, p.A14)
1999 Nov 27, In Iran Muslim reform
cleric Abdollah Nouri was sentenced to 5 years in jail and 5 years
banishment from political activity due to his demands for an end to
authoritarian rule by the religious hierarchy. His Khordad newspaper
was also ordered closed.
(SFEC, 11/28/99, p.A21)
1999 Dec 13, Morteza Amini Moqadam
(17) stabbed to death Hadi Mohebbi (22) in a quarrel about smoking in
public. Moqadam was convicted of murder and sentenced to be hanged Jan
2, but Mohebbi's father told authorities to spare his life just before
the execution.
(SFC, 1/3/00, p.A10)
1999 Dec 26, In Iran members of
the opposition Mujahedeen-e Khalq (MEK) crossed from Iraq and attacked
Republican Guard barracks in Khuzestan.
(SFC, 12/27/99, p.A13)
1999 Dec 31, In Iran Supreme
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called for the destruction of Israel during
demonstrations for "Al-Quds Day." Al-Quds is the Arabic name for
Jerusalem.
(SFC, 1/1/00, p.D4)
1999 The Iranian film "The Apple"
was directed by Samira Makhmalbaf (18). It was about twin sisters
confined to their home since birth.
(SFC, 3/26/99, p.C6)(SFEC, 4/23/00, DB p.52)
1999 The documentary film "Divorce
Iranian Style" was directed by Kim Longinotto and Ziba Mir-Hosseini. It
was filmed in a Tehran family court.
(SFC, 5/24/99, p.D3)(SFC, 5/28/99, p.C6)
1999 The documentary film
"Friendly Persuasion" was about Iranian film.
(SFEC, 11/28/99, DB p.57)
1999 The Iranian film "Leila"
starred Leila Hatami and Ali Mosaffa. It was directed by Dariush
Mehrjui. It was about domestic life in contemporary Tehran.
(SFC, 12/17/99, p.C14)
1999 The Iranian film "Sweet
Agony" was a comedy about a camera crew filming a dysfunctional family
and premiered at the Fajr Film Festival.
(SFEC, 11/28/99, DB p.48)
1999 The Iranian film "Two Women"
was directed by Tahmineh Milani.
(SFEC, 11/28/99, DB p.56)
2000 Jan 11, Britain and Iran
signed a joint declaration to fight terrorism and drug trafficking,
promote trade and strengthen ties.
(SFC, 1/12/00, p.A11)
2000 Feb 5, In Iran a mortar
attack struck the Golbang publishing house in Tehran near government
offices. One person was killed and at least 4 injured. The attack was
presumed to be the work of the Mujahedeen-e Khalq (MEK).
(SFEC, 2/6/00, p.A27)
2000 Feb 18, In Iran parliamentary
elections were scheduled. Voters elected reform candidates to at least
60% of the 290-member Majlis (parliament).
(SFC, 2/16/00, p.A8)(SFEC, 2/20/00, p.A24)
2000 Mar 12, In Iran Saeed
Hajjarian, a member of the municipal council of Tehran and a supporter
of Pres. Khatami, was shot and wounded by gunmen on a motorcycle.
(SFC, 3/13/00, p.A10)
2000 Mar 24, A US federal judge
ordered Iran to pay Terry Anderson $341 million for his seven years of
captivity.
(SFC, 3/25/00, p.A3)
2000 Mar 29, Iran joined the OPEC
oil increase to keep its market share.
(SFC, 3/30/00, p.A16)
2000 Apr 22, Iran arrested
reporter Akbar Ganji and charged him with spreading propaganda against
the Islamic system. He is author of the best-selling book “Dungeon of
Ghosts,” a collection of his newspaper articles published in early
2000, in which he implicated the former president, Akbar Hashemi
Rafsanjani, and other leading conservative figures in the "serial
murders" of five writers and intellectuals in 1998.
(SSFC, 10/23/05, p.E3)
2000 Apr 23, In Iran 5 liberal
publications were shut down and Latif Safari, director of the banned
Neshat daily, was jailed.
(SFC, 4/24/00, p.A12)
2000 Apr 27, In Iran Islamic
hard-liners closed 3 more newspapers, including the daily run by the
brother of Pres. Khatami.
(SFC, 4/28/00, p.A19)
2000 May 1, In Iran Hamid
Tefileen, one of 13 Jewish men arrested for espionage, was displayed on
TV and admitted to being paid $500 a month by Israeli intelligence,
Mossad.
(SFC, 5/2/00, p.A8)
2000 May 3, In Iran 2 more Iranian
Jews admitted, while on trial, that they had spied for Israel.
(SFC, 5/4/00, p.A16)
2000 May 5, Parliamentary runoff
elections were held.
(SFC, 5/6/00, p.C1)
2000 May 8, Two more Iranian Jews
confessed to spying for Israel.
(WSJ, 5/9/00, p.A1)
2000 May 16, In Iran the Hammihan
daily, a major reformist newspaper, was shut down on 17 counts of press
law violations.
(SFC, 5/17/00, p.A18)
2000 May 18, The World Bank
approved 2 loans for Iran totaling $232 million.
(SFC, 5/19/00, p.D2)
2000 May 20, The 12-member Council
of Guardians declared that 26 reformers were winners in the Feb
elections along with 2 nonreformers.
(SFEC, 5/21/00, p.B11)
2000 May, The Iranian embassy in
Vienna granted refuge to Holocaust denier Wolfgang Frohlich.
(www.adl.org/presrele/holocaustdenial_83/3756_83.asp)
2000 Jun 5, Houshang Golshiri
(63), writer and free speech advocate, died. His novels included
“Prince Ehtejab” and “King of the Benighted.” His work was not allowed
to be published from 1982-1997.
(SFC, 6/13/00, p.F3)
2000 Jun 11, A former hard-liner
who has recently favored democratic reforms was elected as the speaker
of Iran's first reformist-dominated parliament in more than 20 years.
(AP, 6/11/03)
2000 Jun 17, Thousands of dead
fish were reported to be spread over 5,400 acres of the dried up Arjang
Lagoon, near the city of Shiraz, due to a 2-year drought.
(SFC, 6/17/00, p.D8)
2000 Jul 1, In Iran a justice
officials said 3 of 13 Jews tried on charges for spying were acquitted
and that 10 were sentenced to fines, lashes and jail terms from 4 to 13
years. An appeals court later annulled 2 of the 3 convictions against
the defendants and reduce their jail terms.
(SFC, 7/1/00, p.A13)(SFEC, 7/2/00, p.A7)(SFC,
9/22/00, p.A17)
2000 Jul 8, A student march to
mark a bloody rally one year ago turned violent as police charged
thousands of students in Tehran.
(SFEC, 7/9/00, p.C11)
2000 Jul 15, Iran test-fired an
upgraded version of its 800-mil range, Shabab-3 missile.
(SFEC, 7/16/00, p.B9)
2000 Jul 23, Ahmad Shamlou,
playwright, journalist and poet, died at age 74.
(SFC, 7/25/00, p.A23)
2000 Aug 5, It was reported that
at least 1000 dogs were reported killed in Tehran over the last month.
Islam regarded dogs as impure.
(SFC, 8/5/00, p.A22)
2000 Aug 7, The daily Bahar
newspaper was closed by the hard-line judiciary for “disturbing public
opinion.”
(SFC, 8/9/00, p.A14)
2000 Aug 12, Ebrahim Nabavi was
jailed by judge Saeed Mortazavi of the hard-line press court, as he was
being honored as a top satirist.
(SFC, 8/14/00, p.A12)
2000 Aug 13, Mohammad Ghoochani,
political writer, was jailed one day after receiving honors as the best
political writer.
(SFC, 8/14/00, p.A12)
2000 Aug 27, Fighting between
students and hard-liners in Khorramabad left a police officer dead.
(SFC, 8/30/00, p.B10)
2000 Sep 21, An Iranian appeals
court reduced the prison terms for 10 Jews convicted of “cooperating”
with Israel, in a case that had drawn international criticism.
(AP, 9/21/01)
2000 Nov 17, Jurgen Graf,
prominent Swiss revisionist author, arrived in Iran. He fled his
homeland rather than serve a 15-month prison sentence for "Holocaust
denial."
(www.ihr.org/conference/beirutconf/background.html)
2000 Dec 28, Iran and Russia
announced an expanded military and security partnership.
(SFC, 12/29/00, p.A18)
2000 Gelareh Asayesh authored
"Saffron Sky: A Life Between Iran and America."
(SFEC, 1/23/00, BR p.4)
2000 Persis M. Karin and Mohammad
Mehdi Khorrami edited "A World Between: Poems, Short Stories, and
Essays by Iranian-Americans.
(SFEC, 1/23/00, BR p.4)
2000 Zia Atabay founded National
Iranian Television in Los Angeles (NITV). He targeted 75 million
Iranians world-wide, including an estimated 25 million households with
satellite dishes in Iran.
(WSJ, 11/5/01, p.A10)
2000 US legislation called the
Iran Nonproliferation Act went into effect. By 2005 it impacted the
Int’l. Space Station project due to Russian weapons trade with Iran.
(Econ, 3/12/05, p.75)
2001 Jan 27, The Iran Republic
news Agency reported that 3 intelligence agents were sentenced to death
and 12 others to life in prison for their roles in murdering dissident
writers and intellectuals.
(SSFC, 1/28/01, p.A22)
2001 Mar 12, Russia and Iran
signed agreements in Moscow to increase their military and economic
cooperation.
(SFC, 3/13/01, p.A16)
2001 Mar 18, The judiciary banned
the nation’s only real opposition group and closed down 4 pro-reform
newspapers.
(SFC, 3/19/01, p.A9)
2001 Mar 20, Now-Ruz, the
traditional Afghan New Year, passed without fanfare. The holiday is
also observed in Iran.
(SSFC, 3/18/01, p.A17)
2001 Apr 7, In Tehran 40-42 people
were arrested including members of the opposition Freedom Movement. The
Revolutionary Court said some were linked to the Iraq-based
Mujahedeen-e Khalq (MEK).
(SFC, 4/9/01, p.A8)
2001 Apr 16, Iran and Saudi Arabia
signed a pact to fight terrorism and drug trafficking.
(SFC, 4/18/01, p.A13)
2001 Apr 18, Iran launched 56 Scud
missiles against an Iraq-based opposition group. At least 3 People’s
Mujahedeen- Khalq (MEK) camps were hit.
(WSJ, 4/19/01, p.A1)
2001 May 6, In Sari, Iran, the
Mottaqi stadium grandstand collapsed and killed several people with
hundreds injured.
(WSJ, 5/7/01, p.A1)
2001 May 17, A plane crashed in
Khorasan province and at least 29 people were killed. The dead included
Rahman Dadman, the transport minister, and 7 members of parliament.
(SFC, 5/18/01, p.A15)
2001 May 20, A power failure by
Tavanir, the state-owned utility, left almost the whole country without
electricity for several hours.
(SFC, 5/21/01, p.A10)
2001 May 20, In Tehran a woman was
stoned to death after her conviction for acting in pornographic films
was upheld by the Supreme Court.
(SFC, 5/22/01, p.A11)
2001 Jun 8, In Iran Pres. Khatami
was elected to a 2nd term with nearly 77% of the vote.
(SFC, 6/9/01, p.A8)(SFC, 6/11/01, p.A10)
2001 Jul 23, In Iran a 19th woman
was reported strangled in Mashad.
(DFP, 7/24/01, p.3A)
2001 Aug 2, Pres. Khatami was
confirmed for a 2nd 4-year term.
(SSFC, 8/5/01, p.A14)
2001 Aug 8, Pres. Khatami was
sworn in as president. Political in-fighting with conservatives delayed
the ceremony by 3 days.
(SFC, 8/9/01, p.A9)
2001 Aug 12, Flash floods followed
heavy rains and at least 181 people were killed. Kalaleh in Golestan
province was the hardest hit.
(SFC, 8/13/01, p.A12)(WSJ, 8/14/01, p.A1)
2001 Aug 30, Riots left 2 people
dead in Sabzevar after the town failed to win provincial-capital
status.
(WSJ, 8/31/01, p.)
2001 Aug 26, Film director
Tahmineh Milani was arrested on charges of supporting
counterrevolutionary and armed opposition groups. A relative said it
was due to her stand on the clerical oppression of women.
(WSJ, 8/31/01, p.A1)(SFC, 9/1/01, p.A10)
2001 Sep 15, Iran ordered its
security forces to seal off its 560-mile border with Afghanistan due to
terrorist attacks in the US.
(SSFC, 9/16/01, p.A7)
2001 Sep 21-Oct 2, In Tehran
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards opened the First Universal Exhibition of
Sacred Culture and Defense with a theme of Islamic revolution and holy
war. It commemorated the 21st anniversary of the war with Iraq.
(WSJ, 9/27/01, p.A1)
2001 Oct 2, In Russia Defense
Minister Sergei Ivanov signed a weapons framework agreement with
Iranian Defense Minister Ali Shamkhani for as much as $300 million.
(SFC, 10/3/01, p.A11)
2001 Oct 12, Iran defeated Iraq
1-0 in a soccer match. Demonstrations erupted after the game against
the Shiite theocracy and continued following successive soccer matches.
At least 2 thousand young people were arrested over the next 2 weeks.
(WSJ, 10/30/01, p.A22)
2001 Dec 16, Abdullah
Ramezanzadeh, a Cabinet Secretary, was sentenced to 6 months in jail
for “spreading lies” against the conservative Guardian council.
(SFC, 12/18/01, p.A7)(WSJ, 12/17/01, p.A1)
2001 Dec 25, Hossein Loqmanian,
was jailed for 10 months for “insulting the judiciary.” He was freed
Jan 15 following a walkout by the legislature.
(SFC, 1/16/02, p.A7)
2001 Reza Pahlavi, son of the late
Shah, launched a campaign for secular democracy via satellite from NITV
in Los Angeles.
(WSJ, 11/5/01, p.A10)
2002 Jan 8, Iran’s Revolutionary
Court began the closed door trial of 15 men charged with plotting to
overthrow the Islamic system
(SFC, 1/9/02, p.A5)
2002 Jan 27, Iran’s Pres. Khatami
met with Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri in Tehran as part of an
effort to restore ties.
(SFC, 2/1/02, p.A18)
2002 Jan 29, Pres. Bush made his
1st State of the Union address and declared that the “war against
terror is only beginning.” Bush singled out Iran, Iraq and North Korea
as an “axis of evil.”
(SFC, 1/30/02, p.A1)(SFC, 1/31/02, p.A1)
2002 Feb 4, Israeli PM Peres said
Iran had put elite forces into Lebanon and had supplied Hezbollah with
10,000 rockets with ranges of 13-44 miles.
(SFC, 2/5/02, p.A10)
2002 Feb 12, An Iran Air Tours
Tupelov Tu-154 crashed into the Sefid Kouh mountains near Khorramabad
killing all 119 on board.
(SFC, 2/13/02, p.A12)(AP, 2/11/03)
2002 Apr 5, Iran’s Ayatollah
Khamenei urged Islamic oil-producing countries to suspend oil exports
for a month to countries supporting Israel.
(SFC, 4/6/02, p.A10)
2002 Apr, The UN voted to remove
Iran from the list of countries assigned to a special investigator to
watch on human rights abuses.
(SFC, 7/27/02, p.A6)
2002 May 21, The US State Dept
issued its annual report on terrorism: “Patterns of Global Terrorism
2001.” Iran was branded as the most active supporter of terrorism due
to increased support for Palestinian militants.
(SFC, 5/22/02, p.A12)
2002 Jun 22, A powerful earthquake
in northern Iran killed at least 500 people and injured 1,500, razing
dozens of mountain villages whose mud-brick homes crumbled to dust.
(Reuters, 6/22/02)(Reuters, 6/23/02)(AP, 6/22/03)
2002 Jun, Iran transferred 16 al
Qaeda suspects to Saudi Arabia.
(SSFC, 8/11/02, p.A13)
2002 Jul 19, Tens of
thousands of Iranians took to the streets of the capital condemning
President Bush for criticizing their government with calls of "Death to
America" and "Death to Bush."
(AP, 7/19/02)
2002 Jul 27, In Iran a hard-line
court outlawed the leading reform-minded opposition party, the Freedom
Movement, and gave its leaders jail terms of up to 10 years and fines
of more than $6,000. The court said Freedom Movement leaders acted
against national security with the intention of "overthrowing the
establishment."
(AP, 7/27/02)
2002 Aug 1, In Iran the Education
Ministry relaxed dress codes for girls in all-female schools for the
1st time in 23 years.
(SFC, 8/3/02, p.A7)
2002 Aug 12, In northeastern Iran
torrential rains began and at least 35 people were drowned in flash
floods that washed away roads and swamped farm land.
(AP, 8/13/02)
2002 Aug 25, Iran's parliament
approved a bill giving women the right to sue for divorce, a similar
right already guaranteed for men.
(AP, 8/26/02)
2002 Sep 1, Some 600 Russian
specialists began work on a key phase of an $800 million project to
build a nuclear reactor at Bushehr, Iran.
(SFC, 9/2/02, p.A9)
2002 Sep 6, Iran reported the
successful test fire of a Fateh 110 A ballistic missile.
(SFC, 9/7/02, p.A5)
2002 Nov 6, In Iran University
professor Hashem Aghajari, was sentenced to death on charges of
insulting Islam's prophet and questioning the hard-line clergy's
interpretation of Islam. He was also was sentenced to 74 lashes, banned
from teaching for 10 years and exiled to three remote Iranian cities
for 8 years. The death sentence was overturned in 2003 and reimposed
May 3, 2004. The 2nd death sentence was again overturned. Aghajari was
released on bail July 31, 2004.
(AP, 11/7/02)(WSJ, 5/5/04, p.A1)(AP, 7/3/04)(SSFC,
8/1/04, p.A16)
2002 Nov 12, Thousands of Iranian
students ignored official warnings and demonstrated for the fourth day
running against a dissident's death sentence and to demand freedom of
speech and political reform.
(Reuters, 11/12/02)
2002 Dec 23, In central Iran a
Ukrainian An-140 aircraft, carrying Ukrainian and Russian aerospace
scientists from Turkey, flew into a mountainside while preparing to
land killing all 46 people on board. Airport officials said pilot
"carelessness" caused the plane to crash.
(AP, 12/24/02)
2002 Dec 30, A fire broke out in
an Iranian prison, killing 27 prisoners and injuring 50 others.
(AP, 12/30/02)
2002 Majid Majidi released his
film “Baran” in the US. It portrayed Afghan refugees in Iran.
(SFC, 7/9/02, p.D2)
2003 Jan 4, In southern Iran a bus
carrying university students overturned on a rain-slick road, killing
15 people and injuring 18 others.
(AP, 1/5/03)
2003 Jan 14, In northeastern Iran
2 buses collided in bad weather, killing 22 passengers and injuring 40.
Transportation Ministry figures show that more than 19,000 people were
killed in road accidents in 2001.
(AP, 1/15/03)
2003 Feb 9, Iran reported the
discovery of uranium reserves and planned production facilities for
peaceful use of nuclear energy.
(SFC, 2/10/03, p.A8)
2003 Feb 19, An Iranian
military plane carrying 275 members of the elite Revolutionary Guards
crashed in southeastern Iran, killing all on board.
(WSJ, 2/20/03, p.A1)(AP, 2/19/08)
2003 Mar 4, Iran called for
UN-supervised elections in neighboring Iraq and urged the divided Iraqi
opposition to reconcile with Pres. Saddam Hussein as part of a plan
aimed at averting a US-led war on Iraq.
(AP, 3/4/03)
2003 Mar 8, An
Argentine judge asked Interpol to arrest four Iranian diplomats,
accusing them of responsibility in a deadly terrorist attack that
destroyed a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires in 1994.
(AP, 3/9/03)
2003 Mar 31, In Tehran, Iran, a
pickup truck with extra fuel crashed into the British Embassy in an
apparent suicide attack. Police called it an accident.
(SFC, 4/1/03, p.A3)
2003 Mar, In 2007 British media
reported that Iran had offered to cut off aid and support for the
Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah and the Palestinian group Hamas, and
promised full transparency on its nuclear program in a secret letter to
the US soon after the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Iran also offered to use
its influence to support stabilization in Iraq, and in return asked for
a halt in hostile American behaviour, an abolition of all sanctions,
and the pursuit and repatriation of members of the Mujahedeen Khalq
(People's Mujahedeen MKO). Lawrence Wilkerson, former chief of staff to
Colin Powell, said: “As soon as it got to the Vice-President's (Dick
Cheney) office, the old mantra of 'we don't talk to evil' ...
reasserted itself."
(AFP, 1/18/07)
2003 Apr 8, A US errant rocket
struck in Iran near the Iraqi border and killed a 13-year-old boy.
(SFC, 4/9/03, p.A21)
2003 Apr 11, Amnesty International
said at least 1,526 people were executed worldwide last year, with 80
percent of all known executions carried out in China (1,060), Iran
(113) and the United States (71).
(Reuters, 4/11/03)
2003 May 24, In Iran some 130
reformist lawmakers called on Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to
accept democratic reforms for the ruling establishment to survive.
(AP, 5/24/03)
2003 Jun 10, In Iran riot police
and hard-line vigilantes clashed with teenage demonstrators who
denounced supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
(AP, 6/11/03)
2003 Jun 13, In Iran
anti-government demonstrations took place for the third night in Tehran.
(AP, 6/13/03)
2003 Jun 14, Iran's hard-line
judiciary arrested "scores" of pro-clergy militants, including a
vigilante leader, over attacks on a Tehran student dormitory sparked by
attacks on pro-reform supporters.
(AP, 6/14/03)
203 Jun 19, In France more
Iranians set themselves on fire to protest a crackdown on an Iraq-based
anti-Tehran group.
(WSJ, 6/20/03, p.A1)
2003 Jun 20, In Iran student
protests against Ayatollah Ali Khamenei spread to at least 8 other
cities.
(SFC, 6/21/03, p.A8)
2003 Jun 23, In Iran Zahra Kazemi
(54), a Montreal-based journalist, was detained after taking pictures
of Tehran's notorious Evin prison. She died Jul 11 of brain hemorrhage
from inflicted blows. Iran later admitted that she was murdered while
under police custody. Her family sought $14 million in damages, but a
1985 Canadian law held that foreign states are immune from the
jurisdiction of Canadian courts.
(AP, 7/13/03)(SFC, 7/17/03, p.A7)(WSJ, 7/31/03,
p.A1)(SSFC, 12/6/09, p.A26)
2003 Jul 8, Ladan and Laleh Bijani
(29), Iranian twin sisters, joined at the head, died within 90 minutes
of each other as neurosurgeons in Singapore worked into a 3rd day to
separate them.
(AP, 7/7/03)(AP, 7/8/03)
2003 Jul 11, In Iran Zahra Kazemi
(54), a Montreal-based journalist, died of brain hemorrhage from
inflicted blows. [see Jun 23] Iran later admitted that she was murdered
while under police custody. In 2004 a closed trial was held for a
secret agent charged with the murder. Mohammad Reza Aghdam Ahmadi
pleaded innocent on July 17 and the trial was abruptly ended the next
day. The Tehran court acquitted Ahmadi.
(AP, 7/13/03)(SFC, 7/17/03, p.A7)(WSJ, 7/31/03,
p.A1)(SFC, 7/19/04, p.A8)(AP, 7/25/04)
2003 Jul 23, Iran acknowledged
that it was holding senior al Qaeda figures, but would not identify
them.
(WSJ, 7/24/03, p.A1)
2003 cAug 17, Iranians in Semirom
clashed with police over consolidation of the central city with
less-affluent Shahreza. 8 people were left dead.
(WSJ, 8/18/03, p.A1)
2003 Sep 17, Iran's leading
dissident cleric, Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri,
criticized the country's hard-line Islamic leaders, saying they should
submit to elections and allow the country's young people to choose
their future.
(AP, 9/17/03)
2003 Sep 27, In western Iran a bus
plunged from a mountain road into a river, killing 21 passengers and
injuring 11.
(AP, 9/28/03)
2003 Oct 10, Human rights
activist Shirin Ebadi (56) won the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize. It was the
first peace prize for an Iranian, and first for a Muslim woman.
(AP, 10/10/03)
2003 Oct 18, In Iran 6 Islamic
vigilantes were sentenced to death for killing five people for
allegedly having illicit sexual relationships. Judge Abdolreza Parvizi
said he ordered the men to be hanged in public for the 2002 deaths of
three men and two women in the city of Kerman.
(AP, 10/18/03)
2003 Oct 21, Iran agreed to snap
UN inspections of its nuclear sites and to freeze uranium enrichment.
(AP, 10/21/03)(SFC, 10/22/03, p.A3)
2003 Nov 9, In central Iran a
crowded bus collided with a truck and a second truck then smashed into
the wreckage of the two vehicles, killing 36 people and wounding 7
others.
(AP, 11/9/03)
2003 Nov 10, A top Iranian
official said that his country had suspended its enrichment of uranium
and sent a letter to the IAEA accepting additional inspections of its
nuclear facilities.
(AP, 11/10/03)
2003 Nov 26, The UN nuclear
watchdog agency, IAEA, condemned Iran over an 18-year cover-up of its
nuclear energy program and said future violations of non-proliferation
obligations would not be tolerated.
(AP, 11/26/03)
2003 Nov 26, Ayatollah Sadeq
Khalkhali (77), a judge known for sentencing hundreds of people to
death following Iran's revolution, died.
(AP, 11/27/03)(Econ, 12/13/03, p.86)
2003 Dec 5, Hard-line vigilantes
attacked a close aide to Iran's president as he was about to give a
speech, repeatedly punching and kicking him, his wife.
(AP, 12/5/03)
2003 Dec 8, Three tourists were
kidnapped in southeastern Iran while cycling from the historical city
of Bam to Zahedan. Drug smugglers demanded $6 million in ransom.
(AP, 12/9/03)
2003 Dec 10, The presidents of
Egypt and Iran met for the 1st time since 1979. Iran's rulers
authorized the signing of a UN nuclear deal.
(WSJ, 12/11/03, p.A1)
2003 Dec 10, The Nobel Prize
awards ceremony were held in Sweden and Norway. Iranian democracy
activist Shirin Ebadi, the first Muslim woman to win the Nobel Peace
Prize, accepted the award in Oslo, Norway.
(AP, 12/10/03)(AP, 12/10/08)
2003 Dec 18, Iran signed a key
accord opening its nuclear facilities to unfettered and unannounced
inspections.
(AP, 12/18/03)
2003 Dec 26, A 6.6 earthquake
devastated the southeastern Iranian city of Bam, 630 miles southeast of
the capital Tehran. It leveled more than half the city's houses and its
historic mud-brick fortress. At least 26,000 people were killed and
over 10,000 injured. Iran appealed for international help and promised
to waive visas for foreign relief workers.
(AP, 12/27/03)(SFC, 12/30/03, p.A3)(AP, 1/2/04)(AP,
12/26/04)
2003 Dec 27, Governments around
the world rushed medical experts, rescue teams, water-purification
systems and tea to the earthquake-ravaged Iranian city of Bam.
(AP, 12/27/03)
2003 Geneive Abdo and Jonathan
Lyons authored “Answering Only to God: Faith and Freedom in
Twenty-First Century Iran.”
(SSFC, 3/16/03, p.M4)
2004 Jan 1, Iranian officials
welcomed America's temporary lifting of sanctions against the Persian
state following the country's earthquake, and the foreign minister said
the embargo should end permanently.
(AP, 1/1/04)
2004 Jan 3, In Iran rescuers
pulled Sharbanou Mazandarani (97) from the rubble at Ban, 9 days
following the earthquake, as the death toll rose to about 35,000.
(SSFC, 1/4/04, p.A2)
2004 Jan 6, Egypt and Iran agreed
to restore diplomatic ties sundered in 1979.
(WSJ, 1/7/04, p.A1)
2004 Jan 7, In Iran a 57-year-old
man was pulled from the rubble of Ban's earthquake, barely conscious
but still alive because he had a source of water during the 13 days he
was buried. He died 4 days later.
(AP, 1/8/04)(AP, 1/11/04)
2004 Jan 11, In Iran the 12-member
Guardian Council, which comprises conservatives picked by Iran's
supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, disqualified about 900 of the
1,700 people who wanted to contest seats in Tehran have been
disqualified. About 90 lawmakers began gathering in the lobby of the
legislature for five hours daily in a sit-in demonstration after the
Guardian Council barred the candidates from the Feb. 20 elections.
(AP, 1/12/04)(AP, 1/14/04)
2004 Jan 20, In Iran Hard-line
authorities said they were reinstating 200 candidates barred from
running in next month's legislative elections and will reconsider the
cases of thousands more after fierce opposition from reformists who
threatened to boycott the vote.
(AP, 1/20/04)
2004 Jan 21, Most of Iran's
ministers and vice presidents submitted resignations to protest the
barring of thousands of would-be candidates from upcoming elections.
The Guardian Council had just reinstated 200 of the disqualified
candidates and said it would reconsider the rest.
(AP, 1/22/04)
2004 Jan 27, In Malaysia an
Iranian asylum seeker set himself on fire in an apparent suicide
attempt outside the Kuala Lumpus headquarters of the UN refugee agency.
(AP, 1/27/04)
2004 Jan 30, Iran's hard-line
Guardian Council reinstated a third of the candidates it had
disqualified from next month's legislative elections.
(AP, 1/30/04)
2004 Feb 1, More than a third of
the Iranian parliament resigned and the speaker delivered a stinging
rebuke to the hard-line Guardian Council for its disqualification of
hundreds of liberal candidates in upcoming elections.
(AP, 2/1/04)
2004 Feb 18, In Neyshabur,
northeastern Iran, a 51-car train, carrying fuel, fertilizer and
industrial chemicals, derailed and exploded. It rolled out of a
switchyard and eventually reach a speed of more than 90 mph before it
derailed, caught fire and exploded. The explosions destroyed five
villages killing at least 200 people and injuring hundreds more.
(AP, 2/19/04)(AP, 4/23/04)
2004 Feb 19, A Japanese consortium
announced it will develop an Iranian oil field with reserves of up to
26 billion barrels. The deal was opposed by the United States because
of fears the money could go to nuclear proliferation.
(AP, 2/19/04)
2004 Feb 20, In Iran Islamic
hard-liners and reformers dueled during parliamentary elections.
(AP, 2/20/04)
2004 Feb 21, Iran's hard-line
Islamic rulers claimed that voters dealt reformers a decisive blow with
a strong turnout in disputed parliament elections, but partial returns
suggested the pro-reform boycott had an impact.
(AP, 2/21/04)
2004 Feb 22, In Iran hard-line
Islamic candidates appeared likely to take control in the liberal
stronghold of Tehran and held a wide lead nationwide after
parliamentary elections from which hundreds of liberal candidates were
barred.
(AP, 2/22/04)
2004 Feb 23, In Iran conservatives
formally reclaimed control of parliament after disputed elections that
were boycotted by reformists who called the vote a "historical fiasco"
without free choice.
(AP, 2/23/04)
2004 Mar 13 Iran froze inspections
of its nuclear facilities after the U.N. atomic agency censured Tehran
for hiding suspect activities. Tehran relented two days later.
(AP, 3/12/05)
2004 Mar 15, Iran relented and
decided to allow a visit at the end of this month, after temporarily
freezing out international nuclear inspectors.
(AP, 3/15/04)
2004 Apr 5, In northeastern Iran
an oil tanker truck and a passenger bus collided, killing 30 people and
injuring 27.
(AP, 4/5/04)
2004 Apr 15, Gunmen killed a
high-ranking Iranian diplomat in Baghdad.
(AP, 4/15/04)
2004 Apr 21, The Iranian film
“Marmulak” (Lizard) premiered. It was a comedy about a fugitive
criminal disguised as a mullah.
(Econ, 5/8/04, p.45)
2004 Apr 28, Iran's Ayatollah
Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi ordered a ban on the use of torture for
obtaining confessions.
(SFC, 4/29/04, p.A3)
2004 May 28, An earthquake damaged
homes in northern Iran. The toll from a 6.2 earthquake reached 36 dead
with 250 people injured.
(AP, 5/28/04)(AP, 5/30/04)
2004 May 29, In Iran the
Gov. Masoud Emami of Qazvin province was killed along with 7 others
when their helicopter crashed while surveying earthquake damage.
(SSFC, 5/30/04, p.A14)
2004 May, The Iranian
Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) closed down the new Tehran airport to
protest a government decision to ask a consortium of foreigners (Turks)
to run it.
(Econ, 6/19/04, p.46)
2004 Jun 5, Iranian officials said
police had killed at least 58 drug smugglers and confiscated more than
50 tons of narcotics in the past two months.
(AP, 6/5/04)
2004 Jun 12, Iran said it would
reject international restrictions on its nuclear program and challenged
the world to accept Tehran as a member of the "nuclear club."
(AP, 6/13/04)
2004 Jun 18, The U.N. atomic
watchdog agency censured Iran for past cover-ups in its nuclear program
in a resolution, warning Tehran to be more forthcoming.
(AP, 6/18/04)
2004 Jun 21, Iran’s Revolutionary
Guards, known as Pasdaran, confiscated three British military vessels
and arrested eight armed crew members in the Shatt al-Arab waterway.
The men were released 2 days later.
(AP, 6/21/04)(SFC, 6/24/04, p.A12)(Econ, 4/7/07,
p.24)
2004 Jun 24, In southern Iran a
tanker truck carrying gasoline crashed into packed buses and erupted in
flames, killing 71 people. 108 people were injured, many suffering
severe burns.
(AP, 6/25/04)
2004 Jun 28, Iran’s Deputy
Interior Minister Ali Asghar Ahmadi said two Iranian soldiers and eight
rebels were killed in clashes with Kurds. A pro-Kurdish news agency
said 16 soldiers and four rebels died.
(AP, 7/10/04)
2004 Jul 8, Iranian troops killed
two Turkish Kurdish rebels in clashes close to the Iraqi border, amid
reports of a major offensive by Tehran on Ankara's behalf.
(AP, 7/10/04)
2004 Jul 13, A confidant of Osama
bin Laden (Khaled bin Ouda bin Mohammed al-Harby) surrendered to Saudi
diplomats in Iran and was flown to Saudi Arabia.
(AP, 7/13/05)
2004 Jul 14, Canada pulled its
ambassador from Iran, which refused to admit observers to the trial of
a policeman over a Canadian journalist’s fatal beating.
(WSJ, 7/15/04, p.A1)
2004 Jul 20, In Iran a prominent
history professor twice condemned to death on blasphemy charges was
informed of a three year jail sentence for insulting Islamic sacred
beliefs.
(AP, 7/20/04)
2004 Jul 24, A Tehran court
acquitted the sole defendant in the July 10, 2003, murder of an
Iranian-Canadian photojournalist. Mohammad Reza Aghdam Ahmadi had
pleaded innocent on July 17 and the trial was abruptly ended the next
day.
(AP, 7/25/04)
2004 Jul 28, Iran's judiciary
claimed that an Iranian-Canadian photojournalist died (Jul 10, 2003) in
custody from a fall after her blood pressure dropped during a hunger
strike.
(AP, 7/28/04)
2004 Aug 17, Iran said it would
destroy Israel's Dimona nuclear reactor if the Jewish state were to
attack Iran's nuclear facilities.
(AP, 8/17/04)
2004 Aug, In Khoramabad, Iran, 2
men were hanged for adultery. In 2005 the National Council of
Resistance of Iran showed video footage of the event in England. It was
shot by an opponent of the government.
(AP, 6/2/05)
2004 Sep 1, The U.N. atomic
watchdog agency said Iran has announced plans to turn tons of uranium
into a substance that can be used to make nuclear weapons.
(AP, 9/1/04)
2004 Sep 18, The UN atomic
watchdog agency demanded Iran suspend all uranium enrichment activities
and set a November timetable for compliance.
(AP, 9/18/04)
2004 Sep 21, Iran revealed that it
started converting tons of raw uranium as part of a process that could
be used to make nuclear arms.
(AP, 9/21/04)
2004 Oct 4, Iranian President
Mohammad Khatami arrived in Khartoum to start a three-day visit to
Sudan.
(AP, 10/4/04)
2004 Oct 5, Iran said its missiles
now have a range of more than 1,200 miles, a substantial extension of
their previously declared range.
(AP, 10/5/04)
2004 Oct 12, Iranian vice
president Mohammad Ali Abtahi, who was a close ally of reformist
President Mohammad Khatami, resigned, saying he could not work with the
conservative-dominated parliament.
(AP, 10/12/04)
2004 Oct 28, China and Iran signed
a memorandum of understanding for an oil and gas agreement worth tens
of billions of dollars.
(WSJ, 11/1/04, p.A1)
2004 Oct 31, Iran's parliament
unanimously approved the outline of a bill that would require the
government to resume uranium enrichment.
(AP, 10/31/04)
2004 Oct, In Iran Muhammad Bijeh
was sentenced to death for the rape and murder of some 20 boys, mostly
rural migrants and Afghan refugees.
(Econ, 10/23/04, p.48)
2004 Nov 1, UN nuclear agency
chief Mohamed ElBaradei urged Iran to suspend uranium enrichment and
called on North Korea to dismantle its weapons program.
(AP, 11/1/05)
2004 Nov 2, State-run Indian Oil
Corp (IOC), the country's largest refiner, said it had signed an
agreement with Iran's Petropars to bid for a $3 billion project to
develop a gas field and set up a liquefaction plant in Iran.
(AP, 11/2/04)
2004 Nov 7, Iran and European
nations reached a preliminary agreement about Iran's nuclear program at
talks hoped to avoid a U.N. showdown. The UK, France and Germany
persuaded Iran to suspend its uranium enrichment program.
(AP, 11/7/04)(WSJ, 2/8/05, p.A1)
2004 Nov 15, The UN atomic
watchdog agency gave its support to Iran's agreement to suspend all
uranium enrichment activities.
(AP, 11/15/04)
2004 Dec 19, The Iranian Red
Crescent Society said heavy rains have caused flash floods that killed
at least 34 people and injured 43 others in southern Iran.
(AP, 12/19/04)
2004 In Iraq 850 US troops were
killed during this year.
(SFC, 12/31/07, p.A6)
2004 The Iranian government seized
some $200 million in assets from the Khoi Foundation, named after the
late Grand Ayatollah Abol-Qassem Mussavi Khoi. This accelerated a
growing trend for Shiite religious funds to move their assets out to
Iraq.
(WSJ, 9/14/05, p.A20)
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2005
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