Iran has one of the oldest histories in the world, extending more than 5000 years, and throughout history, Iran has been of geostrategic importance because of its central location in Eurasia and Western Asia. Iran is a founding member of the UN, NAM, OIC, OPEC, and ECO. Iran as a major regional power occupies an important position in the world economy due to its substantial reserves of petroleum and natural gas, and has considerable regional influence in Western Asia. The name Iran is a cognate of Aryan and literally means "Land of the Aryans." (Full article...)
The Parthians largely adopted the art, architecture, religious beliefs, and regalia of their culturally heterogeneous empire, which encompassed Persian, Hellenistic, and regional cultures. For about the first half of its existence, the Arsacid court adopted elements of Greek culture, though it eventually saw a gradual revival of Iranian traditions. The Arsacid rulers were titled "King of Kings", claiming inheritance of the Achaemenid Empire; indeed, they accepted many local kings as vassals, although the Achaemenids would have had centrally appointed, albeit largely autonomous, satraps. The court did appoint a small number of satraps, largely outside Iran, but these satrapies were smaller and less powerful than the Achaemenid potentates. With the expansion of Arsacid power, the seat of central government shifted from Nisa to Ctesiphon along the Tigris (south of Baghdad), although several other sites also served as capitals. (Full article...)
Under Phraates V, a war threatened to break out between the Parthian and Roman empires over the control of Armenia and Mesopotamia. Although Augustus (r. 27 BC – 14 AD) had sent his adopted son Gaius Caesar to invade Iran, in 1 AD the two sides agreed a peace treaty, by which once again Armenia was recognized as being in the Roman sphere. Phraates V was in return acknowledged as the rightful Parthian king, which was of high importance to him, due to his insecure position in the country. In 4 AD, Phraates V and his mother fled to Rome after being expelled by the Parthian nobility, who crowned Orodes III as king. (Full article...)
Basra, located in present-day Iraq, had already been under Safavid control from 1508 to 1524, when it was lost upon Shah Ismail I's death. In the ensuing period, the Ottoman Empire, rivals of the Safavids, managed to establish nominal rule over the city. De facto rule of Basra remained in the hands of the local Arab Al-Mughamis tribe, a branch of the Banu'l-Muntafiq. In 1596, the Ottoman governor of Basra, Ali Pasha, sold his office to a local named Afrasiyab. Over the next c. 70 years, Basra was considered a hereditary eyalet under Afrasiyab and his descendants. (Full article...)
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Map showing major incidents of the second Persian invasion of Greece
Movements of the Persian and Greek armies in 480–479BC.
The Persian invasion was a delayed response to the defeat of the first Persian invasion of Greece, which had been ended by the Athenian victory at the Battle of Marathon. King Xerxes had amassed a huge army and navy, and set out to conquer all of Greece. The Athenian general Themistocles proposed that the Allied Greeks block the advance of the Persian army at the pass of Thermopylae and simultaneously block the Persian navy at the Straits of Artemisium. An Allied naval force of 271 triremes was thus dispatched to await the arrival of the Persians. (Full article...)
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Themistocles (/θəˈmɪstəkliːz/; Ancient Greek: Θεμιστοκλῆς; c. 524 – c. 459 BC) was an Athenian politician and general. He was one of a new breed of non-aristocratic politicians who rose to prominence in the early years of the Athenian democracy. As a politician, Themistocles was a populist, having the support of lower-class Athenians, and generally being at odds with the Athenian nobility. Elected archon in 493 BC, he convinced the polis to increase the naval power of Athens, a recurring theme in his political career. During the first Persian invasion of Greece, he fought at the Battle of Marathon (490 BC), and may have been one of the ten Athenian strategoi (generals) in that battle.
In the years after Marathon, and in the run-up to the second Persian invasion of 480–479 BC, Themistocles became the most prominent politician in Athens. He continued to advocate for a strong Athenian navy, and in 483 BC he persuaded the Athenians to build a fleet of 200 triremes; these proved crucial in the forthcoming conflict with Persia. During the second invasion, he commanded the Greek allied navy at the battles of Artemisium and Salamis in 480 BC. Due to his subterfuge, the Allies successfully lured the Persian fleet into the Straits of Salamis, and the decisive Greek victory there was the turning point of the war. The invasion was conclusively repulsed the following year after the Persian defeat at the land Battle of Plataea. (Full article...)
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Abd al-Rahman ibn Muhammad ibn al-Ash'ath (Arabic: عبد الرحمن بن محمد بن الأشعث, romanized: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Ashʿath; died 704), commonly known as Ibn al-Ash'athafter his grandfather, was a prominent Arab nobleman and military commander during the Umayyad Caliphate, most notable for leading a failed rebellion against the Umayyad viceroy of the east, al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf, in 700–703.
Ibn al-Ash'ath was a scion of a noble family of the Kinda tribe that had settled in the Arab garrison town of Kufa in Iraq. He played a minor role in the Second Fitna (680–692) and then served as governor of Rayy. After the appointment of al-Hajjaj as governor of Iraq and the eastern provinces of the Caliphate in 694, relations between al-Hajjaj and the Iraqi tribal nobility quickly became strained, as the policies of the Syria-based Umayyad regime aimed to reduce the Iraqis' privileges and status. Nevertheless, in 699, al-Hajjaj appointed Ibn al-Ash'ath as commander of a huge Iraqi army, the so-called "Peacock Army", to subdue the troublesome principality of Zabulistan, whose ruler, the Zunbil, vigorously resisted Arab expansion. In 700, al-Hajjaj's overbearing behaviour caused Ibn al-Ash'ath and the army to revolt. After patching up an agreement with the Zunbil, the army marched back to Iraq. On the way, the mutiny against al-Hajjaj developed into a full-fledged anti-Umayyad rebellion and acquired religious overtones. (Full article...)
The Byzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628, also called the Last Great War of Antiquity, was fought between the Byzantine Empire and the Sasanian Empire. It was the final and most devastating conflict of the Roman–Persian Wars (54 BC – AD 628). The previous war between the two powers had ended in 591 after emperor Maurice helped the Sasanian King Khosrow II regain his throne. In 602, Maurice was murdered by his political rival Phocas. Khosrow declared war, ostensibly to avenge the death of the deposed emperor Maurice. This became a decades-long conflict, the longest war in the series, and was fought throughout the Middle East, the Aegean Sea, and before the walls of Constantinople itself.
Phraates IV (also spelled Frahad IV; Parthian: 𐭐𐭓𐭇𐭕Frahāt) was King of Kings of the Parthian Empire from 37 to 2 BC. He was the son and successor of Orodes II (r. 57–37 BC), and was given the throne after the death of his brother Pacorus I. Phraates IV soon murdered all his brothers, and also possibly his father. His actions alienated the Armenians and also some of his nobles, including the distinguished Monaeses, who fled to the RomantriumvirMark Antony, but shortly returned and reconciled with Phraates IV.
Phraates IV was attacked in 36 BC by Mark Antony, who marched through Armenia into Media Atropatene, and was defeated and lost the greater part of his army. Antony, believing himself betrayed by Artavasdes II, king of Armenia, invaded his kingdom in 34 BC, took him prisoner, and concluded a treaty with Artavasdes I, king of Media Atropatene. But when the war with Octavian broke out, Antony could not maintain his conquests; Phraates IV recovered Media Atropatene and made Artaxias, the son of Artavasdes II, king of Armenia. (Full article...)
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A long list of supplies disbursed, dated the seventh year of Alexander the Great's reign, 324 BC
The documents, written in Imperial Aramaic, likely originated from the historical city of Balkh and all are dated between 353 BC to 324 BC, mostly during the reign of Artaxerxes III. The most recent of the documents was written during the early part of Alexander the Great's reign in the region. These letters use in Aramaic the original Greek form Alexandros (spelled Lksndrs) instead of the Eastern variant Iskandar (spelled Lksndr). The collection also includes eighteen tally sticks recording transfers of goods during the reign of Darius III. The collection's letters, administrative records, and military documents are significant for the linguistic study of the Official Aramaic language and of daily life in the Achaemenid empire. (Full article...)
Aristagoras had been approached by exiled Naxian aristocrats, who were seeking to return to their island. Seeing an opportunity to bolster his position in Miletus, Aristagoras sought the help of his overlord, the Persian king Darius the Great, and the local satrap, Artaphernes to conquer Naxos. Consenting to the expedition, the Persians assembled a force of 200 triremes under the command of Megabates. (Full article...)
The Saint Thaddeus Monastery, also known as Kara Kilise, is an ancient Armenian monastery located in the mountainous area of Iran's West Azarbaijan Province, about 20 km from the town of Maku. In July 2008, the St. Thaddeus Monastery was added to UNESCO's World Heritage List, along with the St. Stepanos monastery and the chapel of Dzordzor as a part of The Armenian Monastic Ensemble in Iran.
Foreign investors have concentrated their activity in a few sectors of the economy: the oil and gas industries, vehicle manufacture, coppermining, petrochemicals, foods, and pharmaceuticals. Iran absorbed US$24.3 billion of foreign investment from 1993 to 2007 and US$34.6 billion for 485 projects from 1992 to 2009. (Full article...)
An engineer and teacher from a poor background, he was ideologically shaped by thinkers such as Navvab Safavi, Jalal Al-e-Ahmad, and Ahmad Fardid. After the Iranian Revolution, Ahmadinejad joined the Office for Strengthening Unity. Appointed a provincial governor in 1993, he was replaced along with all other provincial governors in 1997 after the election of President Mohammad Khatami and returned to teaching. Tehran's council elected him mayor in 2003. He took a religious hard line, reversing reforms of previous moderate mayors. His 2005 presidential campaign, supported by the Alliance of Builders of Islamic Iran, garnered 62% of the runoff election votes, and he became president on 3 August 2005. (Full article...)
Tiridates I (Parthian: 𐭕𐭉𐭓𐭉𐭃𐭕, Tīridāt; Ancient Greek: Τιριδάτης, Tiridátes) was King of Armenia beginning in 53 AD and the founder of the Arsacid dynasty of Armenia. The dates of his birth and death are unknown. His early reign was marked by a brief interruption towards the end of the year 54 and a much longer one from 58 to 63. In an agreement to resolve the Roman–Parthian conflict in and over Armenia, Tiridates I (one of the brothers of Vologases I of Parthia) was crowned king of Armenia by the Roman emperor Nero in 66; in the future, the king of Armenia was to be a Parthian prince, but his appointment required approval from the Romans. Even though this made Armenia a client kingdom, various contemporary Roman sources thought that Nero had de facto ceded Armenia to the Parthian Empire.
In addition to being a king, Tiridates I was also a Zoroastrian priest and was accompanied by other magi on his journey to Rome in 66. In the early 20th century, Franz Cumont speculated that Tiridates was instrumental in the development of Mithraism which ultimately became the main religion of the Roman Army and spread across the whole empire. Furthermore, during his reign, he started reforming the administrative structure of Armenia, a reform which was continued by his successors, and which brought many Iranian customs and offices into it. (Full article...)
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Artistic representation of a Median man
The Medes were an ancientIranian people who spoke the Median language and who inhabited an area known as Media between western and northern Iran. Around the 11th century BC, they occupied the mountainous region of northwestern Iran and the northeastern and eastern region of Mesopotamia in the vicinity of Ecbatana (present-day Hamadan). Their consolidation in Iran is believed to have occurred during the 8th century BC. In the 7th century BC, all of western Iran and some other territories were under Median rule, but their precise geographic extent remains unknown.
Although widely recognized as playing an important role in the history of the ancient Near East, the Medes left no written records to reconstruct their history. Knowledge of the Medes comes only from foreign sources such as the Assyrians, Babylonians, Armenians and Greeks, as well as a few Iranian archaeological sites, which are believed to have been occupied by Medes. The accounts related to the Medes reported by Herodotus convey the image of a powerful people, who would have formed an empire at the beginning of the 7th century BC that lasted until the 550s BC, played a pivotal role in the fall of the Assyrian Empire, and competed with the powerful kingdoms of Lydia and Babylonia. However, a recent reassessment of contemporary sources from the Median period has altered scholars' perceptions of the Median state. The state remains difficult to perceive in the documentation, which leaves many doubts about its extent; some specialists have even suggested that there never was a powerful Median kingdom. In any case, it appears that after the fall of the last Median king against the Persian king Cyrus the Great, Media became an important province and was prized by the empires which successively dominated it (Achaemenids, Seleucids, Parthians and Sasanids). (Full article...)
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During the late 20th and early 21st centuries in Iran, women's rights have faced ongoing challenges, marked by strict laws, cultural norms, and government policies that limit women's freedoms and enforce gender-based restrictions. Since the 1979 Iranian Revolution, the country’s legal system has imposed a conservative interpretation of Islamic law, or "Sharia," which directly affects women’s rights in several areas. The World Economic Forum's 2017 Global Gender Gap Report ranked Iran 140, out of 144 countries, for gender parity. In 2017, in Iran, females comprised just 19% of the paid workforce, with seven percent growth since 1990. In 2017, the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security (WPS) Index ranked Iran in the bottom tercile of 153 countries. Compared to other South Asian regions, women in Iran have a better access to financial accounts, education, and cellphones. Iran was ranked 116, out of the 153 countries, in terms of legal discrimination against women.
In Iran, women's rights have changed according to the form of government ruling the country, and attitudes towards women's rights to freedom and self-determination have changed frequently. With the rise of each government, a series of mandates for women's rights have affected a broad range of issues, from voting rights to dress code.[better source needed] (Full article...)
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The Assembly of Experts (Persian: مجلس خبرگان رهبری, romanized: majles-e xobregân-e rahbari), also translated as the Assembly of Experts of the Leadership or as the Council of Experts, is the deliberative body empowered to appoint the Supreme Leader of Iran. All directly elected members must first be vetted by the Guardian Council.
All candidates to the Assembly of Experts must be approved by the Guardian Council whose members are, in turn, appointed either directly or indirectly by the Supreme Leader. The Assembly consists of 88 Mujtahids that are elected from lists of thoroughly vetted candidates (in 2016 166 candidates were approved by the Guardians out of 801 who applied to run for the office), by direct public vote for eight-year terms. The number of members has ranged from 82 elected in 1982 to 88 elected in 2016. Current laws require the assembly to meet at least twice every six months. (Full article...)
During the extradition courtroom proceedings, Meng's lawyers made several allegations against the prosecution, including allegations of unlawful detention of Meng, unlawful search and seizure, extradition law violations, misrepresentation, international law violation, and fabricated testimonies by the CBSA, each of which were responded to by the prosecution. In August 2021, the extradition judge questioned the regularity of the case and expressed great difficulty in understanding how the Record of Case (ROC) presented by the US supported their allegation of criminality. (Full article...)
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Anti-Iranian sentiment or Iranophobia, also called anti-Persian sentiment or Persophobia, refers to feelings and expressions of hostility, hatred, discrimination, or prejudice towards Iran, the Iranian government, or Iranian people on the basis of an irrational disdain for their national and cultural affiliation. The opposite phenomenon, in which one holds notable feelings of love or interest towards Iranian people for the same reasons, is known as Iranophilia or Persophilia.
Historically, discrimination and prejudice against Iranians (and against Persians in particular) has been a recurring theme in the Arab world, particularly since the Arab conquest of Iran in the 7th century. (Full article...)
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Reza Shah in uniform, c. 1931
Reza Shah Pahlavi (15 March 1878 – 26 July 1944) was shah of Iran from 1925 to 1941 and founder of the Pahlavi dynasty. Originally a military officer, he became a politician, serving as minister of war and prime minister of Iran, and was elected shah following the deposition of the last monarch of the Qajar dynasty. Reza Shah's reign ended when he was forced to abdicate after the Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran in 1941. He was succeeded by his eldest son, Mohammad Reza Shah. A moderniser, Reza Shah clashed with the Shia clergy and introduced social, economic, and political reforms during his reign, ultimately laying the foundations of the modern Iranian state. Therefore, he is regarded by many as the founder of modern Iran.
At the age of 14, Reza Shah joined the Persian Cossack Brigade, and also served in the army. In 1911, he was promoted to first lieutenant; he was elevated to the rank of captain by 1912, and he became a colonel by 1915. In February 1921, as leader of the entire Cossack Brigade based in Qazvin province, he marched towards Tehran and seized the capital. He forced the dissolution of the government and installed Zia ol Din Tabatabaee as the new prime minister. Reza Khan's first role in the new government was commander-Afaqn-chief of the army and the minister of war. (Full article...)
... that Mirza Ebrahim Khan Sahhafbashi opened the first commercial movie theater in Iran, only for it to be banned within a month?
... that little has been known of the exact whereabouts of Iranian communist leader Ashraf Dehghani since she escaped prison in 1973?
... that Russia launched an Iranian satellite into orbit just three weeks after Putin and Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei vowed to cooperate against the West?
... that Maryam Eslamdoust was the first Iranian-born woman to hold public office in Great Britain?
February 7, 1979 - Supporters of Khomeini take over the Iranian law enforcement, courts and government administration; the final session of the Iranian National Consultative Assembly is held.
February 10, 1979 - The Iranian army mutinies and joins the Islamic Revolution.
Human beings are members of a whole, In creation of one essence and soul. If one member is afflicted with pain, Other members uneasy will remain. If you have no sympathy for human pain, The name of human you cannot retain.
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