Editing Iran (section)

===The Ilkhanate and Aftermath===
After the death of Möngke Khan, the Mongol Empire was fractured by civil war, both over the succession of the next Great Khan and between nomadic traditionalists and the new settled princes of China and the Middle East. [[Kublai Khan]] (1260–1294) was eventually universally recognized but the empire was irreversibly fragmented.{{Sfn|Lane|2012|p=250}} In much of the south-west of the empire (including Iran), power fell to [[Hulegu Khan]],{{Sfn|Rossabi|2002|p=32}} who had been made a deputy there under Möngke Khan.{{Sfn|Lane|2012|p=250}} Hulegu was swiftly accepted as a legitimate ruler in Iran and was further legitimized through a ''[[fatwa]]'' issued by the Shia scholar [[Ali ibn Tawus al-Hilli]].{{Sfn|Lane|2012|pp=253–254, 256}} Iran experienced a cultural renaissance under Ilkhanid rule.{{Sfn|Lane|2012|pp=253–254, 256}} [[Ghazan Khan]] (1295–1304) converted to Islam in the late thirteenth century, turning the state further away from the other Mongol realms.{{Sfn|Rossabi|2002|p=32}}

After Ghazan's nephew [[Abu Sa'id Bahadur Khan|Abu Said]] died in 1335, however, the Ilkhanate lapsed into civil war and was divided between several petty dynasties – most prominently the [[Jalayirids]], [[Muzaffarids (Iran)|Muzaffarids]], [[Sarbadars]] and [[Kartids]]. The mid-14th-century [[Black Death]] killed about 30% of the country's population.<ref>[http://www.nationalreview.com/interrogatory/kelly200509140843.asp Q&A with John Kelly on The Great Mortality on National Review Online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090109165503/http://www.nationalreview.com/interrogatory/kelly200509140843.asp |date=2009-01-09 }}.</ref>