Editing History of Iran (section)

===Pahlavi era (1925–1979)===
{{Main|Pahlavi Iran}}

==== {{anchor|Reza Shah (1925-1941)}}Reza Shah (1925–1941) ====
{{main|Persian Cossack Brigade}}
[[Reza Shah]] ruled for almost 16 years until 16 September 1941, when he was forced to [[Abdication|abdicate]] by the [[Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran]]. He established an [[authoritarianism|authoritarian government]] that valued [[Iranian nationalism|nationalism]], [[militarism]], [[secularism in Iran|secularism]] and [[anti-communism]] combined with strict [[censorship]] and [[state propaganda]].<ref>Michael P. Zirinsky; "Imperial Power and Dictatorship: Britain and the Rise of Reza Shah, 1921–1926", International Journal of Middle East Studies 24 (1992), 639–663, Cambridge University Press</ref> Reza Shah introduced many socio-economic reforms, reorganizing the army, government administration, and finances.<ref name="Columbia_Encyclopedia">{{cite encyclopedia
| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090201151652/http://www.bartleby.com/65/re/RezaShah.html
| url = http://www.bartleby.com/65/re/RezaShah.html
| url-status= usurped
| archive-date= 1 February 2009
| encyclopedia= The Columbia Encyclopedia
| edition= Sixth
| orig-date= 2001 | year = 2007
| title= Reza Shah Pahlevi
}}</ref>

To his supporters, his reign brought "law and order, discipline, central authority, and modern amenities – schools, trains, buses, radios, cinemas, and telephones".<ref name="Ervand, 2008 p.91">Ervand, ''History of Modern Iran'', (2008), p.91</ref> However, his attempts of modernisation have been criticised for being "too fast"<ref>The Origins of the Iranian Revolution by Roger Homan. International Affairs, Vol. 56, No. 4 (Autumn, 1980), pp. 673–677.{{JSTOR|2618173}}</ref> and "superficial",<ref>Richard W. Cottam, Nationalism in Iran, University of Pittsburgh Press, ISBN o-8229-3396-7</ref> and his reign a time of "oppression, corruption, taxation, lack of authenticity" with "security typical of [[police state]]s."<ref name="Ervand, 2008 p.91"/>

Many of the new laws and regulations created resentment among devout Muslims and the clergy. For example, mosques were required to use chairs; most men were required to wear western clothing, including a hat with a brim; women were encouraged to discard the [[hijab]]—hijab was eventually [[kashf-e hijab|banned in 1936]]; men and women were allowed to congregate freely, violating Islamic [[Sex segregation and Islam|mixing of the sexes]]. Tensions boiled over in 1935, when bazaaris and villagers rose up [[Goharshad Mosque rebellion|in rebellion]] at the [[Imam Reza shrine]] in [[Mashhad]] to protest against plans for the hijab ban, chanting slogans such as 'The Shah is a new [[Yazid I|Yezid]].' Dozens were killed and hundreds were injured when troops finally quelled the unrest.<ref>Bakhash, Shaul, ''Reign of the Ayatollahs : Iran and the Islamic Revolution'' by Shaul, Bakhash, Basic Books, c1984, p.22</ref>

====World War II====
{{See also|Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran|Polish civilian camps in World War II|Persian Corridor}}
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| caption1 = [[Mohammad Reza Pahlavi]] with FDR at the [[Tehran Conference]], 1943.
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| caption2 = [[Evacuation of Polish civilians from the USSR in World War II#Iran and the Middle East|Polish refugee camp on the outskirts of Tehran]], c. 1943.
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While [[Operation Barbarossa|German armies were highly successful]] against the [[Soviet Union in World War II|Soviet Union]], the Iranian government expected Germany to win the war and establish a powerful force on its borders. It rejected British and Soviet demands to expel German residents from Iran. In response, the two [[Allies of World War II|Allies]] [[Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran|invaded in August 1941]] and easily overwhelmed the weak Iranian army in ''[[Operation Countenance]]''. Iran became the major conduit of Allied [[Lend-Lease]] aid to the Soviet Union. The purpose was to secure Iranian [[oil field]]s and ensure Allied [[supply line]]s (see ''[[Persian Corridor]]''). Iran remained officially neutral. Its monarch [[Rezā Shāh]] was deposed during the subsequent occupation and replaced with his young son [[Mohammad Reza Pahlavi]].<ref>Richard Stewart, ''Sunrise at Abadan: the British and Soviet invasion of Iran, 1941'' (1988).</ref>

At the [[Tehran Conference of 1943]], the Allies issued the [[Tehran Declaration]] which guaranteed the post-war independence and boundaries of Iran. However, when the war actually ended, Soviet troops stationed in northwestern Iran not only refused to withdraw but backed revolts that established short-lived, pro-Soviet separatist national states in the northern regions of Azerbaijan and [[Iranian Kurdistan]], the [[Azerbaijan People's Government]] and the [[Republic of Kurdistan]] respectively, in late 1945. Soviet troops did not withdraw from Iran proper until May 1946 after receiving a promise of oil concessions. The Soviet republics in the north were soon [[Iran crisis of 1946|overthrown]] and the oil concessions were revoked.<ref>Louise Fawcett, "Revisiting the Iranian Crisis of 1946: How Much More Do We Know?." ''Iranian Studies'' 47#3 (2014): 379–399.</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|title=The Iranian Crisis of 1945–46 and the Cold War |last=Hess |first=Gary R. |journal=Political Science Quarterly |volume=89 |number=1 |date=March 1974 |pages=117–145|doi=10.2307/2148118 |jstor=2148118 |url=http://azargoshnasp.com/recent_history/atoor/theiraniancriris194546.pdf|access-date=2023-03-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160215211023/http://azargoshnasp.com/recent_history/atoor/theiraniancriris194546.pdf |archive-date=15 February 2016 }}</ref>

===={{anchor|Mohammad-Reza Shah (1941-1979)}}Mohammad-Reza Shah (1941–1979)====
[[File:Operationajax.jpg|thumb|Tehran men celebrating the [[1953 Iranian coup d'état]]]]
Initially there were hopes that post-occupation Iran could become a [[constitutional monarchy]]. The new, young Shah [[Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi]] initially took a very hands-off role in government, and allowed [[parliament]] to hold a lot of power. Some elections were held in the first shaky years, although they remained mired in corruption. Parliament became chronically unstable, and from the 1947 to 1951 period Iran saw the rise and fall of six different prime ministers. Pahlavi increased his political power by convening the [[Iran Constituent Assembly, 1949]], which finally formed the [[Senate of Iran]]—a legislative [[upper house]] allowed for in the 1906 constitution but never brought into being. The new senators were largely supportive of Pahlavi, as he had intended.

In 1951 Prime Minister [[Mohammed Mosaddeq]] received the vote required from the parliament to [[nationalize]] the British-owned oil industry, in a situation known as the [[Abadan Crisis]]. Despite British pressure, including an economic blockade, the nationalization continued. Mosaddeq was briefly removed from power in 1952 but was quickly re-appointed by the Shah, due to a popular uprising in support of the premier, and he, in turn, forced the Shah into a brief exile in August 1953 after a failed military coup by [[Imperial Guard (Iran)|Imperial Guard]] Colonel [[Nematollah Nassiri]].

=====1953: U.S. aided coup removes Mosaddeq=====
{{main|1953 Iranian coup d'état}}
Shortly thereafter on 19 August a successful [[Coup d'état|coup]] was headed by retired army general [[Fazlollah Zahedi]], aided by the United States ([[CIA]])<ref name=BBC>{{cite news|title=CIA documents acknowledge its role in Iran's 1953 coup|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-23762970|work=BBC News|access-date=20 August 2013|archive-date=9 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210309131918/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-23762970|url-status=live}}</ref> with the active support of the British ([[MI6]]) (known as [[1953 Iranian coup d'état|Operation Ajax and Operation Boot]] to the respective agencies).<ref>{{cite book|last=Kinzer|first=Stephen|title=The Brothers: John Foster Dulles, Allen Dulles, and Their Secret World War|publisher=Times Books|location=New York|year=2013}}</ref> The coup—with a [[black propaganda]] campaign designed to turn the population against Mosaddeq<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Gölz|first=Olmo|date=2019-01-01|title=Gölz "The Dangerous Classes and the 1953 Coup in Iran: On the Decline of 'lutigari' Masculinities." In Crime, Poverty and Survival in the Middle East and North Africa: The 'Dangerous Classes' since 1800. Edited by Stephanie Cronin, 177–90. London: I.B. Tauris, 2019.|url=https://www.academia.edu/40997855|journal=Crime, Poverty and Survival in the Middle East and North Africa}}</ref> — forced Mosaddeq from office. Mosaddeq was arrested and tried for treason. Found guilty, his sentence was reduced to house arrest on his family estate while his foreign minister, [[Hossein Fatemi]], was executed. [[Fazlollah Zahedi|Zahedi]] succeeded him as prime minister, and suppressed opposition to the Shah, specifically the [[National Front (Iran)|National Front]] and Communist [[Tudeh Party]].

[[File:Newsreel - Echo News Reel Number 88 about the Rule of Shah in 1971.ogv|thumb|1971 film about Iran under the Shah]]
Iran was ruled as an autocracy under the Shah with American support from that time until the revolution. The Iranian government entered into agreement with an international consortium of foreign companies which ran the Iranian oil facilities for the next 25 years, splitting profits fifty-fifty with Iran but not allowing Iran to audit their accounts or have members on their board of directors. In 1957 martial law was ended after 16 years and Iran became closer to the West, joining the [[Baghdad Pact]] and receiving military and economic aid from the US. In 1961, Iran initiated a series of economic, social, agrarian and administrative reforms to modernize the country that became known as the Shah's [[White Revolution]].

The core of this program was land reform. Modernization and economic growth proceeded at an unprecedented rate, fueled by Iran's vast petroleum reserves, the third-largest in the world. However, the reforms, including the White Revolution, did not greatly improve economic conditions and the liberal pro-Western policies alienated certain [[Islam]]ic religious and political groups. In early June 1963 [[Movement of 15 Khordad|several days of massive rioting]] occurred in support of [[Ayatollah]] [[Ruhollah Khomeini]] following the cleric's arrest for a speech attacking the Shah.

Two years later, premier [[Hassan Ali Mansur]] was assassinated and the internal security service, [[SAVAK]], became more violently active. In the 1970s, leftist [[Guerrilla groups of Iran|guerilla groups]] such as [[Mujaheddin-e-Khalq]] (MEK), emerged and contributed to overthrowing the Shah during the 1979 Iranian Revolution.

Nearly a hundred Iran political prisoners were killed by the SAVAK during the decade before the revolution and many more were arrested and tortured.<ref>Abrahamian, ''Tortured Confessions'' (1999), pp. 135–6, 167, 169</ref> The Islamic clergy, headed by the Ayatollah [[Ruhollah Khomeini]] (who had been exiled in 1964), were becoming increasingly vociferous.

Iran greatly increased its defense budget and by the early 1970s was the region's strongest military power. Bilateral relations with Iraq were not good, mainly due to a dispute over the [[Shatt al-Arab]] waterway. In November 1971, Iranian forces seized control of [[Seizure of Abu Musa and the Greater and Lesser Tunbs|three islands at the mouth of the Persian Gulf]]; in response, Iraq expelled thousands of Iranian nationals. Following a number of clashes in April 1969, Iran abrogated [[Treaty of Saadabad|the 1937 accord]] and demanded a renegotiation.

In mid-1973, the Shah returned the oil industry to national control. Following the [[Yom Kippur War|Arab-Israeli War of October 1973]], Iran did not join the Arab oil embargo against the West and [[Israel]]. Instead, it used the situation to raise oil prices, using the money gained for modernisation and to increase defense spending.

A border dispute between Iraq and Iran was resolved with the signing of the [[Algiers Agreement (1975)|Algiers Accord]] on 6 March 1975.