Editing History of Iran (section)

==== Rafsanjani: pragmatic conservativism (1989–1997) ====
Ali-[[Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani]] succeeded Khamenei as president on 3 August 1989, as a pragmatic conservative who served two four-year terms and focused his efforts on rebuilding the country's economy and infrastructure damaged by war, though hampered by low oil prices. Rafsanjani sought to restore confidence in the government among the general population by privatizing the companies that had been nationalized in the first few years of the Islamic Republic, as well as by bringing in qualified technocrats to manage the economy. The state of their economy also influenced the government to move towards ending their diplomatic isolation. This was achieved through the reestablishment of normalized relations with neighbors such as [[Saudi Arabia]] and an attempt to improve its reputation in the region with assertions that its revolution was not exportable to other states.<ref>''Treacherous Alliance : the secret dealings of Israel, Iran and the United States'' by Trita Pasri, Yale University Press, 2007, p.145</ref> During the [[Gulf War|Persian Gulf War]] in 1991 the country remained [[neutral country|neutral]], restricting its action to the condemnation of the U.S. and allowing fleeing Iraqi aircraft and refugees into the country.{{fact|date=September 2024}}

Iran in the 1990s had a greater secular behavior and admiration for Western popular culture than in the previous decades. This admiration had become a way in which the urban population expressed their resentment at the invasive Islamic policies of the government.<ref name="Westview Press">{{cite book|last1=Cleveland|first1=William L.|title=A History of the Modern Middle East|date=2016|publisher=Westview Press|location=Boulder, CO|isbn=978-0-8133-4980-0}}</ref> The pressures from the population placed on the new Supreme Leader Ayatollah [[Ali Khamenei]] led to an uneasy alliance between him and President [[Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani]]. Through this alliance they attempted to hinder the [[ulama]]'s ability to gain further control of the state. In 1989, they created a sequence of constitutional amendments that removed the office of prime minister and increased the scope of presidential power. However, these new amendments did not curtail the powers of the [[Supreme Leader of Iran]] in any way; this position still contained the ultimate authority over the armed forces, the making of war and peace, the final say in foreign policy, and the right to intervene in the legislative process whenever he deemed it necessary.<ref name="Westview Press"/>