Editing History of Iran (section)

==== Khatami: reformers and conservatives struggle (1997–2005) ====
[[File:Mohammad Khatami.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Mohammad Khatami]], [[Mohammad Khatami's reforms|reformist]] President of Iran from 1997 to 2005]]

President Rafsanjani's economic policies led to stronger relations with the outside world. But his government's relaxation of the enforcement of certain regulations on social behavior were met with some responses of widespread disenchantment among the general population with the ulama as rulers of the country.<ref name="Westview Press"/> This led to the defeat of the government's candidate for president in 1997, who had the backing of the supreme Islamic jurist. He was beaten by an independent candidate from the [[Iranian Reformists|Reformists]], [[Mohammad Khatami]]. He received 69% of the vote and enjoyed particular support from two groups of the population that had felt ostracized by the practices of the state: women and youth. The younger generations in the country had been too young to experience the shah's regime or the revolution that ended it, and now they resented the restrictions placed on their daily lives under the Islamic Republic. Mohammad Khatami's presidency was soon marked by tensions between the [[Mohammad Khatami's reforms|reform-minded government]] and an increasingly conservative and vocal clergy. This rift reached a climax in July 1999 when massive anti-government protests erupted in the streets of [[Tehran]]. The disturbances lasted over a week before police and pro-government vigilantes dispersed the crowds.

Khatami was re-elected in June 2001 but his efforts were repeatedly blocked by the conservatives in the parliament. Conservative elements within Iran's government moved to undermine the reformist movement, banning liberal newspapers and disqualifying candidates for parliamentary elections. This clampdown on dissent, combined with the failure of Khatami to reform the government, led to growing political apathy among Iran's youth.

In June 2003, anti-government protests by several thousand students took place in Tehran.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2980102.stm|title=Iranians protest against clerics|date=11 June 2003|via=bbc.co.uk|access-date=17 April 2006|archive-date=13 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210213220325/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2980102.stm|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Uprising in Iran
|url=https://iranvajahan.net/|access-date=2023-03-16
| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20060503222730/http://iranvajahan.net/german/uprising.html
| date = 1 July 2007
| url-status =usurped 
|archive-date= 3 May 2006}}</ref> Several [[human right]]s protests also occurred in 2006.