The Islamic Republic of IranAlso referred to as the Islamic Republic of Persia (IRP), Khomeinist Iran, Islamist Iran, the Mullahs' regime/Regime of the Mullahs, and the Khomeini/Khamenei regime. is the current Iranian state that has existed since 1979, under the rule of a supreme leader and an Islamic theocracy.
One of the most dramatic changes in government in Iran's history was seen with the 1979 Iranian Revolution where Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was overthrown and replaced by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. The authoritarian monarchy was replaced by a long-lasting Shiite Islamic republic based on the principle of guardianship of Islamic jurists, (or Velayat-e faqih), where Shiite jurists serve as head of state and in many powerful governmental roles. A pro-Western, pro-American foreign policy was, for the first Years in power, exchanged for one of "neither east nor west", said to rest on the three "pillars" of mandatory veil (hijab) for women, and opposition to the United States and Israel. A rapidly modernizing capitalist economy["Modern Iran: roots and results of revolution", p. 133, 227Iran: The Illusion of Power by Robert Graham, p. 18, 19, 20, 83 was replaced by a populist and Islamic economy and culture.
The leader of the revolution and founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, was the supreme leader of Iran until his death in 1989. He was followed by Ali Khamenei.
From 1999 to present, there have been a series of political/social/economic protest movements in Iran, the July 1999 student protests, the June 2003 student protests, the 2009 to 2010 presidential election protests, the Arab spring protests in 2011 to 2012, the October 2016 Monarchist Revolt, the 2017 to 2018 Inflation demonstrations, the 2018 to 2019 General strikes and Bazaar mass closures, the 2019 to 2020 Bloody November/Aban Protests for Gas and Car Fuel, the 2021 to 2022 Water protests, the 2022-2023 Mahsa Amini protests, the March to December 2025 General strikes and water protests, and the 2026 Iranian Uprising and General strikes.
General trends During the era of the Islamic Republic, Iran has grown from 39 million (1980) to 81.16 million (2017) people.
Some things remain much as they were under the monarchy. Iran has retained its status as a major regional power—it is far larger than any of its Persian Gulf neighbors, and possesses larger reserves of gas and oil than all except Saudi Arabia.Abrahamian, History of Modern Iran, (2008), p. 194 Its national cohesion brought by a long history as a nation, strong central state government and its oil export revenues have brought it "respectable" levels of income, literacy, college enrollment, infant mortality, and infrastructure. Modern trends found under the monarchy, such as urbanization, growing enrollment in higher educationwhich went from 155,000 in 1977 to 135,700 in 1982 (when universities reopened after cultural revolution) to a peak of 1,048,000 in 1995. from UNESCO Division of Statistics, quoted in Brumberg, Daniel, Reinventing Khomeini: The Struggle for Reform in Iran, University of Chicago Press, 2001, p. 188 and literacy, continued.
Politics and government
The Islamic Republic of Iran is an Islamic theocracy headed by a supreme leader. Its constitution was approved in 1979 and amended in 1989. Jaafari (Usuli) school of thought is the official religion. Theocratic bodies supervise the government which has an elected president and elected governmental bodies at the national, provincial and local levels. All male and female citizens from the age of 18 on up may vote for candidates approved by the Council of Guardians which had veto power over who can run for parliament (the Islamic Consultative Assembly) and whether its bills can become law.
Foreign affairs
Following the 1979 revolution in Iran, the Islamic revolutionary regime of Ayatollah Khomeini dramatically reversed the pro-Western foreign policy of the regime it overthrew. Since then, Iran has oscillated between the two opposing tendencies of revolutionary ardour (promoting the Islamic revolution and struggling against non-Muslim tendencies abroad) and moves towards pragmatism (economic development and normalization of foreign relations). Khomeini's 1989 fatwa calling for the killing of British citizen Salman Rushdie for his allegedly blasphemous book, The Satanic Verses, demonstrated the willingness of the Islamic revolutionaries to sacrifice trade and other ties with western countries to threaten an individual citizen of a foreign country living thousands of miles away. On the other hand, Khomeini's death in 1989 led more pragmatic policies, with presidents Hashemi Rafsanjani and Mohammad Khatami leading the charge for more stable relations with the west as well as its surrounding, non-Revolutionary-Islamic neighbors—i.e., Saudi Arabia. Following the 2005 election of President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, Iran has returned to a more hardline stance, frequently antagonizing the west and its neighbors while battling for control over the region.
In the immediate aftermath of the revolution, the Islamic Republic went to war against Saddam Hussein's Iraq after the latter launched a military invasion in the 1980s. With most foreign aid going to Iraq, Iran was forced to accept a ceasefire by 1988. Tensions with Iraq remained long after the war; it was not until the death of Saddam himself that Iran and Iraq have started improving their relations.
The Islamic Republic founded and sponsored the Lebanese group known as Hezbollah; its leaders were followers of Khomeini. The creation of Hezbollah, and its funding from Iran, was in response to the Israeli occupation of Lebanon. Since then, Hezbollah has served as both an ally and a surrogate for Iran during its conflict with America and Israel. Author Olivier Roy describes the Islamic Republic's as having "lost most of its allure among non-Iranian Shia's", giving as examples the 1995 house arrest in Qom of the two sons of Grand Ayatollah Shirazi, spiritual leader of the Bahraini Shia; and the close cooperation between the Afghan Shia party Wahdat and the U.S. Army after November 2001.Roy, Olivier, Globalized Islam, Columbia University Press, 2004, p. 67–68
The Islamic Republic strongly supports the Palestinian cause. Government aid goes to everything from Palestinian hospitals to arms supplies. There is vigorous media publicity, an official "Quds (Jerusalem) Day", and squares and streets named after Palestine crisscross Iranian cities. Some question whether the issue has domestic grassroots support, arguing that Iranians "lack emotional and cultural ties to Palestinians",Molavi, Afshin, The Soul of Iran, Norton, (2005), p. 59 or has been too costly in terms of opportunity cost compared to peaceful coexistence.One study estimates that conflict in the Middle East has cost the Iranian population a substantial fraction of per capita income in opportunity cost of foregone economic growth. A report by the Asian think tank Strategic Foresight Group estimates the opportunity cost of conflict (i.e. not just the cost of arms and destruction but lack of economic growth that peaceful coexistence would have made possible) in the Middle East from 1991–2010 at a $12 trillion. Iran's share of the opportunity cost came to over $2.1 trillion. In other words had there been peace since 1991, the average Iranian citizen would have an estimated income of $7700 rather the $4100 that he or she will earn in 2010.
Human development
Despite stagnation in the economy, Iran's Human Development Index rating (including life expectancy, literacy, education, and standard of living) improved significantly in the years after the revolution, climbing from 0.569 in 1980 to 0.759 in 2007/8.Iran: Human Development Index It now ranks 94th out of 177 countries with data.Iran (Islamic Republic of) The Human Development Index – going beyond income This is approximately the same rate, as neighbor Turkey which has a somewhat higher HDI rating (0.775).Turkey: Human Development Index One factor in the HDI rise has been literacy rates among Iranian women which "rose from 28% to 80% between 1976 and 1996".Roy, Olivier, Globalized Islam: The Search for a New Ummah, Columbia University Press, 2004, p. 14
Although the Shah's regime had created a popular and successful Literacy Corps and also worked to raise literacy rates,Iran, the Essential Guide to a Country on the Brink, Encyclopædia Britannica, 2006, p. 212 the Islamic Republic based its educational reforms on Islamic principles. The Literacy Movement Organization (LMO), replaced the Literacy Corps following the revolutionIran , the UNESCO EFA 2000 Assessment: Country Reports. and is credited with much of Iran's continued success in reducing illiteracy from 52.5 per cent in 1976 to just 24 per cent, at the last count in 2002. The movement has established over 2,000 community learning centers across the country, employed some 55,000 instructors, distributed 300 easy-to-read books and manuals, and provided literacy classes to a million people, men as well as women. Adult education offers new opportunities and options to Iranian women , UNGEI.Adult education offers new opportunities and options to Iranian women , UNFPA. The increase in literacy "meant that for the first time in history most of the population, including Azeris, Kurds, Gilakis, and Mazanderanis, could converse and read in Persian".Abrahamian, Ervand, History of Modern Iran, Columbia University Press, 2008, p. 180
In the field of health, maternal and infant mortality rates have been cut significantly.Howard, Jane. Inside Iran: Women's Lives, Mage publishers, 2002, p. 89 Infant mortality per 1000 dropped from 104 to 25.
In particular conditions improved in the countryside. The Reconstruction Jihad "extended roads, electricity, piped water, and most important of all, health clinics into villages. ... turning peasants into farmers. Soon most farmers had access not only to roads, schools, ... but also ... radios, refrigerators, telephones, televisions, motorbikes, even pickup trucks. ... on the eve of the revolution, life expectancy at birth had been less than 56; by the end of the century, it was near 70."
Economy
Under the Islamic Republic, Iran's economy has been dominated by oil and gas exports which constituted 70% of government revenue and 80% of export earnings as of 2008.IRNA: Crude price pegged at dlrs 39.6 a barrel under next year's budget . Retrieved December 5, 2008. It has a large public sector, with an estimated 60% of the economy directly controlled and centrally planned by the state.Economist, Jan 18, 2003 A unique feature of Iran's economy is the large size of the religious foundations, or Bonyads, whose combined budgets are said to make up as much as half that of the central government.Abrahamian, History of Modern Iran, (2008), p. 178
Economic problems include the shattering of the Iranian oil sector and consequent loss of output from the revolution and Iran–Iraq War (Iran sustained economic losses estimated at $500 billionMSN Encarta: Iran–Iraq War Retrieved January 29, 2009. 2009-10-31.), a soaring population over the same period, inefficiency in the state sector, dependence on petroleum exports,Keddie, Modern Iran, (2003), p. 271. and corruption."Iran: Bribery and Kickbacks Persists Despite Anti-Corruption Drive". Global Information Network, July 15, 2004 p. 1."Still failing, still defiant", Economist, December 9, 2004.
The constitution of the Islamic Republic calls for the state sector "to include all large-scale and mother industries, foreign trade", natural resources and communication; and calls on the private sector to "supplement the ... state and cooperative sectors"."Iran's Economy: 20 years after the Islamic Revolution" by Bijan Khajehpour, from Iran at the Crossroads, Edited by John Esposito and R.K. Ramazani, [Palgrave, 2001]Article 44 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic