On the morning of Tuesday, August 3, 2021, the executive authority in Iran was officially transferred from Hassan Rouhani to Ibrahim Raisi, in the presence of the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in the Imam Khomeini Husseiniya in Tehran and the participation of a number of Iranian political, military and religious figures.
Raisi is the eighth president of Iran since the revolution that overthrew the Shah (king) and ruled the Pahlavi dynasty and established the Islamic Republic in 1979.
"People want"
The new Iranian president confirmed that his administration will pursue the issue of lifting sanctions, but it will not link the lives of Iranians to the will of foreigners, as he put it.
Raisi said - at his official inauguration ceremony as Iran's president - that confronting the budget deficit and inflation, and containing the Corona outbreak, will be two priorities for his government.
Raisi added that the recent elections were a message from the people to change the current situation, especially economic conditions, noting that the people want transformation and change in the country, and the government's program depends on this idea.
Iranian Revolution (social networking sites)
Islamic Republic
In early February 1979, Imam Ruhollah Khomeini (September 24, 1902 - June 3, 1989) returned to Iran from his exile about two weeks after the departure of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi (October 26, 1919 to July 27, 1979). 1980) the country into exile following mass protests against his regime.
In early April 1979, the establishment of the Islamic Republic was declared.
hostage crisis
On November 4, 1979, Islamic students stormed the US embassy in Tehran, demanding the return of the Shah to his country after he was hospitalized in the United States.
The students detained 52 diplomats and employees for a period of 444 days, during which on April 7, 1980 Washington severed diplomatic relations with Tehran and imposed a trade embargo.
Iraq war
- September 22, 1980, Iraq launched a war against Iran after the withdrawal of then Iraqi President Saddam Hussein (April 28, 1937 - December 30, 2006) from the 1975 Algiers Agreement on the Shatt al-Arab.
The war, known in Iran as the "Sacred Defense", lasted 8 years and claimed hundreds of thousands of lives on both sides.
The war ended on August 20, 1988 with a cease-fire agreement under the auspices of the United Nations.
Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei (Iranian press)
Supreme Leader Khamenei
- After Khomeini's death, on June 3, 1989, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (July 17, 1939), who had been president of the republic since October 1981, was elected Supreme Leader and Leader of the Revolution.
- July 1989, moderate conservative Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani (August 25, 1934 - January 8, 2017) was elected president, and was re-elected for a second term in 1993.
- Rafsanjani, one of the most prominent political figures in the Islamic Republic, oversaw a policy of relative openness towards the West and led the reconstruction process after the Iraq war.
Mohammad Khatami (European News Agency)
Khatami's era
- May 23, 1997, the reformist Mohammad Khatami (October 14, 1943) was elected President of the Republic, and he faced strong opposition from conservative politicians throughout his reign (until 2005).
- During his first term in office, in July 1999 Iran witnessed widespread protests, which included confrontations between the police and students.
"Axis of Evil"
- January 29, 2002, US President George W. Bush (ruled from 2001-2009) classified Iran within the "axis of evil" with Iraq and North Korea, and accused it of supporting "terrorism" and seeking to acquire weapons of mass destruction.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (Al Jazeera)
Ahmadinejad era
- June 25, 2005, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (August 3, 2005 - August 3, 2013) wins the presidential elections, and is known for his controversial and populist positions.
During his reign, Iran resumed uranium enrichment, alarming Western countries suspected of seeking to develop a nuclear weapon, which Tehran denies to this day.
His re-election in 2009 provoked widespread protests, and the authorities took sternness in dealing with them.
Hassan Rouhani (Reuters)
nuclear deal
Following the election of moderate cleric Hassan Rouhani (August 4, 2013 - August 3, 2021) on June 15, 2013 as president, relations with the United States and world countries, especially Western countries, improved.
Iran reached an agreement with the major powers on its nuclear program on July 14, 2015, which allowed for a partial lifting of economic sanctions in exchange for restrictions on its nuclear program and ensuring its peace, after 12 years of tensions over it.
Cut ties with Saudi Arabia
- In January 2016, Saudi Arabia severed diplomatic relations with Tehran after an attack on the Kingdom's embassy in Tehran by protesters protesting the execution by Riyadh of the opposition Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr (June 21, 1959 - January 2, 2016).
- Saudi Arabia accused Iran of "interfering" in the affairs of Arab countries and "destabilizing" the region through its growing regional influence.
Former US President Donald Trump (Reuters)
US withdrawal
On May 8, 2018, former US President Donald Trump announced (January 20, 2017 - January 20, 2021) to withdraw his country from the nuclear agreement and re-imposed sanctions on Iran, in the context of his administration's policy of "maximum pressure" regarding Tehran.
A year later, Iran gradually began to retreat from its basic commitments under the agreement.
Renewed US sanctions pushed the vast majority of foreign investors out of Iran, which also lost the majority of its oil importers.
- In April 2021, Tehran and the major powers began holding talks in an effort to revive the agreement, in light of the intention of US President Joe Biden (January 20, 2021 - January 20, 2025) to return his country to him in exchange for Tehran's implementation of its commitments.
fuel protests
Iranian cities witnessed several protests in November 2019 after the announcement of a fuel price hike.
The authorities dealt severely with the protests, and officially announced that they had led to the death of 230 people, but non-human rights organizations estimated that there were more victims, such as Amnesty International, which reported the killing of 304 people.
These protests came in the wake of demonstrations that took place in the cities of Iran in the winter of 2017-2018.
- Khuzestan Province (southwest) witnessed protests in July 2021 against the backdrop of water scarcity and drought.
Qassem Soleimani (social networking sites)
Confrontations and assassinations
- Iran announced in June 2019 the downing of a US drone that violated its airspace, and Washington said that the plane was in international airspace.
Trump authorized a military strike on Iran, but retracted it at the last minute.
On January 3, 2020, Washington assassinated, with a drone strike near Baghdad Airport, the commander of the Quds Force in the Revolutionary Guards, Major General Qassem Soleimani (March 11, 1957 - January 3, 2020).
- 5 days later, Iran launched a missile strike on the Ain al-Assad base in western Iraq, where American forces are stationed.
A: Also, Iranian personalities and sites have been attacked by attacks, which were accused of being behind Israel, the arch regional enemy of the Islamic Republic.
- November 27, 2020, prominent nuclear scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh (1958-November 27, 2020), was assassinated by gunfire near Tehran.
April 11, 2021, the "explosion" of the Natanz uranium enrichment facility.
Presidency 2021
- June 18, 2021, Ibrahim Raisi (December 14, 1960), the hard-line conservative who was the head of the judiciary, won the presidential elections after receiving 17,926,345 votes, with 61.95% of the votes.
- The participation rate in the elections reached 48.8%, according to official figures. It witnessed boycott calls from the reformist current candidates who were excluded from candidacy, led by former Islamic Consultative Assembly Speaker Ali Larijani and former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who described the elections as engineered in advance.
arabian sea attack
- July 29, 2021 witnessed an attack against an oil tanker in the Arabian Sea, operated by an Israeli businessman, and led to the death of two crew members.
- Israel has accused Iran of being responsible for the attack, which is the latest chapter in the record of the exchange of accusations between the two regional enemies of targeting each other's ships.