Iran was modernized primarily by the Pahlavi dynasty, starting with Reza Shah Pahlavi (ruled 1925-1941) who built the foundations of a modern state, and continued by his son, Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi (ruled 1941-1979), who launched extensive social and economic reforms like the White Revolution to transform Iran into a global power, though these efforts faced significant opposition and ultimately led to revolution.
In 1963, the Shah announced his White Revolution, a program that included land reform, the nationalization of forests, the sale of state-owned enterprises to the private sector, a profit-sharing plan for industrial workers, and the formation of a Literacy Corps to eradicate illiteracy in rural areas.
Throughout the next year, Reza Khan's efforts to modernize Iran and reduce foreign influence gained popular support. His initiatives included reorganizing the military and implementing infrastructure projects, which increased his influence.
During his reign, Reza Shah implemented reforms to rebuild the country and to restore political and economic independence. He strove for a modern country with a strong military, united as one instead of divided by multiple religious and tribal groups, and for leadership free from foreign influence.
The Iranian Revolution in 1979 overthrew the monarchy, and the Islamic Republic of Iran was established by Ruhollah Khomeini, the country's first supreme leader.
However, in 1979, the Islamic Revolution brought about yet another monumental change by ending the historic Iranian monarchy and replacing it with an Islamic republic.
In Iran, the thumbs-up gesture (👍) traditionally signifies a crude insult, meaning something like "up yours" or "sit on it," but due to Western media and social media, its negative meaning is fading, and younger Iranians often understand it as a positive sign (like "good job") or are indifferent, though older generations might still find it offensive.
Persia became Iran in 1935 when Reza Shah Pahlavi requested the international community use the endonym "Iran" (meaning "Land of the Aryans"), moving away from the Western-derived "Persia," which he felt was too colonial and outdated, to forge a modern, unified national identity connected to its ancient history. This change unified the diverse peoples within the country under one name, signifying a powerful cultural and political shift towards self-determination and modernity.
Colonization was costly and intensive, and intervention by any power in Iran could have drawn a response from one of the other powers. With this knowledge, and with new diplomatic ties to the west, successive Qajar monarchs sought to modernize Iran, and play western powers off each other, to varying degrees of success.
Many of the formerly 80,000-strong Iranian Jewish community had left Iran by 1978. Subsequently, more than 80% of the remaining Iranian Jews fled or emigrated from the country between 1979 and 2006. As of early 2013, a small Jewish community of an estimated 10,000 still resided in Iran as a protected minority.
Many Iranians felt that the Shah's government was not acting in the best interests of the Iranian people and that it was too closely aligned with Western interests, especially at the expense of Iranian sovereignty and cultural identity.
Mohammad Reza Shah was fluent in Persian, French, and English, and he had a working knowledge of German and Russian. His wife, Farah Pahlavi, also speaks Persian, French, and English fluently. Reza Pahlavi, the crown prince, is fluent in Persian, English, and French, reflecting the same international upbringing.
In the later parts of the Bible, where this kingdom is frequently mentioned (Books of Esther, Daniel, Ezra and Nehemiah), it is called Paras (Biblical Hebrew: פרס), or sometimes Paras u Madai (פרס ומדי), ("Persia and Media").
Construction by German companies
In 1975, German Kraftwerk Union AG, a joint venture of Siemens and AEG-Telefunken, signed a contract worth US$4–6 billion to build the pressurized water reactor nuclear power plant. The work was begun in the same year.
Genetic analysis shows their closest modern relatives are primarily other Iranian populations, particularly the Talysh of Azerbaijan and Persians from Isfahan and Fars.
Zoroastrianism, which had been the state religion under the Sasanians, began to decline as Islam gradually became the dominant faith. Many Persians converted to Islam, motivated either by genuine belief or the desire to avoid the jizya, a tax levied on non-Muslims.
Before 1979, Iran was officially known as the Imperial State of Persia in the Western world until 1935, when the native name Iran became standard internationally, though the country was ruled by the Pahlavi dynasty and still referred to as Persia in some contexts until the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
In 1959, Reza Shah's son announced that the terms Iran and Persia could be used interchangeably in formal correspondence. Despite this, Iran has become the country's dominant name – its official name since 1979 is Jomhuri-ye Eslāmi-ye Irān, which translates as the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Investigations have revealed that the information Ayatollah Khamenei oversees a financial empire valued at approximately $95 billion. This wealth is primarily managed through the Execution of Imam Khomeini's Order (EIKO), also known as Setad.
On 27 June 1981, in the Abuzar Mosque in Tehran, Iran, then-presidential candidate Ali Khamenei was injured after he gave a speech for prayers, when a bomb placed on the tape recorder in front of him exploded, damaging his arm, vocal cords and lungs. Since then, his right arm has been paralysed.
1. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini – Iran (1989) The funeral of Ayatollah Khomeini, founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, drew an estimated 10 million mourners, one of the largest gatherings in modern history.
Basic Etiquette
It is rude to put your feet on the table. Burping and sniffing in front of others is considered rude. One should not touch people of the opposite gender unless they are very close family or friends.
Hitchhiker's thumb means your thumb joint, closest to your nail, is hypermobile. Hypermobile means you can move your joints beyond the normal range of motion. If you can move your thumb joint backward more than 50 degrees, you may have hitchhiker's thumb.
The 👎 (thumbs down emoji) signifies disagreement or disapproval. When someone sends a 👎 (thumbs down emoji) over text or on social media, they're expressing direct disagreement or disapproval with something that was sent or posted.