Iran Revolution the Iranian Revolution

Iran Revolution The Iranian Revolution represented an important moment for the history of Iran on the one hand and for the evolution of the Cold War on the other hand. There are two perspectives over the impact of the Iranian Revolution.

There is the one which presents the facts at the time of the revolution, in terms of the situation in 1979 from the point-of-view of the oil, the religious aspect, and the European intervention; at the same time, there is the perspective of the eventual results on the above mentioned issues. In the first case, the situation prior and during the revolution included several aspects. On the one hand in terms of the oil industry, Iran was one of the most important trading partners of the Western world.

More precisely, the security of supply was for the U.S. In particular the most important element of the relationship with the Shah and the main reason for which the West supported his reign. Therefore, by the time the first signs of the revolution became visible, the international scene started to reconsider its position in terms of alternative oil supplies because of the state owned oil industry; nonetheless, the resources from Iran were crucial for the development of the world.

In terms of the relationship between the state and religion the situation before the Revolution was mixed. On the one hand, there were those that supported a return to the traditional relations between the state and the religion based on Shari'ah and ulama administration and, on the other hand, there were the proponents of the Western style of government of laic administration. This caused a certain sense of social convulsions and disorientation.

As for the issue of the European colonial matter, prior to the Iranian revolution, the idea of the Iranian revolutionaries was that of considering colonialism as an evil that must be dealt with. Therefore, the Iranians looked at the Americans, the Europeans as enemies of their well being. From the other perspective, that offered by the outcome of the Revolutions, the analysis must follow the same lines. In this sense, the oil industry had to suffer majorly.

Thus, after the Revolution most foreign workers in the oil processing were sent to their countries; one of the most interesting effects the Revolution had was on the security of the oil supply. More precisely, oil during the Khomeini regime was used more as a negotiating tool rather than an economic means of development. In the second matter related to religion and the state, the arrival of the Khomeini regime placed more tensions on the already existing ones between the Shia and the Sunni.

Thus while Khomeini wanted to establish an Islamic Revolution, the Shia and the Sunni viewed his as a man wanting to attain power through the exploitation of the religious disputes between the two. At the same time however, there were strong religious Shias that considered the Ayatollah as the divine presence on Earth and they obeyed him. Even so, the religious aspect played a major role in the conflicts that continued to arise between the Shia and the Sunnis.

Finally, in terms of the colonial issues involved, the Revolution set the issue clear related to the possibility of intervention of foreign actors. In this sense, its relations with the Americans negatively changed, while with the rest of the Europeans whey were based on necessity only. At the moment, there are several opportunities to be taken into account. On the one hand, there is the availability of the Iranian president that should be considered. Would Ahmadinedjan rethink its offensive strategy towards the world, the situation could gradually deescalate.

A negative outcome would be the other options who argue for the secularization of the state. Reference Fatemi, K. The Iranian Revolution: Its Impact on Economic Relations with the United States. International Journal of Middle East Studies, Vol. 12, No. 3. (Nov., 1980), pp. 303-317 Hooker, R. The Iranian Revolution. World Civilizations. 1999. available at http://www.wsu.edu:8000/~dee/SHIA/REV.htm Thornton, T. Sources of the Iranian Revolution, 1979. History of the Middle East Database. 2005 available at http://www.nmhschool.org/tthornton/mehistorydatabase/sources_of_the_iranian_revolution.php Mills, G.

Colonialism, Iran, Oil and War. Ted.