Iranian Crisis and Birth of Islam

Mohammad born in 570 AD within the Quraish Cult.
Married Khadija, who became his first follower.
Received revelations from the angel Gabriel at Mount Hira near Mecca.
622 AD: Marks the birth of Islam with Prophet Mohammad's shift to Madina (Hijra) due to protests.
Mohammad died in 632 AD.

The Crusades took place from approximately 1096-1204, involving various European powers and the Byzantine Empire against Muslim lands in the Mediterranean and Middle East.

Expansion of the Islamic world up to 1500 AD, covering regions from Spain to parts of India and Southeast Asia.

Safavid Dynasty (1501-1736): Shia Islam became the official religion.
Qajar Dynasty (1785-1921): Ulema (religious scholars) held political power.
Pahalavi Dynasty (1921-1979):
- Reza Shah's coup, supported by the British due to oil interests.
- Secular state opposed by Ulema.
- During World War II, Reza Shah was replaced by his son Mohammad Reza Shah (22 years in power) because of his non-alignment with the British.

1941: Mohammad Reza Pahalavi in power.
1951: Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadaq nationalized Anglo-Iran Oil.
1953: Coup by MI6 and CIA restored power to the Shah.
1955: Mohammad Reza Shah initiated the White Revolution for modernization, urbanization, and westernization.
1955: USA started Iran’s Nuclear Program.
1963 to 1970s: Monetary instability, disparities, and rise of Western culture led to the rise of Ulama, including Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (expelled to Iraq and then to the UK).
1978-79: Iranian Revolution with the help of Ulama, intellectuals, and Revolutionary Guards (religious militia).

1979: Constitution approved with 98% vote, establishing the Supreme Leader over the President and Parliament.
Islamic Republic established: Ayatollah Khomeini as Supreme Leader and Abolhasan as President.
1979: Creation of Islamic Revolutionary Guards.
1979 to 1981: US embassy seized; rise of Quds Forces (444 days until Shah's death and peace brokered by Algeria).
1979 to 2003: Theocracy under Vilayet-e Faqih (Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist).

1980-88: Iran-Iraq War under Saddam Hussein (Sunni leader fearing Shia revolution in Iraq, which had a Shia majority).
1989: Sayyed Ali Khamenei succeeds Khomeini.
1989-91: Saddam attacks Kuwait (1st Gulf War).
1991-2003: Iraq-USA conflict (2nd Gulf War).
2003: Saddam captured; Shia majority puppet government established in Iraq by Iran.
Bush's Axis of Evil: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Syria, North Korea, Cuba.

Turkey: Kurdistan Issue.
Iraq: Puppet Government influenced by Iran.
Lebanon: Support to Hezbollah.
Syria: Support to Bashar al-Assad.
Israel-Gaza: Support to Hamas.
Yemen: Support to Houthis to destabilize Saudi Arabia.
Increasing stockpile of enriched uranium, heavy water, and centrifuges from 2003 to 2013, marking an offensive stance with proxy wars.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi died in a helicopter crash on May 19, along with Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and six others.
Raisi played a crucial role in repressing the Iranian Green Movement Protests (Persian Spring) in 2009-10.
2017: Hassan Rouhani.
2019: Khamenei appointed Raisi as Iran's chief justice.
He was elected president in 2021.
Raisi maintained an ultraconservative and uncompromising position during his tenure.
‘Axis of Resistance’: An informal, Iran-led political-military coalition including Islamic resistance in Iraq, the Syrian government, Lebanese Hezbollah, Yemeni Houthis, and Palestinian groups including Hamas.

September 2022: Nationwide protests in Iran over the death of Mahsa Amini, detained for improper hijab; Raisi brutally crushed the protests.
Protests lasted three months, with slogans