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Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
Timeline of Events
539BC
10.17.539 BC
King Cyrus The Great of Persia marches into the city of Babylon, releasing the Jews from almost 70 years of exile and making the first Human Rights Declaration.
1256
12.15.1256
Hulagu Khan captures and destroys the Hashshashin stronghold at Alamut in present-day Iran as part of the Mongol offensive on Islamic southwest Asia.
1722
3.8.1722
The Safavid Empire of Iran is defeated by an army from Afghanistan at The Battle of Gulnabad, pushing Iran into anarchy.
1856
12.9.1856
The Iranian city of Bushehr surrenders to occupying British forces.
1908
5.26.1908
At Masjed Soleyman (مسجد سليمان) in southwest Persia, the first major commercial oil strike in the Middle East is made. The rights to the resource are quickly acquired by the United Kingdom.
1924
7.20.1924
Teheran, Persia comes under martial law after the American vice-consul, Robert Imbrie, is killed by a religious mob enraged by rumors he had poisoned a fountain and killed several people.
1928
1.1.1928
Boris Bazhanov defects through Iran. He is the only assistant of Joseph Stalin's secretariat to have defected from the Eastern Bloc.
1935
3.21.1935
Shah Reza Pahlavi formally asks the international community to call Persia by its native name, Iran, which means 'Land of the Aryans.'
1946
1.22.1946
Iran: Qazi Muhammad declares the independent people's Republic of Mahabad at Chuwarchira Square in the Kurdish city of Mahabad. He is the new president; Hadschi Baba Scheich is the prime minister.
1953
8.19.1953
Cold War: the CIA helps to overthrow the government of Mohammed Mossadegh in Iran and reinstate the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
1960
4.24.1960
A severe earthquake shakes Lar in Fars province, Iran and kills more than 200 people.
1963
6.5.1963
Movement of 15 Khordad: Protest against arrest of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini by Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. In several cities, masses of angry demonstrators are confronted by tanks and paratroopers.
1967
6.2.1967
Protests in West Berlin against the arrival of the Shah of Iran turn into riots, during which Benno Ohnesorg is killed by a police officer. His death results in the founding of the terrorist group Movement 2 June.
1971
10.15.1971
The start of the 2500-year celebration of Iran, celebrating the birth of Persia.
11.30.1971
Iran seizes the Greater and Lesser Tunbs from the United Arab Emirates.
1975
3.6.1975
Algiers Accord: Iran and Iraq announce a settlement of their border dispute.
1978
9.16.1978
An earthquake measuring 7.5 to 7.9 on the Richter scale hits the city of Tabas, Iran killing about 25,000 people.
1979
1.16.1979
The Shah of Iran flees Iran with his family and relocates to Egypt.
2.1.1979
The Ayatollah Khomeini is welcomed back to Tehran, Iran after nearly 15 years of exile.
4.1.1979
Iran becomes an Islamic Republic by a 98% vote, officially overthrowing the Shah.
11.4.1979
Iran hostage crisis begins: a group of Iranians, mostly students, invades the US embassy in Tehran and takes 90 hostages (53 of whom are American).
11.12.1979
Iran hostage crisis: In response to the hostage situation in Tehran, US President Jimmy Carter orders a halt to all petroleum imports into the United States from Iran.
11.14.1979
Iran hostage crisis: US President Jimmy Carter issues Executive order 12170, freezing all Iranian assets in the United States in response to the hostage crisis.
11.19.1979
Iran hostage crisis: Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini orders the release of 13 female and black American hostages being held at the US Embassy in Tehran.
1980
1.27.1980
Through cooperation between the U.S. and Canadian governments, six American diplomats secretly escape hostilities in Iran in the culmination of the Canadian caper.
2.4.1980
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini names Abolhassan Banisadr as president of Iran.
2.23.1980
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini states that Iran's parliament will decide the fate of the American embassy hostages.
5.5.1980
Operation Nimrod: The British Special Air Service storms the Iranian embassy in London after a six-day siege.
5.24.1980
The International Court of Justice calls for the release of United States embassy hostages in Tehran, Iran. The hostages would not be freed until the following January.
7.7.1980
Institution of sharia in Iran.
9.22.1980
Iraq invades Iran.
1981
1.19.1981
Iran Hostage Crisis: United States and Iranian officials sign an agreement to release 52 American hostages after 14 months of captivity.
1.20.1981
Twenty minutes after Ronald Reagan is inaugurated, at age 69 the oldest man ever to be inaugurated as U.S. President, Iran releases 52 American hostages. It is the first Presidential inauguration to be held at the west front of the Capitol.
6.11.1981
A Richter Scale 6.9 magnitude earthquake at Golbaf, Iran, kills at least 2,000.
1982
7.4.1982
Iranian diplomats kidnapping (1982): four Iranian diplomats are kidnapped by Lebanese militia in Lebanon.
1983
6.18.1983
Mona Mahmudnizhad together with nine other Bahá'í women, is sentenced to death and hanged in Shiraz, Iran because of her Bahá'í Faith.
1985
11.6.1985
The ''Iran-Contra Affair'': The American press reveals that U.S. President Ronald Reagan had authorized the shipment of arms to Iran.
1986
10.21.1986
In Lebanon, pro-Iranian kidnappers claim to have abducted American writer Edward Tracy (he is released in August 1991).
11.3.1986
Iran-Contra Affair: The Lebanese magazine ''Ash-Shiraa'' reports that the United States has been secretly selling weapons to Iran in order to secure the release of seven American hostages held by pro-Iranian groups in Lebanon.
11.21.1986
Iran-Contra Affair: National Security Council member Oliver North and his secretary start to shred documents implicating them in the sale of weapons to Iran and channeling the proceeds to help fund the Contra rebels in Nicaragua.