On Friday, the president of the United States signed an executive order freezing entrance into the U.S. from seven Muslim-majority countries for 90 days and suspending all refugee admission for 120 days. The countries banned are Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Sudan and Yemen. This order has caused outcry from human rights organizations, legal scholars, and the international community. This week Her Campus Lasell will feature an informational article on each country whose citizens have been banned from the U.S. in order to increase understanding of the complex nature of these countries and their citizens.
IRAN
Demographics
Iran, the world’s 17th most populous country, is located in western Asia. It is bordered by Armenia, Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Turkey and Iraq. Islam is the predominant religion in Iran, with about 99 percent of the Iranians being Muslims. 90 percent of the population belongs to the Shi’a branch of Islam, the official state religion, and about 9 percent belong to the Sunni branch. Less than 1 percent of non-Muslim minorities include Christians, Zoroastrians, Jews, Bahá’ís, Mandeans, and Yarsan. Over 20 percent of the population in Iran is between ages 20-29. The country boasts a 93 percent literacy rate, with youth literacy rates equal between girls and boys. Iran hosts one of the largest refugee population in the world, with more than one million refugees, mostly from Afghanistan and Iraq.
History
Iran, also known as Persia, has a long and rich history. Human habitation of Iranian land can be dated back to 800,000 BC. In the early 1800s, the Russo-Persian Wars severely shrunk the territory of Iran. The first Constitution and the first parliament were created in 1906, which included the official recognition of Iran’s three religious minorities. During the two world wars, Iran was interchangeably influenced by the great powers of the time. In 1951, a communist-leaning prime minister was elected into power. In 1953 he was overthrown by a coup many claim was orchestrated by the United States. In 1979 the Iranian Revolution began in protest of corruption and a weak economy. This revolution eventually led to the country becoming an Islamic Republic. In 1980 the Iraqi army invaded Iran, which led to an eight year war between the two countries. In 2005 Iran’s nuclear program became an international focus after Iran officials suggested nuclear aggression against the nation of Israel. This led to sanctions against Iran, further isolating them from the rest of the world. These sanctions have just been recently softened due to the Iran Nuclear Deal.
Government
The Iranian government consists of three branches: the executive, the legislative, and the judicial. These branches are overseen by the appointed Supreme Leader of Iran. The next most powerful man in the country is the president, who is elected by universal suffrage every four years. According to the Iranian Constitution, the government is required to provide every citizen of the country with access to social security that covers retirement, unemployment, old age, disability, accidents, calamities, health and medical treatment and care services.This is covered by tax revenues and income derived from public contributions
Human Rights
The Islamic Republic of Iran has been criticized by Iranians, human rights groups, and the international community for its history of human rights violations. Most prominent is the inclusion and application of the death penalty in the constitution. In 2011, estimates were that two people a day were being executed by their government for crimes such as homosexuality, drug use, and drinking alcohol. They also have very limited freedom of press, assembly, speech, and religion. Iran is universally criticized by Western countries for their treatment of women, both in and outside of the law.
Iran Nuclear Deal
The Iran Nuclear Deal has received much press attention, and it considered by some to be one of the greatest achievements of the Obama administration. Others have harshly criticized it for being too lenient on the Iranians. It is a complex deal, so what follows is only a brief simplification of its most important elements. The agreement was negotiated between the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, France, China, Germany, and the European Union, and Iran. Iran agreed to redesign, convert, and reduce its nuclear facilities in exchange for the other involved countries lifting nuclear-related economical sanctions. These sanctions will not be lifted until Iran complies with all of the stipulations outlined in the agreement.
Terrorism
The last documentable Iranian act of terrorism against the U.S. occurred in 1979 with the Iranian hostage crisis. Over 500 Iranian citizens took hold of the American Embassy in Iran and demanded that Iranian assets be unfroze, and that the former Shah of Iran (who was provided with political refuge in the U.S.) be arrested and returned to Iran. The hostages were eventually released without violence. However, the Iranian government has been accused by the international community of providing weapons and funds to terrorist organizations such as al-Qaeda and Hezbollah.
US-Iran Relations
Since the Iran Hostage Crisis, the US and Iran have not had formal diplomatic relations. From 1995-2015 the United States had a trade embargo on Iran. However, after negotiations of the Iran Nuclear Deal, the embargo was lifted. Due to the U.S. support of Iraq in the Iraq-Iran War, as well as many other complex issues, the popularity of the U.S. government is low in Iran. After the president’s decree to ban all travel from Iran, the Iranian government responded with a reciprocal halt of visa distribution to U.S. citizens. However, unlike the U.S., Iran’s ban is not retroactive, and will not affect those who already have visas or green cards.
Citations:
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