Empire of Iran

Flag of the Iranian Empire

The **Empire of Iran** is a nation that is in South Asia that is southeast of the Caucasus Emirate, East of the Sultanate of Turkey, the Emirate of Kurdistan and the Kingdom of Babylon, Northeast of the United Arab Emirates, southwest of the Khanate of Khiva and west of the Kingdom of Afghanistan and Khanate of Kalat. Iran is a vast Empire ruled by the Pahlavi Dynasty that was founded by Reza Shah Pahlavi I who had ousted the ruling Qajar Dynasty in the year 1925 and became Shahanshah of Iran. In 1935, Reza Shah asked foreign delegates to use the endonym Iran in formal correspondence, and the official name the Imperial State of Iran was adopted.

Iran had survived World War III with success as the nation was able to rebuild and this had resulted in Nationalist, Monarchist and Tribal revolutions that resulted in Iran becoming a Great Power that has economic and political domination over South Asia. However they had to fight the autocratic Republic of India who Iran had seen as a threat to it's interests in South Asia which resulted in Iran becoming the master of Asia through it's Indo-Persian Co-Prosperity Sphere.

## History

### Before the assassination of Khomeini

The Pahlavis came to power after Ahmad Shah Qajar, the last Qajar ruler of Iran, proved unable to stop British and Soviet encroachment on Iranian sovereignty, had his position extremely weakened by a military coup, and was removed from power by the parliament while in France. The Iranian parliament, known as the *Majlis*, convening as a Constituent Assembly on 12 December 1925, deposed the young Ahmad Shah Qajar, and declared Reza Khan the new king (*shah*) of the Imperial State of Persia. In 1935, Reza Shah asked foreign delegates to use the endonym Iran in formal correspondence, and the official name the Imperial State of Iran was adopted.

Following the *coup d'état* in 1953 supported by the United Kingdom and the United States, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi's rule became more autocratic and became firmly aligned with the Western Bloc during the Cold War. In correspondence with this reorientation of Iran's foreign policy, Iran became a client state of the United States in order to act as a bulwark against Soviet expansion and this gave the Shah the political capital to enact a hitherto unprecedented socio-economic program that would transform all aspects of Iranian life through the White Revolution. Consequently, Iran experienced prodigious success in all indicators ranging from literacy, to health, to standard of living.

However, by 1978 the Shah faced growing public discontent which culminated into a full-fledged popular revolutionary movement led by the radical Shia cleric Ruhollah Khomeini.

### Asassination of Khomeini

In the year 1976 Gerald Ford had won the 1976 presidential election of the USA against George Wallace who somehow had become the democratic nominee as Carter was assassinated by a Ku Klux Klan terrorist who called him a traitor of "Dixieland". Gerald Ford had won the election as Civil Rights Activists favored Ford over the segregationist Wallace as they desired to not have a racist president in charge of the US. Ford, CIA and Israel's Mossad had orchristrated the assassination of Khomeini. The agents had discovered that Khomeini and his followers live inside the Neauphle-le-Château outside of Paris France.

CIA and Mossad agents had arrived in Khomeini's residence in the Neauphle-le-Château and they assassinated him and killed other clerical allies of Khomeini. The agents had fled as the residence of Khomeini and his followers in a quick manner in order to avoid detection by the police to prevent the exposure of the mission. The assassination of Khomeini and his supporters had caused outrage with the revolutionaries in Iran against the Shah as it was believed that America was responsible for the assassination in order to keep the Shah in power. The Leftist revolutionaries had the desire to try getting help from the Soviet Union, but the Islamic revolutionaries had turned the idea down as they did not have the desire to be allies with a great Satan. Luckily for the Leftist Revolutionaries, the Islamist Revolutionaries had decided to head to Karbala and Najaf and incite revolutions in the Saddamist Iraq which caused a horde of instability in Iraq.

### After Assassination of Khomeini

The Leftist Revolutionaries had tried to revolt against the Shah, but with the backing of Ford and the Nationalist Iranian parties the Shah prevailed and was never overthrown. The Leftist Revolutions tried to get help from the Soviet Union, but the Soviet Union sadly had no desire to help them for various reasons. Due to this, the Leftist Revolutionaries had kowtowed to the Shah acknowledging his victory as the leaders of the Leftist Revolutionaries were exiled to the Soviet Union as the rest of the Revolutionaries had fled into exile in the Soviet Union. The whole situation got exposed on the news world wide and it had caused an international outcry as many criticized America's decision to protect the "corrupt Shah" from "those who simply want democracy".

The Shah after hearing about America enduring an instability crisis over saving him, had decided to hold back on his reforms and only implement democratic reforms that the Iranian people desire to have. Khomeini had a funeral in the city of Najaf as the Shah desires not to have Khomeini burried in Qom. The Shah's descision had resulted more Clergymen who oppose him to flee to Najaf which caused more instability with the Sunni population with Iraq itself. Saddam Hussein himself had ordered a raid on Najaf on Khomeini's funeral and the execution of the Shia Islamic Iranian refugees and Shia Iraqi people in the city. Saddam's order of the raid and the violent massacre of Shia peoples during Khomeini's funeral had angered the pro-Shah clergymen to the point that the Shah decided to break his promise to follow the Algiers agreement and back opposition against Saddam Hussein. Saddam decided to be allies of the Soviet Union and the Leftist Iranian revolutionaries in exile within the Soviet Union and this soured relations with Turkey for both Iran and America. However despite negative relations between Turkey and America, Turkey decided to remain in NATO in order to protect Greece as an ally and prevent the Soviets from conquering the nation in order to prevent Turkey from being surrounded by Pro-Soviet allies and America decided to keep Turkey as an ally to maintain its interests in the Middle East.

### Saudi Arabia Incident

Iran under the Shah has become a stable and powerful nation and this has worried the Wahabist tribes in Saudi Arabia who feared that the Shah would establish a sphere of influence within the Persian gulf region. They feared that if the Iranian Empire does establish a sphere of influence in the Middle East, then it could make the Pro-Western Saudi royals implement reforms which could eradicate their way of life. The radical Wahabist tribes had seized Mecca the holiest place of Islam and threatened to oust the Saudi royals who they saw as "Illegitimate" and establish an Islamic theocracy ruled by the tribal warlords and religeous leaders of Saudi Arabia.

America and Iran fearing violence in the Middle East being a threat to their interests as nations decided to free the Mosque from being seized by the tribesmen, The fight against the insurgents was easy until the Saudis decided to aid the insuregents in order to prevent insurections against the Saudi royals by religeous tribesmen. Jordan who had paranoia of an alliance with a radical islamic Saudi Arabia and Iraq (as they feared the two radical islamic nations as friends could back Palestanian insurgents in Jordan who desire to oust the Jordanian monarchy) had decided to help Iran and America in fighting the insurgents in Mecca in hopes of claiming the Hejaz territory and gaining a coast without trying to conquer portions of Israel. Jordan's conquest of the Hejaz had made America and Iran's fight against the Saudis and their insurgent allies easy.

Iran had also backed the Gulf States known as the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait in annexing the east coast of Saudi Arabia in order to prevent them from trying to take Iranian territories in the gulf and to prevent Saudi Arabia and Iraq from having coastal borders with the Persian gulf. The victory of Iran and its allies had caused severe instability in Saudi Arabia which resulted in Iran gaining a victory in having America become completely dependent on Iranian oil.

### War in Afghanistan

The Soviet Union had decided to invade Afghanistan in order to strengthen the hold of its communist proxies in Afghanistan. The origins of this plan to invade Afghanistan were laid by the Saur Revolution, a 1978 coup wherein Afghanistan's communist party took power, initiating a series of radical modernization and land reforms throughout the country. These reforms were deeply unpopular among the more traditional rural population and established power structures. The repressive nature of the "Democratic Republic", which vigorously suppressed opposition and executed thousands of political prisoners, led to the rise of anti-government armed groups; by April 1979, large parts of the country were in open rebellion.

The communist party itself experienced deep internal rivalries between the Khalqists and Parchamites; in September 1979, People's Democratic Party General Secretary Nur Mohammad Taraki was assassinated under orders of the second-in-command, Hafizullah Amin, which soured relations with the Soviet Union. With fears rising that Amin was planning to switch sides to the United States, the Soviet government, under leader Leonid Brezhnev, decided to deploy the 40th Army across the border on 24 December 1979. Arriving in the capital Kabul, they staged a coup (Operation Storm-333), killing General Secretary Amin and installing Soviet loyalist Babrak Karmal from the rival faction Parcham. The Soviet invasion was based on the Brezhnev Doctrine.

Iran had decided to intervine on the side of the opponents of the Afghan Communists in order to prevent the Soviets from being successful as the Shah feared that a successful Soviet conquest of Afghanistan could embolden the Leftist revolutionaries who tried to oust him long ago into charging into Iran and turning the country into a Soviet Puppet State. Iran had waged war against the Soviet Union in order to save Afghanistan, but they had to use all of their oil from their oil reserves in order to power their war vehicles and to power the gas stations in order to prevent oil prices in gas stations from rising in Iran.

Iran making this descision had caused an oil crisis in America which resulted in America joining sides with Iran in order to save their biggest oil provider from falling into the clutches of the Soviet Union and to produce their own oil that they can sell to Iran's military and their collaborators in Afghanistan in order to make them powerful and strong enough to counter the Soviet Union. Iran with American aid had invaded Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan in order to seize their oil fields and the Nurek Dam which has the primary purpose of generating hydroelectric power and to prevent the Soviets from having land borders with Afghanistan in order to prevent the communists in the state from getting support from the Soviet Union.

China and Pakistan who had interests in Afghanistan both decided to support the Islamic Jihadists in Afghanistan against the Soviet Union in order to win them as allies against India in order to conquer Jammu and Kashmir and split up the region between the two of them. Due to this India had made the war in Afghanistan a whole lot harder for Iran which is making the conflict a whole lot more intense. Iran tried to get Pakistan and China to both leave in order to get India to stop aiding the Soviet Union which is making the Afghanistan war harder for Iran and America.

Pakistan refused as they desired to help the Islamist Mujahdeen militias take power in Afghanistan in order to turn Afghanistan into a Pakistani puppet state ruled by the Islamic Mujahdeen Militas backed by Pakistan in order to help Pakistan wage war against India. China also refused to back down as they desired to help the Khmer Rouge defeat the Vietnamese and Laos puppet regimes of the Soviet Union and establish a sphere of influence in Southeast Asia and to legitimize it's claims over the Aksai Chin and Assam Himalaya regions and they desire America to allow it to annex Taiwan.

The Soviet Union upset over China's involvement in the conflict had decided to invade China through the Xinjiang region which had resulted in a war between Russia and China within the Xinjiang region. Iran because of this was pleased because they finally had gotten rid of China and it also distracted the Soviet Union and resulted in them easily conquering Afghanistan. Iran decided to turn Afghanistan into a puppet kingdom ruled by the Barakazi Dynasty. Mohammad Zahir Shah had became King of Afghanistan once again.

The Shah had also turned Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan into two puppet states. One was the Khanate of Khiva which was ruled by Sepahbod Nader Jahanbani and the Emirate of Bukhara which is ruled by a Hashimite Prince named Asem bin Nayef.

### World War III

Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi I had died in 1980 due to cancer and he was succeeded by his 20 year old son Reza Shah Pahlavi II as Shahanshah of Iran. Iran's enemies celebrated the funeral as they believe Iran will be weak to a revolution and they celebrated the death of their greatest enemy. However the funeral of the Shah had emboldened the people of Iran and united them as a nation. The Soviets had sent leftist militas into Iran which caused chaos in the funeral and this had united the people of Iran who fought hard against the leftist militas to perserve the existence of their nation.

Iran during World War III had to deal with the Soviets sending in militias of Leftist revolutionaries to overthrow the Shah, but all attempts for them were failures as Iran and it's puppet states had put up a fight and China was invading Siberia to take away the Soviet Union's oil reserves there. Iran then decided to take the Caucasus region of the Soviet Union and snatch away the Caucasus oil fields in order to help China snatch away all the oil reserves and resource rich regions of the Soviet union to weaken them.

India had then tried to invade Pakistan in order for them to help the Soviet Union win world war III and to eradicate their enemy once and for all in order to end the internal instability in India, but Iran invaded Pakistan to prevent India from trying to support the Soviet Union and to prevent Pakistan from falling into the hands of India which would result in Islamists migrating into Iran which would cause religious civil wars in Iran and more chaos.

Iran during the conquest had seized Pakistan's Nuclear Weapons and it was about to use them as a way to scare India into leaving the war and leave Iran be as it occupies the regions it conquered and start its nation building. India, afraid of starting a nuclear war had decided to leave the war and instead liberate Tibet and wage war against China and help the Soviet Union invade China. Iran after that decided to do some nation building. The Shah had established two nations in the former nation of Pakistan. The Khanate of Kalat was the first nation to be established in the former Pakistan as it was located in Balochistan. The ruler of the Khanate was Mir Dawood Jan Ahmadzai as Khan of Kalat who was crowned Khan of Kalat. the rest of Pakistan was incorporated into a kingdom ruled by Ziauddin Tucy of the Mughal Dynasty as King Akbar Shah III.

### Jammu and Kashmir Incident

The successful survival of Iran under the Shah's rule had resulted in Nationalist, Monarchist, Tribalist, Radical Religious, Racial Nationalist and Regionalist Revolutions that resulted in the ousting of Pro-American Republics ruled by "Democratically elected Presidents" and Pro-Soviet Communist States ruled by corrupt Communist autocrats. Iran was backing the Monarchist movements in India in order to even further weaken the country to even making the country lurk towards a possible collapse. In the late 80s, the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly election triggered a violent uprising and armed insurgency that was backed by Iran and Pakistan in order for Pakistan to keep the Azad Kashmir region. The incident got so out of hand to the point that Iran had invaded the Jammu and Kashmir state of India. Iran after invading the state had annexed it as a puppet state ruled by the son of Hari Singh the last Maharajah of Jammu and Kashmir, Maharajah Karan Singh as Maharajah of Jammu and Kashmir.

The loss of Jammu and Kashmir had severely angered the populace of India and the Indian government met with Iran to demand the return of the Jammu and Kashmir State. Iran had said no because the government of India had interfered with the election of Jammu and Kashmir which caused instability that made Iran nervous as Iran itself feared that the Insurgents would "conquer the entirety of Pakistan" which could result in Iran having borders with a Fundamentalist Pakistan that could be the hub of radical Islamic terrorists that could pose a threat to Iranian national security. India said that they had rigged the election and that there was no point in Iran taking Jammu and Kashmir. Iran said rigging the election only triggered potentially dangerous terror attacks in Pakistan that made Iran paranoid of Pakistan becoming a potential hub for terrorists from the Kashmir region and that the Kashmiri Muslims must either migrate to Pakistan or be forced to convert to Hinduism.

Indian soldiers tried to get into Jammu and Kashmir and get it back into India. This was a pretext for Iran to declare war on India but the Shah said no because the population already had enough of war and he did not want another revolution against him. The Prime Minister then decided to negotiate peace with India. India refused all peace negotiations unless they got Jammu and Kashmir back which Iran refused to give back. India tried to invade Jammu and Kashmir, but Iran used its nukes to protect Jammu and Kashmir from India. India, reluctant about a nuclear war had called back their troopers and it caused more internal instability.

### Creation of the National Council of Iran for Free Elections

Reza Shah Pahlavi II feeling like his people are ready for democracy has decided to only implement reforms that the people of Iran want as reforms. Due to this he had founded the National Council of Iran for Free Elections which is a loosely based umbrella group of various political parties including those who support the monarchy and those who want democracy. The National Council had become the official legislature of Iran and they took charge of the government as Reza as monarch acted as their unifier and advisor on creating laws.

### Pan-Iranist Era (1990-2010)

The first round of elections had resulted in the Nationalist Pan-Iranist Party winning the elections of 1990 which resulted in Zahra Gholamipour becoming the first female Prime Minister of Iran. Zahra as Prime Minister decided to improve the benifits for the veterans of World War III and to improve the economies and strengthen the armed forces of the Puppet States in order to prevent them from collapsing. The Shah and the council agreed with those ideas as they felt it would be a way to protect the Puppet States from the aggressive successor to the Soviet Union, the Russian Federation and the violent and warlike Republic of India who will do anything to get Jammu and Kashmir back.

The Pan-Iranist Party had decided to expand Iran's sphere of influence within South Asia and the Indian Subcontinent by helping people who are rebelling against the republic of India which was causing discriminatory attacks against religious and ethnic minorities within India itself. Iran has even established the Kingdom of Hyderabad to be the homeland of the Rohingya people which apparently made Iran being praised for saving a stateless people who have suffered persecution for many years. Iran in the process of this had to fight hard against an India who was desperate to keep itself unified as the only independent Hindu state.

Iran under the Pan-Iranist Party had also established client states of Rhodesia, Afro-Persia, Madagascar and Perthstan as a way to have total control of the Indian ocean and annex the islands in the ocean as colonies. Iran also had made an alliance with nations Lesotho, Swaziland and Zulu and turned them into client states in order to back them against the Racist Kingdom of Boerreich. Iran had also made an alliances with Tibet, Oman, Babylon and Thailand. This is in order for Iran to gain a vast naval presence within the entire Indian ocean in order to diversify the nation's resources and to create a sphere of influence. Iran because of this was able to make it impossible for any external threats to Iran to cause problems for the nation.

### **Tondar era (2010-2020)**

The two decade reign of Zahra Gholamipour as Prime Minister was over as she then left office. Another round of elections was run and the winner of these elections was the Soldiers of the Kingdom Assembly of Iran (aka Tondar) led by Frood Fouladvand. Frood had decided to continue the policies of Zahra and even help Iran financially back the Puppet States in South Asia economically, militarily and politically in order to maintain their sphere of influence within the South Asia region. The first plan of Frood was to have Iran's puppet states who share borders with India to build a vast defense wall on their borders with the Indian republic armed with defenses and nuclear weapons that Iran had gained from India after invading New Dehli in order to cage India within the only land that still retains under India's control. This operation was called "Fence in the Elephant" and Frood's plan was successful as they were able to create a vast border wall on the borders of their puppet states that border India and India itself.

Frood had helped Shahanshah Reza Pahlavi arrange marriages with his children, the children of his brother Ali-Reza Pahlavi to the children and grandchildren of the puppet rulers of Iran and celebrities from those puppet states and Iran itself in order to further strengthen their sphere of influence within the region. Marriages like this have happened since Iran started establishing its sphere of influence in South Asia long ago as Iran wanted to create an "Indo-Persian Prosperity Sphere".

Tondar had also focused on economic issues such as the long transfer of factories from wartime production mode to civilian production mode and Veterans had been given aristocratic titles and they were also were given new homes, benefits and privileges for their hard work in the warzone. The Veterans decided to establish careers for themselves such as establishing military schools to train hordes of newcomers into the army, navy and air force in order to expand and grow the army.

The diversifying of resources had also paid off as Iran was able to trade oil and the natural resources of South Asia with other countries and this has resulted in the nation getting hordes of money making Iran a rich nation. India had bombarded trade vessels which resulted in a minor economic crisis in Iran. Frood as Prime Minister had silenced many radicals who were screaming for war with India as he knew that he had no desire to go to war as war was costly and they fought a long decade war. Frood instead declared the building of another wall at the coast of India in order to "Cage the angry Elephant". Reza Shah Pahlavi II was a little nervous as he feared that caging India with defense walls is gonna cause a lot of problems for the nation which in the long term could be very bad for Iran in the future and the National Council of Iran for Free Elections was in a split.

Reza and his group were not for the wall as they feared "Caging the Elephant" would only make "The Elephant" (India) more angry and more violent whereas Frood wanted to build the wall to prevent waging war against India whereas the people of Iran wanted war but they can't have it because Iran had to fight long hard wars to establish a sphere of influence. Reza then allowed Frood to build the giant wall on India's coast and just like that walls were being built on all of India's borders. The builders were able to build the walls with ease as they had help from Iran's puppet states with material production and India was having trouble with armies of drug lords and Hindu Radicals causing trouble with the population.

The National Council of Iran for Free Elections had voted on policies that would integrate the citizens of the colonies as Iranian citizens and they would create laws that would allow the natives to practice their own cultures as and religions. These policies would be known as the Cyrus the Great Tolerance Policies and they would be implemented to allow the Natives of the Island colonies, Georgians and Armenians to practice their cultures freely. The Azerbaijani regional parties had demanded that Azerbaijan and Iranian Azerbaijan be merged together into one region. The National Council of Iran for Free Elections had voted on the request to see if it was likable. Reza Shah Pahlavi II had checked the results and he declared that Iranian Azerbaijan and Azerbaijan will fuse into a new region called Azerbaijanistan. The fusion of Iranian Azerbaijan and Azerbaijan into Azerbaijanistan took effect on July 1 2013. Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan province was declared the capital of the newly formed Azerbaijanistan.

### Rastakhiz Party (2020-)

The Tondar's administration had ended and the Shah had called for an election so that the Tondar can be succeeded by a new party. The winning party was the Pahlavi Statist Rastakhiz Party led by General Ali Shahbazi. Ali Shahbazi's ministry had to deal with an invasion of Iranian Kurdistan (Kurdistan Province, Kermanshah Province, Ilam Province and parts of Hamadan Province and Lorestan Province) by the Emirate of Kurdistan who desired to have the region as part of Kurdistan. Ali Shahbazi had threatened to use some nuclear weapons of Iran to scare Kurdistan into stop invading Iranian Kurdistan.

Iran will do anything to keep its Empire alive in order to maintain its sphere of influence within the Indian ocean as Iran desires to keep it that way in order to prevent a terrible catastrophe that will doom Iran to a chaotic downfall.

## Government

### Government Info

Iran is an unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy in which the Shahanshahs of the Pahlavi Dynasty rule as the lords and masters of the government. The Shahanshah is the unifyer of the country and his duties as monarch are to approve or reject laws created by the National Council of Iran and prevent any polarization or division within the National Council of Iran to prevent the country from becoming divided. The Shahanshah is also the master of Iran's traditional ceremonies and he is in charge of the Imperial Family in which no member of the Imperial family shall be allowed to let their children marry without getting the good graces of the Shahanshah. Other than these duties, the Shahanshah is a ceremonial monarch who holds ceremonies involving Iran and its vast Empire. He is defined in the Constitution as "the symbol of the State, the People and the Religion".

The Government is ruled by a Prime Minister and his democratically-elected Cabinet, whose sovereignty is officially vested in the people who are represented by the National Council of Iran for Free Elections. The Prime Minister as head of government is supposed to represent the Shahanshah and the Empire internationally on the world stage and to establish a cabinet to run the Ministries that contribute to everyday life. The Prime Minister is not allowed to choose governors for the colonies as the National Council of Iran for Free Elections is allowed to choose governors.

### Cabinet

* **Shahanshah of Iran:** Reza Shah Pahlavi II (b. 1960)
* **Prime of Minister of Iran:** General Ali Shahbazi (b. 1937)
* **Foreign Minister:** Ali Larijani (b. 1957)
* **Finance and Economy Minister:** Abdonnaser Hemmati (b. 1956)
* **Industry Minister:** Ahmad Tavakkoli (b. 1951)
* **Minister of Education:** Mohammad Ali Najafi (b. 1952)
* **Minister of Defense:** Brigadier General Mohammad-Reza Gharaei Ashtiani (b. 1960)
* **Minister of Intelligence:** Saeed Hajjarian (b. 1954)
* **Chief of Armed Forces Staff:** Major General Mohammad Bagheri (b. 1960)
* **Chief of Army:** Maj. Gen. Abdolrahim Mousavi (b. 1960)
* **Chief of Navy:** Admiral Habibollah Sayyari (b. 1955)
* **Chief of the Air Force:** Air Marshall Hamid Vahedi

### Political Parties

The majority of Iran's political parties are mostly conservative, nationalist, monarchist, social conservative or liberal conservative. This is a list of political parties.

* **Pan-Iranist Party:** An Ultra-Nationalist and expansionist party which was the party that was responsible for the vast expansion into the Indian subcontinent making Iran a nation who had conquered a majority of India in which there was no such nation who was able to do that since Britain itself. The Pan-Iranist Party desires to create and maintain a sphere of influence in Central Asia, South Asia, the Middle East and the entirety of the Indian Ocean in order to prevent Iran from sharing borders with dangerous enemies.
* **Tondar Party:** Kingdom Assembly of Iran (aka Tondar) is a Monarchist Party that desires to keep the monarchy in power in order to keep the government unified as a way to stabilize Iran and its economy. Tondar was responsible for stabilizing Iran after its Indian Ocean expansion and establishment of Iran's vast sphere of influence within the Indian Ocean which was done to protect and stabilize Iran as a nation. Tondar is the party that is the dominant Party of the Monarchist Coalition.
* **Rastakhiz Party:** The Rastakhiz Party is a Pahlavi Statist Party that desires to continue and enforce the secular policies of the former Shahanshah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. It was Iran's single legal political party from 2 March 1975 until 1 November 1978, founded by the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
* **Council of Nationalist-Religious Activists of Iran:** The Council of Nationalist-Religious Activists of Iran is an Islamic Democracy Party that mainly consists of mainly middle class, intellectual, representatives of technical professions, students and technocrats of the Shia Islamic Faith. The Council of Nationalist-Religious Activists of Iran favors welfare-state economics, instead of a free-market model. The Shah approved of the establishment of the party as he desires to play nice with the Islamic crowds and not cause another revolution.

## Military

When the Pahlavi dynasty came to power, the Qajar dynasty was already weak from years of war with Russia. The standing Persian army was almost non-existent except for the Persian Cossacks which only had one commander and they only existed on paper. The new king Reza Shah Pahlavi, was quick to develop a new military, the Imperial Iranian Armed Forces. In part, this involved sending hundreds of officers to European and American military academies. It also involved having foreigners re-train the existing army within Iran. In this period a national air force (the Imperial Iranian Air Force) was established and the foundation for a new navy (the Imperial Iranian Navy) was laid.

Following Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, Britain and the Soviet Union became allies. Both saw the newly opened Trans-Iranian Railroad as a strategic route to transport supplies from the Persian Gulf to the Soviet Union and were concerned that Reza Shah was sympathetic to the Axis powers, despite his declaration of neutrality. In August 1941, Britain and the Soviet Union invaded Iran and deposed him in favor of his son Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. Following the end of the Second World War, both countries withdrew their military forces from Iran.

Following a number of clashes in April 1969, international relations with Iraq fell into a steep decline, mainly due to a dispute over the Shatt al-Arab (called Arvand) waterway in the 1937 Algiers Accord. Iran abrogated the 1937 accord and demanded a renegotiation which ended completely in its favor. Furthermore, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi embarked on an unprecedented modernization program for the Iranian armed forces. In many cases Iran was being supplied with advanced weaponry even before it was supplied to the armed forces of the countries that developed it. During this period of strength Iran protected its interests militarily in the region: in Oman, the Dhofar Rebellion was crushed. In November 1971, Iranian forces seized control of three uninhabited but strategic islands at the mouth of the Persian Gulf; Abu Musa and the Tunb islands.

In the 1960s as Iran began to prosper from oil revenues, and diplomatic relations were established with many countries, Iran began to expand its military. In the 1960s it purchased Canada's fleet of 90 Canadair Sabre fighters armed with AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles. These aircraft were later sold to Pakistan.

In the early 1970s the Iranian economy saw record years of growth thanks to booming oil prices. By 1976, the Iranian GDP was the largest in the Greater Middle East. The Shah (king) of Iran set about modernising the Iranian military, intent on purchasing billions of dollars worth of the most sophisticated and advanced equipment and weaponry through countries like the United States and the United Kingdom.

Iran's purchases from the United States prior to the Iranian Revolution in 1979 included: 79 F-14 Tomcats, 455 M60 Patton tanks, 225 McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II fighter planes, including 16 RF-4E reconnaissance variants; 166 Northrop F-5 Tiger II fighters and 15 Northrop RF-5A reconnaissance planes; 12 Lockheed P-3 Orion maritime patrol aircraft and two decommissioned and modernised American destroyers, (USS *Zellars* and USS *Stormes*). As of 1976 Iran had acquired 500 M109 howitzers from the United States, 52 MIM-23 Hawk anti aircraft batteries with over 2000 missiles, over 2500 AGM-65 Maverick air to ground missiles and over 10,000 BGM-71 TOW missiles. Furthermore, Iran ordered hundreds of helicopters from the United States, notably 202 Bell AH-1J Sea Cobras, 100 Boeing CH-47C Chinooks and 287 Bell 214 helicopters.

Iran's purchases from the United Kingdom prior to the 1979 revolution included 1 decommissioned and modernized British destroyer (HMS *Sluys*), 4 British-built frigates ( *Alvand*-class frigate) and a vast array of missiles such as the Rapier and Seacat missile systems. Additionally Iran purchased several dozen hovercraft in the SR.N6 variety, 250 FV101 Scorpion light tanks and 790 Chieftain tanks.

Iran also notably received much of their ground armored equipment from the Soviet Union. These deals were usually bartered using cheap oil and natural gas from the Iranian side in exchange for Russian expertise, training and equipment. In regards to military equipment Iran ordered ZSU-23-4 artillery vehicles, BTR 300 BTR-60'*s* along with 270 BTR-50s and 300 BM-21 Grad multiple rocket launchers.

The Imperial Iranian Army maintained the largest fleet of operational attack hovercraft in the world. These hovercraft's were obtained from various British and American companies and were later retrofitted with weaponry. In having this fleet the Iranian Army would be able to patrol shallow areas or the gulf and avoid minefields. Iran's fleet had grown after its expansion as it now has control of the entire Indian Ocean as they patrol the waves of the Indian Ocean and their bases are at the various Island territories of Iran.

## Economy

### Mines

Iran with roughly 1% of the world's population holds more than 7% of the world's total mineral reserves. The most important mines in Iran include coal, metallic minerals, sand and gravel, chemical minerals and salt. Khorasan has the most operating mines in Iran. Other large deposits which mostly remain underdeveloped are zinc (world's largest), copper, iron, uranium and lead.

### Oil

Iran's oil and gas industry is the most active industry of the country. Iran has the first largest reserves of oil and the first largest reserves of gas in the world. In 1950 ongoing popular demand prompted a vote in the Majlis to nationalize the petroleum industry. A year later, the government of Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadeq formed the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC). A 1953 coup d'état led by British and U.S. intelligence agencies ousted the Mossadeq government and paved the way for a new oil agreement. In 1954 a new agreement divided profits equally between the NIOC and a multinational consortium that had replaced the AIOC. In 1973 Iran signed a new 20-year concession with the consortium.

Beginning in the late 1950s, many of Iran's international oil agreements did not produce the expected outcomes; even those oil companies that managed to extract oil in their designated areas contributed very little to the country's total oil production. By the time of the Islamic Revolution of 1978–79, the five largest international companies that had agreements with the NIOC accounted for only 10.4 percent of total oil production. During this period, Iran's oil industry remained disconnected from other industries, particularly manufacturing. This separation promoted inefficiencies in the country's overall industrial economy.

In 1973, at a time when Iran was the second-largest oil exporter in the world and the Arab–Israeli War of October 6–25 was pressurizing the price of oil, the Shah of Iran told the *New York Times*, "Of course the world price of oil is going to rise. ... Certainly! And how ...; You [Western nations] increased the price of wheat you sell us by 300%, and the same for sugar and cement ...; You buy our crude oil and sell it back to us, refined as petrochemicals, at a hundred times the price you've paid to us ...; It's only fair that, from now on, you should pay more for oil. Let's say ten times more."

Iran had with its allies crippled Saudi Arabia and made it a landlocked country and this made Iran become a great power and the only great power that sells oil. Iran used this to their advantage by having clients to buy hordes of crude oil to give Iran money in order to help it purchase weapons in order to expand its sphere of influence in the Indian subcontinent and the entire indian ocean. Iran has ownership of many oil refineries within South Asia, Africa and West Australia.

Domestic production of equipment in the nation's upstream oil industries has grown four-fold in as many years while procurement of equipment and goods accounts for around 60 to 65 percent of any oil project. Iran manufactures 60–70% of its industrial equipment domestically, including various turbines, pumps, catalysts, refineries, oil tankers, drilling rigs, offshore platforms and exploration instruments.

### Agriculture

Roughly one-third of Iran's total surface area is suited for farmland, but because of poor soil and lack of adequate water distribution in many areas, most of it is not under cultivation. Only 12% of the total land area is under cultivation (arable land, orchards and vineyards) but less than one-third of the cultivated area is irrigated; the rest is devoted to dryland farming. Some 92 percent of agricultural products depend on water. The western and northwestern portions of the country have the most fertile soils. Iran's food security index stands at around 96 percent. 3% of the total land area is used for grazing and small fodder production. Most of the grazing is done on mostly semi-dry rangeland in mountain areas and on areas surrounding the large deserts ("Dasht's") of Central Iran.

At the end of the 20th century, agricultural activities accounted for about one-fifth of Iran's gross domestic product (GDP) and employed a comparable proportion of the workforce. Most farms are small, less than 25 acres (10 hectares), and are not economically viable, which has contributed to the wide-scale migration to cities. In addition to water scarcity and areas of poor soil, seed is of low quality and farming techniques are antiquated.

All these factors have contributed to low crop yields and poverty in rural areas. Progressive government efforts and incentives during the 1990s, however, improved agricultural productivity marginally, helping Iran toward its goal of reestablishing national self-sufficiency in food production. Sadly these efforts were only successful in order to produce food for the soldiers in Iran's expansionist campaigns. Due to this Iran had expanded into India in order to also take control of India's agricultural industry and to explot all of the Indian Subcontient's natural resources and crops in order to feed the Iranian population and to get the Iranian population to favor the establishing of Iran's sphere of influence. The agricultural industry had grown as Iran had also gained control of the agricultural industries of its client states.

### Defense Manufacturing

The Iranian defense industry has taken great strides in the past 25 years, and now manufactures many types of arms and equipment, including its own tanks, armored personnel carriers, guided missiles, radar systems, guided missile destroyer, military vessels, submarines, and fighter planes. Iran had sold many weapons to rebel groups in India in order to expand its sphere of influence in the subcontinent itself.

### Construction Industry

Construction is one of the most important sectors in Iran accounting for 20–50% of the total private investment. The Central Bank of Iran indicate that 70 percent of the Iranians own homes. The housing industry is one of the few segments of the Iranian economy where state capital shares as little as two per cent of the market, and the remaining 98 per cent is private sector investment. There is little red tape or hurdles and, as a result, through launching mass development projects, the use of new technologies and fast-pace project execution, a larger portion of the housing market is accessible. This is also true for new construction materials and technological advances. The Iranian Construction Industry was responsible for building homes in Hyderabad for the Rohingya people in order to prevent the Rohingya people from being homeless people in their very own homeland.

### Naval Industry

The Iran Marine Industrial Company also known as SADRA, was founded in 1968 as a small ship repair yard in Bushehr. Since then, SADRA has established itself as the leading shipbuilding and shiprepairing company in Iran and all of the Indian Ocean. SADRA is also active in offshore oil & gas development. SADRA specializes in building ships, docks and floating oil rigs. Sadra Group is a sister company of Iran's state-owned Iran Shipbuilding and Off shores Industries Complex Co. (ISOICO) which is located in the Cochin Shipyard. The two companies have ship building facilities on all of the Island colonies of Iran.

### Electrical Industry

The Imperial Electrical production industry is a state-owned subsidiary of Iran's Ministry of Defense. It is a diversified organization with operations in electronics, optics, electro-optics, medical equipment, communications, computer and semiconductors. Iran's domestic consumer electronic market, defined as including computing devices, mobile handsets and video audio and gaming products are all produced by the Imperial Electrical Industry who creates these devices for Entertainment companies.

### Tourism

Tourism in Iran is diverse, providing a range of activities from hiking and skiing in the Alborz and Zagros mountains, to beach holidays by the Persian Gulf and the Caspian Sea. The Iranian government has made concerted efforts to attract tourists to the various destinations in the country and arrivals have increased in recent years. Kish Island is one of the most-visited vacation destinations within Iran's Colonial Empire after Comoros, Mauritius and Seychelles. Tourists from many countries for which Iran typically requires a visa, who wish to enter Kish Free Zone, are exempt from having to obtain a visa. For those travelers, travel permits are issued on arrival by Kish officials and are valid for 14 days.

Tourism is an important part of the economy of Réunion, an island and Iranian overseas colony in the Indian Ocean. Despite its many tourism assets, the island's tourist attractions are not well known. Income from tourism is Reunion Island's primary economic resource, ahead of sugarcane production and processing, which has allowed the development of large Reunionese groups such as Quartier Français, Groupe Bourbon ex-Sucreries Bourbon, a large international company now listed on the stock exchange, but based outside the island and which has abandoned the sugar sector for the off-shore maritime sector. With the reduction of subsidies, this culture is threatened. Therefore, the development of fishing in the French Southern Territories has been promoted.

Although the Colony of Comoros has many natural resources for tourism, such as its beaches and marine environment, it does not have as strong a tourist industry as its regional competitors and fellow colonies Réunion, Mauritius, and Seychelles. Its weak tourist industry is mainly because of its insecure political climate, with many political upheavals over the past three decades and revolts against the Shah's colonial administration over the Island. The Colony of Mauritius is a major tourist destination, and the tourism sector is the fourth contributor to the Mauritian economy. The island nation enjoys a tropical climate with clear warm sea waters, beaches, tropical fauna and flora complemented by a multi-ethnic and cultural population.

Tourism is the most important non-government sector of the Iranian Colony of Seychelles' economy. About 15 percent of the formal work force is directly employed in tourism, and employment in construction, banking, transportation, and other activities is closely tied to the tourist industry. Tourists enjoy the Seychelles' coral beaches and opportunities for water sports. Wildlife in the archipelago is also a major attraction.

## Demographics

### Ethnic Groups

The ethnic groups of mainland Iran are Persians, Azerbaijanis, Georgians, Armenians, Gilaks, Mazandaranis, Lurs, Bakhtiari people, Turkmens, Qashqai, Khorasani Turks, Arabs, Baloch, Tajik, Pashtuns, Uzbeks and Hazaras. The ethnic groups of the Island colonies consist of Creoles, British people, French people, Chinese people, Indian people, Yabs, Cafres, Malbars and Zarabes (both ethnic groups of Indian origin), Chinois, Comorians, Indo-Mauritians,

### Religion

The religions of mainland Iran are Shia Islam (which was the majority religion of Iran and it was that way since the Dark ages), Zoroastrianism, Sunni Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism and Buddhism. The religions of the colonies are Sunni Islam, Christianity, Hinduism and Buddhism.

### Languages

Farsi (Persian) is the majority language of Iran, otherwise there is also Georgian, Armenian, Azerbaijani, Turkmen, Tajik, Balochi, Pashto, Creole, Hindi, Mandarin, French and English.

## Culture

The Culture of the Persians is one of the most influential cultures in the world. Persia is considered as one of the cradles of civilization, and due to its dominant geo-political position and culture in the world, Iran has heavily influenced cultures and peoples as far away as Italy, Macedonia, and Greece to the West, Russia and Eastern Europe to the North, the Arabian Peninsula to the South, and the Indian subcontinent and East Asia to the East. Iran's rich history has had a significant impact on the world through art, architecture, poetry, science and technology, medicine, philosophy and engineering.

A third-millennium BC earthen goblet discovered at the Burnt City, a Bronze Age urban settlement in southeastern Iran, depicts what could possibly be the world's oldest example of animation. The artifact, associated with Jiroft, bears five sequential images depicting a wild goat jumping up to eat the leaves of a tree. The earliest attested Iranian examples of visual representations, however, are traced back to the bas-reliefs of Persepolis, the ritual center of the Achaemenid Empire. The figures at Persepolis remain bound by the rules of grammar and syntax of visual language. The Iranian visual arts reached a pinnacle by the Sasanian era, and several works from this period have been found to articulate movements and actions in a highly sophisticated manner. It is even possible to see a progenitor of the cinematic close-up shot in one of these works of art, which shows a wounded wild pig escaping from the hunting ground.

By the early 20th century, the five-year-old industry of cinema came to Iran. The first Iranian filmmaker was probably Mirza Ebrahim (Akkas Bashi), the court photographer of Mozaffar-ed-Din Shah of the Qajar dynasty. Mirza Ebrahim obtained a camera and filmed the Qajar ruler's visit to Europe. Later in 1904, Mirza Ebrahim (Sahhaf Bashi), a businessman, opened the first public movie theater in Tehran. After him, several others like Russi Khan, Ardeshir Khan, and Ali Vakili tried to establish new movie theaters in Tehran. Until the early 1930s, there were around 15 cinema theaters in Tehran and 11 in other provinces. The first Iranian feature film, *Abi and Rabi*, was a silent comedy directed by Ovanes Ohanian in 1930. The first sounded one, *Lor Girl*, was produced by Ardeshir Irani and Abd-ol-Hosein Sepanta in 1932.

Iran's official calendar is the Solar Hejri calendar, beginning at the vernal equinox in the Northern Hemisphere, which was first enacted by the Iranian Parliament on 31 March 1925. Each of the 12 months of the Solar Hejri calendar correspond with a zodiac sign, and the length of each year is absolutely solar. The months are named after the ancient Iranian months, namely Farvardin (*Fravaši*), Ordibehešt (*Aša Vahišta*), Xordād (*Haurvatāt*), Tir (*Tištrya*), Amordād (*Amərətāt*), Šahrivar (*Xšaθra Vairya*), Mehr (*Miθra*), Ābān (*Āpō*), Āzar (*Ātar*), Dey (*Daθuš*), Bahman (*Vohu Manah*), and Esfand (*Spəntā Ārmaiti*). Alternatively, the Lunar Hejri calendar is used to indicate Islamic events, and the Gregorian calendar remarks the international events.

Fashion in Iran is divided into several historical periods. The exact date of the emergence of weaving in Iran is not yet known, but it is likely to coincide with the emergence of civilization. Clothing in Iran is mentioned in Persian mythology. Ferdowsi and many historians have considered Keyumars to be the inventor of the use of animals' skin and hair as clothing. Some historians have also mentioned Hushang as the first inventor of the use of living skins as clothing. Ferdowsi considers Tahmuras to be a kind of textile initiator in Iran. There are historical discoveries in northern Iran from about 6,000 BC that refer to wool weaving at the time. Other discoveries in central Iran dating back to 4200 BC have shown that the animals' skin has not been the only clothing worn on the Iranian Plateau since those years. The clothing of ancient Iran took an advanced form, and the fabric and color of clothing became very important at that time. Depending on the social status, eminence, climate of the region and the season, Persian clothing during the Achaemenian period took various forms. The philosophy used in this clothing, in addition to being functional, also had an aesthetic role. The Persians speak Farsi and other Persian languages such as Darsi, Turkmen, etc.