Legal Name
______________
Period ______________
Country Breakdown Guide
Summarize the History of Iran.
Describe the government of Iran.
Summarize the economy of Iran.
Does Iran have a good relationship with the international
community? Explain.
What fact do you find the most interesting in this
breakdown?
In two to three paragraphs state what should Americans know
about North Korea.
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10
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9-8
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7-6
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5
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4-1
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All items in the are thoroughly completed.
Answers are all in complete sentences.
Answers show complete understanding.
Student went above and beyond what was expected (analysis
& thoroughness).
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One
part of the assignment may not be thorough enough.
Answers are mostly in complete sentences.
Answers show substantial understanding of the question(s),
but more analysis could lead to greater understanding.
Student met expectations of activity.
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More than half the assignment is completed, but not
analyzed thoroughly enough.
Answers show understanding of the question(s), but they
could use more detail, analysis, examples, and/or connections.
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More than half the assignment is incomplete.
Answers shows limited understanding of the question(s), and
needs a lot more detail and analysis.
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Assignment is either dreadfully incomplete or needs
significantly more detail and analysis.
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BBC Country Profile
The Iranian revolution put an end to the rule of the Shah, who
had alienated powerful religious, political and popular forces with a programme
of modernization and Westernization coupled with heavy repression of dissent.
Persia, as Iran was known before 1935, was one of the greatest
empires of the ancient world, and the country has long maintained a distinct
cultural identity within the Islamic world by retaining its own language and
adhering to the Shia interpretation of Islam.
LEADERS
Supreme Leader: Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
The Supreme Leader - the highest power in the land - appoints
the heads of the judiciary, military and media. He also confirms the election
of the president.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was appointed for life in June 1989,
succeeding Ayatollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic republic. He
previously served two consecutive terms as president in the 1980s.
Iran has been led by a highly conservative clerical elite since
the revolution in 1979.
President: Hassan Rouhani
Hassan Rouhani was elected as president in June 2013, winning
just over 50% of the vote.
The cleric, regarded as a religious moderate, was backed by
reformists. He says he wants to steer Iran towards "moderation" and
one of his main election pledges was to try to ease the crippling international
sanctions imposed on Iran over its nuclear programme. Sanctions were dropped
early in 2016.
All broadcasting from Iranian soil is controlled by the state
and reflects official ideology. There is a wider range of opinions online and
in the press.
Iran is "among the five biggest prisons in the world"
for media workers, says Reporters Without Borders.
Television is the leading medium. State-run Islamic Republic of
Iran Broadcasting - IRIB - operates national and provincial services. Its
international networks include English-language Press TV. The most-watched
domestic network is IRIB's youth channel.
Despite a ban on using satellite equipment, foreign TVs are
widely watched; this is largely tolerated by the authorities.
Dozens of Persian-language stations broadcast from the USA,
Europe and Dubai.
Western broadcasters, including BBC Persian TV, target Iranian
audiences. Their satellite broadcasts have suffered from deliberate interference
from within Iran.
IRIB's radio channels include a parliamentary network, Radio
Koran and a multilingual external service.
There are some 50 national dailies, but few Iranians buy a
newspaper every day. Sports titles are the biggest sellers.
Iran online
There were 44.8 million internet users by December 2014,
comprising more than 57% of the population (InternetWorldStats.com).
The web is the main forum for dissident voices and news sites
often have strong political leanings.
The authorities routinely block or filter websites they consider
objectionable. Targeted content includes that deemed to be pornographic or
anti-Islamic.
In 2015 US-based Freedom House ranked Iran as the third-worst
country (after China and Syria) for internet freedom.
Facebook, although blocked, is among the most popular social
media platforms. Twitter is blocked for ordinary citizens, but leaders and
senior officials are active on it.
Instagram is a staple of social media life and Iranians are avid
users of mobile messaging services, including Viber, WhatsApp and Telegram.
CIA Factbook
Known as Persia until
1935, Iran became an Islamic republic in 1979 after the ruling monarchy was
overthrown and Shah Mohammad Reza PAHLAVI was forced into exile. Conservative
clerical forces led by Ayatollah Ruhollah KHOMEINI established a theocratic
system of government with ultimate political authority vested in a learned
religious scholar referred to commonly as the Supreme Leader who, according to
the constitution, is accountable only to the Assembly of Experts - a popularly
elected 86-member body of clerics. US-Iranian relations became strained when a
group of Iranian students seized the US Embassy in Tehran in November 1979 and
held embassy personnel hostages until mid-January 1981. The US cut off
diplomatic relations with Iran in April 1980. During the period 1980-88, Iran
fought a bloody, indecisive war with Iraq that eventually expanded into the
Persian Gulf and led to clashes between US Navy and Iranian military forces.
Iran has been designated a state sponsor of terrorism for its activities in
Lebanon and elsewhere in the world and remains subject to US, UN, and EU
economic sanctions and export controls because of its continued involvement in
terrorism and concerns over possible military dimensions of its nuclear
program. Following the election of reformer Hojjat ol-Eslam Mohammad KHATAMI as
president in 1997 and a reformist Majles (legislature) in 2000, a campaign to
foster political reform in response to popular dissatisfaction was initiated.
The movement floundered as conservative politicians, supported by the Supreme
Leader, unelected institutions of authority like the Council of Guardians, and
the security services reversed and blocked reform measures while increasing
security repression.
Starting with nationwide
municipal elections in 2003 and continuing through Majles elections in 2004,
conservatives reestablished control over Iran's elected government
institutions, which culminated with the August 2005 inauguration of hardliner
Mahmud AHMADI-NEJAD as president. His controversial reelection in June 2009
sparked nationwide protests over allegations of electoral fraud. These protests
were quickly suppressed, and the political opposition that arose as a
consequence of AHMADI-NEJAD's election was repressed. Deteriorating economic
conditions due primarily to government mismanagement and international
sanctions prompted at least two major economically based protests in July and
October 2012, but Iran's internal security situation remained stable. President
AHMADI-NEJAD's independent streak angered regime establishment figures,
including the Supreme Leader, leading to conservative opposition to his agenda
for the last year of his presidency, and an alienation of his political
supporters. In June 2013 Iranians elected a moderate conservative cleric Dr.
Hasan Fereidun RUHANI to the presidency. He is a longtime senior member in the regime,
but has made promises of reforming society and Iran's foreign policy. The UN
Security Council has passed a number of resolutions calling for Iran to suspend
its uranium enrichment and reprocessing activities and comply with its IAEA
obligations and responsibilities, and in July 2015 Iran and the five permanent
members, plus Germany (P5+1) signed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action
(JCPOA) under which Iran agreed to restrictions on its nuclear program in
exchange for sanctions relief.
Iran's economy is marked
by statist policies, inefficiencies, and reliance on oil and gas exports, but
Iran also possesses significant agricultural, industrial, and service sectors.
The Iranian government directly owns and operates hundreds of state-owned
enterprises and indirectly controls many companies affiliated with the
country's security forces. Distortions - including inflation, price controls,
subsidies, and a banking system holding billions of dollars of non-performing
loans - weigh down the economy, undermining the potential for
private-sector-led growth.
Private sector activity
includes small-scale workshops, farming, some manufacturing, and services, in
addition to medium-scale construction, cement production, mining, and
metalworking. Significant informal market activity flourishes and corruption is
widespread.
Fiscal and monetary
constraints, following the expansion of international sanctions in 2012 on
Iran's Central Bank and oil exports, significantly reduced Iran's oil revenue,
forced government spending cuts, and sparked a sharp currency depreciation.
Iran’s economy contracted for the first time in two decades during both 2012
and 2013, but growth resumed in 2014. Iran continues to suffer from high
unemployment and underemployment. Lack of job opportunities has prompted many
educated Iranian youth to seek employment overseas, resulting in a significant
"brain drain."
In June 2013, the
election of President Hasan RUHANI generated widespread public expectations of
economic improvement and greater international engagement. Almost two years
into his term, RUHANI has achieved some success, including reining in inflation
and, in July of 2015, securing the promise of sanctions relief for Iran by
signing the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) with the P5+1. The
JCPOA, which severely limits Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for unfreezing
Iranian assets and reopening Iran to international trade, should bolster
foreign direct investment, increase trade, and stimulate growth. In spite of
RUHANI’s efforts, Iran’s growth was tepid in 2015, and significant economic
improvement resulting from sanctions relief will take months or years to
materialize.
Iran protests
Afghanistan's limiting flow of dammed Helmand River tributaries during drought;
Iraq's lack of a maritime boundary with Iran prompts jurisdiction disputes
beyond the mouth of the Shatt al Arab in the Persian Gulf; Iran and UAE dispute
Tunb Islands and Abu Musa Island, which are occupied by Iran; Azerbaijan,
Kazakhstan, and Russia ratified Caspian seabed delimitation treaties based on
equidistance, while Iran continues to insist on a one-fifth slice of the sea;
Afghan and Iranian commissioners have discussed boundary monument densification
and resurvey
refugees (country of origin): 2.5 - 3.0 (1 million
registered, 1.5 - 2.0 million undocumented) (Afghanistan); 28,268 (Iraq) (2015)
current situation: Iran is a source,
transit, and destination country for men, women, and children subjected to sex
trafficking and forced labor; organized groups sex traffic Iranian women and
children in Iran and to the UAE and Europe; the transport of girls from and
through Iran en route to the Gulf for sexual exploitation or forced marriages
is on the rise; Iranian children are also forced to work as beggars, street
vendors, and in domestic workshops; Afghan boys forced to work in construction
or agriculture are vulnerable to sexual abuse by their employers; Pakistani and
Afghan migrants being smuggled to Europe often are subjected to forced labor,
including debt bondage
tier rating: Tier 3 – Iran does not
comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking, and is
not making significant efforts to do so; the government does not share
information on its anti-trafficking efforts, but publically available
information from NGOs, the media, and international organizations indicates
that Iran is not taking adequate measures to address its trafficking problems,
particularly protecting victims; Iranian law does not prohibit all forms of
human trafficking; female victims find it extremely difficult to get justice
because Iranian courts accord women’s testimony half the weight of men's, and
female victims of sexual abuse, including trafficking, are likely to be
prosecuted for adultery; the government did not identify or provide protection
services to any victims and continued to punish victims for unlawful acts
committed as a direct result of being trafficked; the government made some
effort to cooperate with neighboring governments and an international
organization to combat human trafficking and other crimes (2015)
despite substantial
interdiction efforts and considerable control measures along the border with
Afghanistan, Iran remains one of the primary transshipment routes for Southwest
Asian heroin to Europe; suffers one of the highest opiate addiction rates in
the world, and has an increasing problem with synthetic drugs; regularly
enforces the death penalty for drug offences; lacks anti-money laundering laws;
has reached out to neighboring countries to share counter-drug intelligence
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