iran

On Iran - a historical view

Before a mundane astrology analysis, a sound knowledge of the historical and political facts is required, just as a good natal astrology reading requires a sound knowledge of psychology and some fine spiritual matters.

For this purpose I consulted and a neutral and reliable source, theWikipedia page on Iran (Persia) and the other pages on history and politics of Iran.

So I learned that the recorded roots of the Iranian people (=Persians) go as far as 3200 BC. This is the people who issued the first declaration of human rights (around 550 BC).

Throughout the time, Persian philosophers, scientists, engineers and historians contributed enormously to technology, science and medicine.
For instance I didn't know that Avicenna, a great medieval physician whose work had a direct impact on the development of medicine in the Renaissance was Persian.

Just point out something that many people might from the Wetern world not know, the Persians (Iranians) are not Arabs, they are totally distinct people.

Reading attentively the text, I learn that the current Shi'a Islamic Iranian state was established in 1501, following a period of flowering of this state. Later this state managed to maintain its sovereignty and was never colonized by the Imperial Russia and the British Empire, making it unique in the region.

In the second half of the 20th century Iran experienced a Britain and USSR invasion during the WWII (1941), a CIA-backed coup that overthrew a democratically elected government (1953) with the reinstating of the Shah, an Islamic revolution (1979), a defensive war with Iraq (1980-1988).

While reading the article I was amazed to find out that although Iraq used chemical weapons against Iran, causing tens of thousands of civilian and military causalities, Iran didn't reciprocate although it also possessed such weapons. This is a remarkable moral stance, which gives some weight to the August 2005 fatwa (=religious proclamation) of Ayatollah Khameini (current religious leader of Iran) that they wouldn't produce or use nuclear weapons.

As for the correct natal horoscope for Iran, I believe that it should be set for May 1501 when Ismail I was proclaimed Shah of Azerbaidjan and later (1502) of entire Iran. I couldn't find the exact date of the proclamation. From what I've read, it seems that May 1501 represents the beginning of the modern state of Shi'a Islamic Republic of Iran.

Some astrologers claim that the current chart for Iran should be set for the return of Ayatollah Khomeini on February 1, 1979, and the start of the current form of government, the Islamic Republic, but this is only a secondary chart, a moment in history. The Islamic Iranian state existed long before that moment.

Others support the chart for the moment the Islamic Republic of Iran was proclaimed: on 1 April 1979, Ayatollah Khomeini proclaimed the birth of the Islamic Republic sometime after two in the afternoon and before three by many accounts.

I'm still in the process of investigating historical sources in order to find out the exact date when Ismail I was proclaimed Shah and I could use any information you could offer. Please contribute to this effort or come up with other ideas or information so that we might have a working natal horoscope for Iran.

In the mean time, here's the chart for the return of Ayatollah Khomeini on February 1, 1979, 9:30 am -03:30, Tehran.

Events in modern Iran's history:

(Source: time.com)

• January 16, 1979 - Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, Iran's pro-Western monarch, is overthrown by an opposition movement led by the exiled Muslim cleric Ayatollah Ruholla Khomeini. The shah goes into exile, appointing leading secular opposition figure Dr. Shahpour Bakhtiar as prime minister.
• February 1, 1979 - Ayatollah Khomeini, head of the Shi'ite Islamization movement, is given a hero's welcome in Tehran as he returns after 15 years of exile in France.
• April 1, 1979 - Khomeini declares Iran an Islamic Republic.
• November 4, 1979 - Following the exiled shah's arrival in the U.S. for medical treatment, Iranian students storm the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and hold 52 Americans hostage.
• January 1980 - Liberal opposition figure Dr. Abolhassan Bani-Sadr is elected in the first presidential election, but ultimate power remains in the hands of Khomeini, the Supreme Leader. Bani-Sadr is later driven out by the mullahs and flees to France.
• May 1980 - A cultural revolution begins in Iran, resulting in the closure of all universities and higher education institutes for two years.
• April 1980 - The U.S. breaks off relations with Iran in order to increase economic pressure on Tehran.
• September 22, 1980 - Iraq attacks western Iran over territorial disputes, launching the longest conventional war this century, in which more than 1 million people are killed on both sides. Hundreds of thousands of Iranians are used as cannon fodder in "human wave" attacks on Iraqi artillery positions. The U.S. supplied weapons to both sides, while Iran was also armed by North Korea and China and Iraq by France and the Soviet Union.
• January 20 1981 - On the day of President Reagan's inauguration, U.S. hostages are released, after 444 days of confinement.
• August 20, 1988 - Iraq and Iran sign a cease-fire ending their eight-year war.
• February 1989 - Ayatollah Khomeini issues a fatwa (religious decree) ordering the death of British author Salman Rushdie, whose book "The Satanic Verses" he calls blasphemous.
• June 4, 1989 - Ayatollah Khomeini dies. Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khameini is elected as the new spiritual leader of the Islamic Republic.
• May 6, 1995 - The U.S. bans all trade with Iran. A year later, a 1996 law orders the U.S. to apply sanctions against any non-U.S. companies investing in Iran or Libya. The European Union challenges the validity of such a law, and it is never enforced.
• May 23, 1997 - Mohammed Khatami is elected president with 69 percent of the popular vote. A moderate cleric and veteran of the revolution, Khatami promises to work for human rights, the rule of law and greater democratization, as well as to normalize relations with the West. The conservative backlash against his reforms have set the stage for the current power struggle over Iran's future.