Iran: Politics And Religion
...Republic of Iran. In November 1979, the Iranian government became a large threat to the United States' national security. In one of the largest and longest lasting hostage situations of American history, the Iranian leadership proved contempt for diplomatic norms and world opinion during the hostage crisis. They appeared supremely confident that Iran would succeed on its own, regardless of the rest of the world and certain that God was on their side. Since this event, Iran has remained an isolated country from the rest of the world and still remains one of the largest threats to the United States' national security.
One of the main problems with the Iranian government is that there is a duality and question of power between the main religious leader and the political leader. The supreme religious leader, as opposed to the political leader, according to the Iranian Constitution, is specifically charged with various duties as leading the television and radio network to appointing personnel to the hugely powerful Guardian Council, which can overrule the parliament at will and dismiss the elected officials assuming power of the supreme command over the armed forces (Mackey, 149-151). This power struggle between the religious and political regimes is what caused the revolutionary war in 1979. The first strike against the American freedoms was seen through the 444-day hostage action against the United States Embassy staff in Tehran. The Islamic revolutionary party took this measure to ensure that the American military would not intervene in the Iranian power struggle. Since the hostage crisis, Iran has become synonymous with terror.
During the revolutionary struggle and the hostage crisis, groups of local toughs were formed and grew in strength. These neighborhood thugs were called hizbollahis, also known as the groups of the Party of God (Schlesinger,...
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