Iraq (Arabs) & Iran (Persians)

Iraq

Kurdistan

In an area north of the city of Al-Basrah, Iraq, which borders Iran, a former wetland was drained and walled off. Littered with minefields and gun emplacements, it was a staging area for Iraqi military exercises under Sadam.

Iraq’s southern marshes, a Shi’a area, were drained by Sadam Hussein, a Sunni

Kuwait, 1991

Bedouin area, southern Iraq

Over-grazed landscape, Iraq

Returning city to mayor of Tuz

Flat bread party, Iraq

Desert Storm, Kuwait, 1991

Kuwait and Iraq border

Iranian women, Newsweek Feb. ‘06

Zagros Mountains, southern Iran

Persian King Darius’s tomb, Naqsh-e Rostam_Fars, Iran (near Shiraz)

Esfahan, Iran: Mosque entrance and interior

Persian Empire, 500 BC

1953 US-backed overthrow of Muhammad Mossadegh The 1953 Iranian coup d’etat deposed the democratically elected Iranian Prime Minister, Mohammed Mossadegh. In a plan called Operation Ajax, the United States' CIA organized and executed the overthrow of the nationalist government of Prime Minister Mossadegh, at the request of, and with support from the British, who resented Mossadegh’s nationalization of Iranian oil interests, shutting the Brits out. Reza Pahlavi, the Shah, and the monarch to whom Mossadegh pledged fealty, went on to rule Iran for 26 years until he was overthrown in 1979. Mossadegh was imprisoned and died a few years later under house arrest. 1951

The Shah of Iran, U. S. installed Emperor of Iran, 1941-1979 The Shah of Iran, U.S. installed Emperor of Iran, 1941-1979. Deposed in the Iranian Revolution and succeeded by the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who made Iran an Islamic State.

Hassan Rouhani, Iran’s current (2017) President, a moderate. Ahmed Ahmadinejad, former Iranian president, & Holocaust denier

Tehran, 1964

Tehran, 2009

Mir-Hossein Mousavi Khameneh, defeated in rigged election, hiding