Iran Timeline of Events

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Iran

Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...

Timeline of Events

1986

11.25.1986

Iran Contra Affair: US Attorney General Edwin Meese announces that profits from covert weapons sales to Iran were illegally diverted to the anti-communist Contra rebels in Nicaragua.

1987

10.19.1987

In retaliation for Iranian attacks on ships in the Persian Gulf, the U.S. Navy disables three of Iran's offshore oil platforms.

1988

4.18.1988

The United States launches Operation Praying Mantis against Iranian naval forces in the largest naval battle since World War II.

1989

2.14.1989

Iranian leader Ruhollah Khomeini issues a fatwa encouraging Muslims to kill the author of ''The Satanic Verses'', Salman Rushdie.

3.7.1989

Iran and the United Kingdom break diplomatic relations after a row over Salman Rushdie and his controversial novel.

6.4.1989

Ali Khamenei is elected the new Supreme Leader of Islamic republic of Iran by the Assembly of Experts after the death of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

1997

5.10.1997

A 7.3 M_w earthquake strikes Iran's Khorasan Province, killing 1,567, injuring over 2,300, leaving 50,000 homeless, and damaging or destroying over 15,000 homes.

1998

3.14.1998

An earthquake measuring 6.9 on the Richter scale hits southeastern Iran.

1999

7.9.1999

Days of student protests begin after Iranian police and hardliners attack a student dormitory at the University of Tehran.

2002

1.29.2002

In his State of the Union Address, President George W. Bush describes "regimes that sponsor terror" as an ''Axis of Evil'', in which he includes Iraq, Iran and North Korea.

2.12.2002

An Iran Air Tours Tupolev Tu-154 crashes in the mountains outside Khorramabad, Iran while descending for a landing at Khorramabad Airport, killing 119.

6.22.2002

An earthquake measuring 6.5 M_w strikes a region of northwestern Iran killing at least 261 people and injuring 1,300 others and eventually causing widespread public anger due to the slowness of the victims receiving aid and supplies.

11.7.2002

Iran bans advertising of United States products.

2003

12.26.2003

A magnitude 6.6 earthquake devastates southeast Iranian city of Bam, killing tens of thousands and destroying the citadel of Arg-é Bam.

2004

2.18.2004

Up to 295 people, including nearly 200 rescue workers, die near Neyshabur in Iran when a run-away freight train carrying sulfur, petrol and fertilizer catches fire and explodes.

2006

4.11.2006

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announces that Iran has successfully enriched uranium.

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