43
votes
Accepted
Who is depicted in this Soleimani propaganda image?
The website apparently originating this image has a fuller/bigger version of it:
From that we can conclude a few things:
The helmet wearing people are 'old warriors'. Since they are not even ...
- 80.7k
18
votes
Accepted
Did Truman threaten a nuclear strike if the Soviet Union didn't withdraw from Iran in 1946?
SHORT ANSWER
The reason why the Soviet Union backed down over Iran is still the subject of debate, but there does not appear to be any evidence that he threatened a nuclear strike. Nor would Stalin ...
- 108k
15
votes
How did Azerbaijan come to be allied with Turkey and Israel?
Turkey and Azerbaijan are historically the same nation. The slogan is "one nation two states". So Sunni/Shia difference is not very important. Both countries also have important economic ...
- 267
14
votes
Accepted
Why wasn't Iran colonized by any country?
Persia / Iran was sovereign for most of its history.
Actually, Persia / Iran had colonies, mostly in the Caucasus region, before they were lost to Russia in the early 1800's.
At times Russia and / ...
- 14k
13
votes
How did Azerbaijan come to be allied with Turkey and Israel?
Your reading of how alliances work is a bit too on the nose.
Religious and political links are a major factor. But they definitely aren't the only one. The word 'technically' is misapplied here.
...
- 13.9k
13
votes
Who is depicted in this Soleimani propaganda image?
I won't try to speak for the rest (another answer seems to be putting a lot of work into that), but it appears the green cloaked figures are meant to be representations of Imam Husayn and his family, ...
- 121k
10
votes
Were Israel-Iran relations better in the 80s? What changed?
According to Ronen Bergman, in his book The Secret War With Iran, there were four factors motivating Israel's Operation Seashell, in which hundreds of tons of Israeli weapons were airlifted or shipped ...
- 167
10
votes
Accepted
Women in the Iranian revolution
Iran and Saudi Arabia are both majority Muslim nations in western Asia, with a lot of their external revenue coming from oil extraction. But that's about where the resemblance ends.
Iran is largely ...
- 121k
7
votes
What happened to the Parthians?
Re. your first question, the somewhat traditional account seems to be that the Achaemenids indeed had a province/satrapy called Parthia (e.g. mentioned here and here). But the people who would later ...
- 9,236
6
votes
During Iranian Hostage Crisis, were shredded documents reassembled by children?
The movie Argo is loosely based on the Wired article How the CIA Used a Fake Sci-Fi Flick to Rescue Americans From Tehran
By Joshuah Bearman April 24, 2007. Within the article the shredded documents ...
- 40.5k
5
votes
How did Britain and Russia block the railway in Iran?
Anglo-Russian Rivalry was a factor in the slow development of Iranian railways.
An online source drawing from an article in Railway Magazine (Jan 1963), by M.A. Baker, provides the following ...
- 1,818
5
votes
Could there have been wars between the Aztecs and the Persians?
Not really, no.
In the 10th century CE, the Mesoamerican polity of note was the Toltecs. They were viewed by the later Aztecs sort of in the same way Medieval Europeans viewed the Romans or Greeks, ...
- 121k
5
votes
Are Chinese and Iranian "blocky" writing styles related?
I can speculate about one possible relationship between the two styles.
Your Persian examples include square seals of Oljeitu and Ghazan.
Ghazan was born 1271 and ruled from 1295-1304.
Oljeitu was ...
- 19.3k
5
votes
Why did US helicopters suffer mechanical failures in Operation Eagle Claw?
Here are a few pages that have more detail. The official report is worth a look.
The first one lists several mistakes, including:
The lack of any overall review of the plan
The requirement that ...
- 31.9k
4
votes
Pre-Islamic cultural inheritance in contemporary Iran
A few more answers:
Backgammon is a very old Iranian game and is commonly played throughout Iran.
Norooz, or the celebration of the new year is pre Islamic and is celebrated throughout Iran by all ...
- 866
4
votes
Women in the Iranian revolution
Wahhabism, the strictest and most extreme form of Islam, is a founding partner of modern Saudi Arabia. Wahhabism also provided the foundation philosophy for both Al Qaeda (the founder was a Saudi) and ...
- 705
4
votes
Accepted
Did Reza Shah Pehlavi know about Turkish offer to restore Ahmad Shah Qajar?
Depending on the date of this offer, an explanation could be made to why Reza Khan, future Palavi, did not take into account the offer of Ataturk as an agression.
The putsch made by Reza Khan in 1921 ...
- 6,794
3
votes
What happened to Edrag the daughter of Yazdgerd III?
According to page 270 of A Social and Religious History of the Jews: High Middle Ages, 500-1200, by Salo Wittmayer Baron, The daughter you refer to might have been presented to the Jewish Exilarch ...
- 40.5k
3
votes
Accepted
Why wasn't the 1953 Iranian coup d’état considered to be a violation of United Nations Charter?
Why wasn't the 1953 Iranian coup d’état considered [by the UN Security Council] to be a violation of United Nations Charter?
It doesn't seem to have come up.
Resolutions adopted by the Security ...
- 3,177
2
votes
Was the Gulf War 1990 a complete surprise, or was a military build up evident?
The US did notice the preparations at the time. I believe that the exact details of the diplomatic communications are still controversial. And of course the Iraqi decisionmaking structures were ...
- 17.3k
2
votes
Why wasn't Iran colonized by any country?
Let me address the issue of colonization in 19th century, "especially by British" and Russian empires.
A short answer is because the Great Game was essentially a draw, with the two sides (British ...
- 6,225
1
vote
When and why did the given name Dariusz get popular in Poland?
It might be a bit speculative answer, but looking at statistics, it might have a grain of truth:
According to semi-official data, currently in Poland there are approximately 314 thousand males named &...
- 3,360
1
vote
Are Chinese and Iranian "blocky" writing styles related?
Re. the Chinese writing style, it turns out this particular style is called "Nine-folded seal script" (九叠篆) and first got popular during the Song dynasty in China, first appearing on coins ...
- 9,236
1
vote
Women in the Iranian revolution
It might be a bit too simplified to attribute the Iranian revolution to just one man and his ideas. He's now dead, by the way. Many forces contributed to how the Islamic revolution unfolded and how ...
- 80.7k
1
vote
Who built the shrine of Hilal ibn Ali in Kashan, Iran?
The construction of this building goes back to the Safavid period (1501-1736) and it has been renovated several times thus far. The interiors of the building are decorated with watercolor paintings. ...
MCW♦
- 33.8k
1
vote
Did Iran host anti Soviet Afghan factions during the 1980's?
The short answer is yes. To quote from on an article you may want to look at:
The essence of Iran's policy toward Afghanistan was to create an
"ideological sphere of influence" by mobilizing and ...
- 22k
1
vote
Did Iran host anti Soviet Afghan factions during the 1980's?
Iran called for a Soviet withdrawal and aided Afghan Shiites. In the second phase, after the Soviet Army withdrew, Iran helped the non-Pushtun ethnic groups form a united front.
- 939
1
vote
What were the logistics of the the Tehran Conference of 1943?
Most information is from John Grigg's "1943". This book details the politics of World War II, specifically during 1943, in great detail. The book is highly critical of Churchill, but contains good ...
- 1,000
1
vote
What caused Iranians to convert to Shiite Islam?
Iran was majority Sunni before Safavids came to power and within a half-century, it became majority Shia. This was some 800 years after the Arab invasion and some 300 or so years after Arabs had any ...
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible