1979 Khuzestan insurgency
| 1979 Khuzestan uprising | |
|---|---|
| Part of Khuzestan Province, Iran | |
| Result |
Iranian military victory
|
DRFLA APCO PFLA AFLASupported by:
Iraq[1]
Islamic Republic of Iran Oan Ali Mohammed The 1979 Khuzestan uprising was one of the nationwide uprisings in Iran, which erupted in the aftermath of the Iranian Revolution. The unrest was fed by Arab demands for autonomy.[2] The uprising was effectively quelled by Iranian security forces, resulting in more than a hundred people on both sides killed.[2]
Background
The
Inside Iran, the communal relationship between the majority of Persians and ethnic minorities seems to have changed when the Islamic Republic was formed in 1979. In part, this was a result of the Persian community’s identification with the Islamic Republic, although some Arabs do identify with the Islamic republic as well.[6]
In 1978, Khuzestani Arab oil workers went on strike, cutting the supply of oil to Tehran. This led to a reduction in income, which contributed to the Shah's downfall and the Iranian Revolution.[7][8] Iranian clerics then encouraged hostility between Persians and Arabs.[8]
Events
Following the aftermath of the Iranian Revolution, Marxist guerrillas and federalist parties revolted in some regions comprising Khuzestan, Kurdistan and Gonbad-e Qabus, which resulted in fighting between various rebel groups and the forces loyal to the nascent revolutionary government. The largest rebellion by the Kurds unfolded in the West (Iranian Kurdistan), though the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) were also confronted by Arabs, Turkomans and Baluchs.[2] These revolts began in April 1979 and lasted between several months to over a year, depending on the region. In the early days of the communal conflict, the regime relied on volunteers from the Persian and Azeri communities to confront Kurdish, Baluchi, and Turkoman rebellions.[6]
Due to the economic and political marginalization of Khuzestani Arabs by the Persian-dominated government,[7] the uprising began when armed Sunni Arabs rebelled[9] in late April and into May 1979. Other Arabs of Khuzestan began protests against discrimination, which prompted the regime to send IRGC units to assist the already deployed navy and air force personnel (in Khorramshahr) in quelling the violence.[2] Since rebellion broke out in Abadan, the Sepah was active in the arrests of Arabs and the confiscation of weapons.[9] On May 29, an Arab protest in Khorramshahr was violently suppressed by the Revolutionary Guards.[7] After 100 died in days of street fight, Iran declared a state of emergency in Khuzestan on May 31.[10]
According to EIR News Service issue from December 1979, while "half of Iran" was in rebellion, the situation in Khuzestan province had already calmed down, even though Arab and Bakhtiari tribes were reportedly at odds with Khomeini's regime.[citation needed] Although some Khuzestani Arabs initially aligned with the new revolutionary government in Tehran, they soon realized that the Islamic Republic under Ruhollah Khomenei intended to enforce the same policies of economic, political, and social marginalization as the previous regime of the Shah.[7]
Casualties
More than a dozen Revolutionary Guardsmen and 100 Arabs died in the uprising.[2]
Aftermath
One of the consequences of the Arab uprising in Khuzestan was the
Later in 1980, The Khuzestan province has become a central scene of the Iran–Iraq War, which prompted the dimming of internal conflict, despite the Iraqi hopes of inciting a wide-scale rebellion by Arabs of Khuzestan, which eventually turned vague.[11]
The tensions between the Iranian government and the Arab population of Khuzestan has sporadically exploded into violence over the next decades. In 2005, violent
External links
- Abbas – Iran, Khuzestan Province. Arab rebellion and oil. 1979. Magnum Photos [1].
References
- ^ ISBN 9780674915718.
- ^ a b c d e f g Ward, p.231-4
- ^ "Database - Uppsala Conflict Data Program (UCDP)". Archived from the original on 2014-07-19. Retrieved 2012-10-21.
- ^ J. Lorentz, 1995, p.172.
- ^ Iran Overview from British Home Office Archived July 18, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b Hassan, Hussein D. (November 25, 2008). "Iran: Ethnic and Religious Minorities" (PDF). sgp.fas.org.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-313-30895-6.
- ^ a b Phillips, Russell (2015-10-05). Operation Nimrod: The Iranian Embassy Siege. Shilka Publishing.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-317-43074-2.
- ^ Economic Consequences of the Revolution in Iran: A Compendium of Papers. U.S. Government Printing Office. 1980. p. 223.
- ^ Karsh, Efraim The Iran-Iraq War 1980–1988, London: Osprey, (2002): page 27.
