Iran is back in the news. As it and the United States exchange barbs, threats, and even missiles, it is time to review why Iran behaves the way it does. To understand fully we have to go back more than 41 years. In 1979, the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Moosavi Khomeini (1902-1989) returned from 14 years in exile in several countries (finally in France), to his home country of Iran. Led by him, radical Islamists overthrew the regime of the unpopular Shah (King) Mohammad Reza Pahlavi (1919-1980) and formed the Islamic Republic of Iran. This was also the time when those same radical Islamists took 52 American diplomats hostage in our own embassy and held them for 444 days.
Soon Khomeini was declared the “Supreme Leader” of the country as the chief Mullah (cleric) of the bizarre Shiite sect of Islam that dominates Iran. The current “Supreme Leader” is Ayatollah Ali Hosseini Khamenei (b. 1936). The Supreme Leader provides the absolute authority for the ruling regime’s ideology and must approve all major policy decisions.
The key to understanding Iran’s behavior has to do with the religious ideology of the “Supreme Leader” which is an extreme version of Shiite Islam called the “Twelvers.” As you may know the Islamic world is divided into two major sects, the Sunnis, who claim about 85% of all Muslims, and the smaller Shiites (15%) who are the majority of Muslims in Iran and Iraq.
Twelver Shiites believe that after the death of Muhammad in AD 632 his authority as “Imam” was passed to his descendants. Twelve men carried that mantle until the twelfth and last one named Muhammad ibn al-Hasan, who was born in AD 868. The odd thing about it was that al-Hasan disappeared in AD 874 without leaving a successor. His ultimate fate is unknown, but the ‘Twelvers” believe that he never died and is still alive in hiding. They believe that at the end of days he will publicly return as the “Mahdi” (Messiah) to rule the world in Allah’s name. However, before that can happen, the world will be engaged in a great conflagration until the Mahdi comes to lead the armies of Islam to victory over the infidels (everybody else).
So, we must remember that the rulers of Iran, especially the Imams who control the reigns of power, are fanatical believers in these doctrines. It is quite possible that they truly think that we are in the last days and that the great final war is soon to occur so the Mahdi can return. They may even think they need to start it. That is a scary thought for sure, especially if Iran gets the atomic bomb.
To learn more about this “Twelver” system and Iran’s leaders, read an article I wrote a few years ago. Go here: