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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Iran
Index
Iran is a charter member of the United Nations (UN). Although
it belongs to all UN specialized agencies, the Republic has not
participated as actively as the monarchy in the world organization.
Iran criticized the UN for nonsupport during the Iran-United States
crisis over the hostages. Iran also criticized the UN for failing
to condemn Iraq as an "aggressor" following the Iraqi invasion of
Iran in 1980.
As a major oil producer and exporter, Iran is a founding member
of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries
(OPEC--see Glossary).
Both under the monarchy and under the Republic the
government has advocated that OPEC maintain high prices for the oil
that members sell on the international market. Iran supported lower
production quotas for members as a means of keeping international
oil prices high. Between 1979 and 1985, Iran generally was regarded
as uncooperative at the semi- annual OPEC ministerial conferences.
Since 1985, however, Iran has worked with Saudi Arabia, the largest
oil producer within OPEC, to draft production and pricing
compromises acceptable to the whole OPEC membership.
* * *
The most detailed examination of the government of Iran during
the first four years following the Revolution is Shaul Bakhash's
The Reign of the Ayatollahs. Considerable detail about
various policies pursued by the government can be found in Dilip
Hiro's Iran under the Ayatollahs. A collection of essays
that analyze the role of the clergy in politics, the
postrevolutionary economy, the aspects of the "new" Islamic
ideology, the opposition, and Iran's relations with the superpowers
is found in The Iranian Revolution and the Islamic Republic,
edited by Nikki Keddie and Eric Hooglund. Revolutionary Iran
by Ruhollah Ramazani examines Iran's foreign policy in the Middle
East since 1979. (For further information and complete citations,
see
Bibliography.)
Data as of December 1987
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