Iran

Question 1

Ahmadinejad, Mahmoud

Answer 1

President of Iran from 2005-2013

Question 2

Assembly of Experts

Answer 2

Elected body that chooses the supreme leader

Question 3

ayatollah

Answer 3

In Shiite Islam, a title in the religious hierarchy achieved by scholars who have demonstrated highly advanced knowledge of Islamic law and religion

Question 4

Basij

Answer 4

People’s militia, which serves as a public morals police

Question 5

bonyads

Answer 5

Parastatal foundations made in part from assets nationalized after the Iranian Revolution

Question 6

Chief Justice

Answer 6

Head of the Judiciary

Question 7

Constitutional Revolution

Answer 7

1905-06 uprising against Qajar dynasty by secular and religious leaders to limit the power of the monarchy and resist Western imperialism

Question 8

Expediency Council

Answer 8

Appointed body that mediates between the Majlis and the Guardian Council over legislative disputes

Question 9

Farsi

Answer 9

Language of Iran

Question 10

Guardian Council

Answer 10

Appointed body that vets candidates for office and can overturn legislation

Question 11

Imams

Answer 11

Descendants of the prophet Muhammad, considered by Shia to be true political and religious leaders of Islam

Question 12

Iran-Iraq War

Answer 12

The 1980-88 conflict between the two countries, started by Iraq

Question 13

Islamic Republic of Iran

Answer 13

Name for post-revolutionary Iran

Question 14

Islamism/Islamic Fundamentalism

Answer 14

The belief that Islam should be the source of the political regime

Question 15

Khamenei, Ayatollah Ali

Answer 15

First supreme leader of Iran from 1980 to his death in 1989

Question 16

Khatami, Mohammad

Answer 16

President of Iran from 1997 to 2005

Question 17

Koran

Answer 17

Central holy book of Islam

Question 18

Mahdi

Answer 18

In Shiism, a term for the hidden imam, the descendant of Muhammad who will return to earth to usher in a new age

Question 19

Majlis

Answer 19

Legislature of Iran

Question 20

Mosaddeq, Mohammad

Answer 20

Prime minister of Iran, deposed in 1953 by Operation Ajax

Question 21

Muhammad

Answer 21

Main prophet of Islam

Question 22

National Front

Answer 22

Political party in Iran following WWII; it opposed the monarchy and favored greater Iranian control over natural resources, outlawed after Operation Ajax

Question 23

Pahlavi, Mohammad Reza

Answer 23

Monarch of Islam from 1941 to 1979

Question 24

Pahlavi, Reza Shah

Answer 24

Monarch of Islam from 1925 to 1941

Question 25

Persia

Answer 25

Name for Iran before 1935

Question 26

President

Answer 26

The head of government

Question 27

Principalists

Answer 27

Term for political conservatives in Iran who oppose liberalization and politcial reform

Question 28

Quietist

Answer 28

Description of view within Shiism that rejects theocracy and the direct role of religion in the state

Question 29

Rafsanjani, Ali Akbar Hashemi

Answer 29

President of Iran from 1989 to 1997

Question 30

Raisi, Ebrahim

Answer 30

Cleric, jurist, and president of Iran since 2021

Question 31

Revolutionary Guard

Answer 31

Paramilitary force charged with defending the regime from domestic and internal enemies

Question 32

Rouhani, Hassan

Answer 32

President of Iran from 2013 to 2021

Question 33

SAVAK

Answer 33

Secret police of pre-revolutionary Iran

Question 34

Shiism

Answer 34

Minority sect of Islam that differs from Sunnism over the rightful heir and proper descendants of the prophet Muhammad

Question 35

Supreme Leader

Answer 35

Chief spiritual and political leader of Iran

Question 36

Theocracy

Answer 36

Rule by religion or religious leaders

Question 37

velayat-e faqih

Answer 37

Rule by Islamic jurists; also, Islamic Republic’s political system, which places power in the hands of clerics

Question 38

White Revolution

Answer 38

Reforms enacted by Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, beginning in 1963, to rapidly modernize and Westernize Iran