Iran (Major Nations of the Modern Middle East Series)

Iran-or Persia, as it was known until the 1930s-is home to one of the world's oldest cultures. Over the years it has exerted a great influence over its neighbors in the Middle East and Central Asia.

Although Iran was once a close ally of the United States, in 1979 supporters of the Islamic fundamentalist cleric Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini overthrew the government and instituted a new one based on strict interpretation of Islamic law. In the years since then, U.S.-Iranian relations have …