Iran

[Iran]

Nazgol Rashid Tehrani
-جمهوری اسلامی ایران-

"My name is Rashid! RASHID!"

Name: Nazgol Rashid Tehrani
Origin: Islamic Republic of Iran
Gender: Male
Orientation: He HAS to appear straight, but he's actually bisexual.
Religion: Shi'a Islam (Ashariyah sect- This means that he believes there are 12 Imams, as opposed to the other sect of Shi'a who believes there are only 7 Imams.)
Birthday: April 1 (When Iran first became an Islamic republic)
Age: 22 years old
Languages spoken: Persian, Arabic (for Qur'an reading purposes), English

Personality: Shy, timid, and soft-spoken, Iran is not the stereotypical crazy Arab who is most often seen shouting obscenities and 'fuck America' on TV. He mostly keeps to himself, and he's someone who doesn't like showing off the talents and skills that he has. However, don't overlook or underestimate him. He can get passionate about certain things, such as his religion and culture. He holds very firm opinions, especially about his own religion, and can very much argue for them. In turn, he is very much passionate about his own religion, firmly believing in Allah and that his particular sect of Islam is the true religion. However, even if this is the case, he is also very much religious tolerant, if not the most religious tolerant in the whole of the Arab world. However, this is not true for other Islamic sects. He despises Sunni and Sufi Islams very much, and will not hesitate to get into an argument with them with nearly just about anything theological. Oh, and the whole heir disputes, too: that still hasn't been solved until now, and he will readily hold grudges against anyone who tries to go against his beliefs.

Aside from those aforementioned above, he is also very compassionate towards those in need and is very helpful as well. He hosts one of the largest refugee populations in the world, and is working to give those refugees a permanent home and sanctuary in his own land, in order to protect them from the conflict and poverty from which they had come from. Besides, it is also one of the five pillars of the Islamic faith: give alms to the poor. In his case, he's taking it one step further and is giving the poor not only alms, but also a land to live in and establish their lives.

However, though everything in his life seems to revolve around his religion, he is still very much liberal in terms of change. He loves cultural blending, and will take in all new ideas and technology if he believes that it will be helpful to his development. However, though he is open to change, he still very much upholds his own culture. Not only this, but Jews and Christians are also protected in his home, as he is, as mentioned before, religious tolerant. Due to his love for change and merging of cultures, he can also adapt to any culture easily, and can fit in right away wherever he may go. He rarely experiences culture shock, since he's so open-minded towards what other cultures might deem inappropriate, and what they might not. Also, since he is very much open to change, then he is less strict than the Sunni Islam countries.

Because of his love for cultural blending, he has very much kept most of the influences of the Persians upon him. His land is also home to most of UNESCO's World Heritage Sites, and as such, he loves architectural ruins and historical monuments. Whenever he goes for a visit to other countries, he always makes a point to visit the cultural and historical sites that they have, especially if they're ruins. Not only is he passionate about learning other people's cultures, but he's also passionate about learning their history, researching and traveling and reading about histories and cultures with a passion, and adapting ideas that seemed like would work for his own country as well.

Due to his being open to modernization, cultural blending, and being less strict than the Sunni Islam countries, he is also the least oppressive Arab nation towards women. While women are not exactly treated the way they are in a democratic or non-Islamic country, they do enjoy more privileges than the average woman at a Sunni Islam Arab country would. Of course, women are still required to wear head coverings such as the hijab or face severe punishment, and they are still denied basic human rights such as not being able to go out without a male escort or still having to cover themselves up, but they are less cultural and strict. In Iran, women can hold power, get jobs, get decent education, and hold government posts.

Regarding current issues such as nuclear weapons, his vast reserves of oil and natural gas, and the jihad, there is very much to say about these things. First of all, while his boss is all for having nuclear power, nuclear weapons, and selling oil, he himself is very much apathetic about these things. He is fiercely loyal to his boss, so he doesn't dare contradict what he wants, but he doesn't really care himself, anyway. As long as he thinks that his boss won't be destroying the whole world, then he'll follow whatever he wants him to do, as he is also a man who is keen on fulfilling his duties. Because of this, while he is humble and soft-spoken, he can get fiercely nationalistic, as he is proud of being an Iranian Arab. Besides, due to his timid nature, he can hardly speak up against his boss, even if he wanted to. He would stumble over his words, and he wouldn't know what to say or how to defend himself. As for the whole jihad, or holy war: he is strictly opposed to these acts of terrorism. Because he is a Shi'a Islam, he very much believes that the jihad, as it is written in the Qur'an, is the depiction of an inward, spiritual battle rather than an actual battle. Therefore, these acts of terrorism that terrorists who claim to be Muslims do… he does not support. Instead, he condemns them, and will get passionate when that particular issue is brought up.

All in all, Iran is a shy young man who has great passion for cultures, histories, and his own religion.

Likes:

• Allah
  
• Praying
  
• Humility
  
• Change
  
• Modernization (yet keeping up his traditions)
  
• Shahname
  
• Cultural blending
  
• Yogurt
  
• Caviar
  
• Oil
  
• Archaeological architectural ruins/ historical monuments
  
• Hand-made products
  
• Culture
  
• History
  

Dislikes:

• BEING CALLED BY HIS FIRST NAME
  
• Saudi Arabia
  
• Sunni and Sufi Muslims
  
• Pride
  
• Pork/pigs
  
• France
  
• Israel
  
• Alcohol
  
• Mass-produced products (while he thinks they are convenient and useful, he reasons that people have lost their creativity and hardworking skills because of the creation of mass-produced things. Whatever happened to the good old laboring days, where people worked on a single carpet by hand for hours on end?)
  

Appearance: Possessing Raven black hair and emerald green eyes, Iran stands at 5'8", a gentle giant. He also quite stands out in the crowd, as he hasn't outgrown most of his girly features yet. He prefers to dress in normal clothes, as he isn't too fond of the traditional way of dressing.

Relationships:

• North Korea: While their bosses are on good terms due to the whole nuclear conspiracy rumors, they themselves are very distant towards each other. Business partners, nothing more, nothing less. He wouldn't talk to this guy unless necessary- his rigidity intimidates him.
  
• Israel: Their relationship is very tense and full of hatred. While they used to be friends and on good terms, the fact that Iran's boss does not recognize Israel as a country coupled with Israel's bad treatment of Muslims, prevent them from being friends ever again. Now, they're just bitter enemies.
  
• China: Trading partners, nothing more. China gets oil from him, he gets money from China. They're not friends, but they're not enemies either.
  
• Denmark: He does not like this man very much, because of the 2006 Muhammad cartoons that came out in his country. However, because he is an important trading partner, he does not dare get on his bad side. He merely talks to him when it is necessary, and mostly steers clear of him.
  
• France: Because of France's anti-Islam movements, Iran dislikes this man very much, though as he's not one to pick fights, he just stays away from him. They used to be on good terms, but since France's discrimination against Muslims and his continual interference in all of his boss' plans, he has then disliked him ever since.
  
• Vatican City: He is fond of the kid as he is cute and seemingly innocent, and their bosses get along as well, so he has no problem dealing with him. Besides, he is also for religious tolerance, and does not mind at all that he is the representation of a holy country that is not his own religion.
  
• America: The relationship they have is mostly an "always look behind your back" kind of thing. While currently they may appear friendly towards each other, in Iran's case at least, there is always a fair amount of backstabbing and muttering under breaths. He had never liked this guy very much, especially because he's Israel's close ally then and until now. While he may appear like he likes him when they meet due to the smiles and handshakes that he offers, be aware that it is all just for show: inside, he is seething, and just wants to stab him with a knife the first chance he turns his back to him without being alert.
  
• Germany: Their current relations have been sour as of late, but either way, he never really did like this guy. His rigid demeanor intimidated him, just as he is intimidated by North Korea. On top of that, threatening to help stop his nuclear program made him further dislike the man, so he doesn't interact with him much… or at least, made sure that he doesn't interact with him as much, considering that Germany is still his biggest trading partner. He hardly interacts with him outside of business, and he would rather keep it that way.
  
• Russia: Though they may get along at times, there are more times that they are in conflict than when they are actually getting along well. He does not like this man, however, not even an ounce. While they are aligned in their idea that America needs to GTFO of Central Asia, Russia's increasing ties with Israel, alignment with the West, participation in the Arab-Israeli peace process, and repeated delays of helping him with the nuclear program, all contribute to his dislike of this nation. Aside from that, his… unusual aura disturbs and intimidates him, and thus he doesn't like being in the same room as him for long.
  
• Japan: A business partner that he generally agrees with on recent issues. Not only is he Japan's third biggest oil supplier, but he's also working with him in developing Afghanistan and solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, amongst other humanitarian issues. As a person, though, he does not mind him much. He would like to get to know him better, but he's too shy to actually start a conversation, and so they mostly end up talking about things related to business.
  

History: Ancient until Persian history will be barely mentioned here. I consider Persia as a separate country, so Iran's history will only focus on modern/relatively modern Iranian history.

• 650 BC- 330 BC: Median and Achaemenid Empires
  
• 312 BC- 63 BC: Seleucid Empire
  
• 248 BC- 224 AD: Parthian Empire
  
• 224-651: Sassanid Empire
  
• 637: Muslim invasion under Umar (start of the Islamic conquest by Persia, ended Zoroastrianism)
  
• 651: Fall of the Sassanian dynasty, Umayyad Arabs start to rise (start of Umayyad Caliphate)
  
• 692: Creation of coins, Persian culture and language very much seeping into the region, replacing local languages and way of writing with Persian and Arabic, local leaders were also Persian
  
• 750: End of Umayyads, start of Abbasid Caliphate- further transition to being a Muslim empire, Arabic official language, Arabs being very much the elite
  
• 9th-10th centuries: Persianization, in an attempt to keep Persian culture and language intact. This was also when the Shahname, the national epic of Iran written in Persian, was created. It contains the ancient history and cultures of Iran distinct from that of the Arab caliphates.
  
• 962-1186: Ghaznavid Empire
  
• 1200: Ruled by Ala ad-Din Muhammad, Khwarezmid Empire
  
• 1219: Start of Mongol Invasion of Iran, destroyed most of the Persianization that took place, and also destroyed lands, killed people, established Hinduism, and most Islamic symbols and Muslim temples created during the Islamic conquest were destroyed.
  
• 1255: Start of Ilkhanate rule, Islam brought back into Iran
  
• 1381: Timur reunited Iran
  
• Before Safavid Empire: Iran mostly Sunni
  
• 1502-1736: Safavid dynasty, established Shi'a Islam as the official religion of the Safavid Empire, thereby bringing Shi'a Islam into Iran.
  
• 1796-1925: Qajar Dynasty
  
• 1925-1979: Pahlavi Era

Reza Shah
The initiator of the Pahlavi era, he came into power on December 15, 1925, after overthrowing the last Qajar shah. Under him, the state of Iran enjoyed an authoritarian government that held great value for nationalism, militarism, secularism, and anti-communism. Also, many changes to the army, socio-economics, the government, finances, among other things, were made. He was very much into modernization. However, his too-liberal rule clashed with very devout Muslims, especially when he became too "western" by forcing his people to wear western clothes, as well as putting chairs in mosques and telling women they don't have to wear the hijab anymore, as well as allowing women and men to mix. He was then forced to abdicate on September 16, 1941, when the English and Soviets invaded Iran.

• 1941: British-Indian and Soviet forces occupied Iran, due to its oil. Put Reza Shah's son Mohammad Reza Shah Palavi into power, because he was pro-British.

Mohammad-Reza Shah Palavi
During his rule, he allowed the parliament to hold a lot of power, though this was largely unstable from 1947-1951. During his rule, autocracy was established, which was eventually ended in 1957, with the Baghdad Pact bringing Iran closer to the West, especially the US who granted them aid. Under his rule, land-reform was focused on, and modernization and economic growth took place. However, this did not greatly improve conditions, which caused the Islamic political and religious groups to protest in June 1963.

By the 1970s, Iran was the region's strongest military power, due to the drastic increase in the military budget. However, Iran's relations with its neighbors were not good, because of the dispute over the Shatt al-Arab waterway. In mid-1973, the control of oil was once again handed back to national control. In the Arab-Israeli War of 1973, however, Iran saw much opportunity for making money and did not join the war itself, but instead resorted to raising oil prices and selling its oil. The money earned was then used for modernization and still more increase in defense budget.

• 1943: Tehran Conference, put forth the Tehran Declaration that is supposed to guarantee the independence of post-war Iran, but the Soviets disobeyed this and backed up short-lived, small revolts that established pro-Soviet separatist national states.
  
• 1946: Soviets retreated properly, after making a deal with Iran about receiving oil concessions. However, the Soviet republics in the north were overthrown and this was taken back.
  
• March 6, 1975: Algiers Accord solved the border dispute between Iraq and Iran.

Iranian/Islamic Revolution
Started in January 1978 by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who is the leader of the revolutions and the founder of the Islamic republic, this was the revolution that completed Iran's transition from absolute monarchy rule to Islamic republic. This was ended in 1979 when Mohammad Reza Pahlavi left the country for exile, and in December of that year, Khomeini was declared Supreme Leader of the country. Iran officially became an Islamic Republic due to people consensus on April 1, 1979 (and it was no April Fools joke).

This republic, then, was very much Shi'a Islam. They also reversed all the reforms established during the Pahlavi dynasty, as they returned to Islamic economic and cultural policies. Everything in the industry was nationalized, and the schools and laws were back to being Islamic, and western influences, which were so rampant during the Pahlavi Dynasty, were banned.

• June 3, 1989: Khomeini dies, Ali Khamanei the next Supreme Leader of Iran
  
• 1991: Neutral in the Persian Gulf War, though biased against the US and allowed Iraqi aircrafts and refugees into the country.
  
• 1997: Mohammad Khatami comes into power, country marred by conflict between the modernizing country and religious clergy. He was very much into reform, but full reform is being prevented from being established because of the hyper-religious clergy and the conservatives.
  
• 2003: anti-government protests in Iran by students
  
• 2005: election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, current president of Iran
  
• 2006: Human rights protests
  
• 2005-2006: Suspicious of US and Israel attacking them due to their oil and nuclear program. Communist China and Russia, however, refuse to impose economic sanctions. Khamenei issued a fatwa forbidding production, stockpiling, and use of nuclear weapons.
  
• 2009: Ahmadinejad is re-elected, people opposed through demonstrations and protests.

Hobbies:

• Target practice with his knives
  
• Reading the Qur'an
  
• Praying
  
• Traveling
  
• Reading about cultures and histories of other countries
  
• Making hand-made products
  

Random Quirks:

• Hates his first name, because it means "cute flower" in Persian.
  
• Can make the best damn plain yogurt and caviar you will ever taste in your life, bar none.
  
• Can throw knives so accurately and so fast that one would think it was a bullet whizzing past them.
  
• Very skilled with knives in general- he could literally do 1001 things with them.
  
• He does not drink alcohol, like all good Muslims.
  
• Is still very much skilled in weaving, painting, pottery, metalworking, and sculpting- the good old hand-made stuff.
  
• Even though he himself is loyal to his country and his boss, since he is a Shi'a Islam and so are his people, his people have a tendency to rebel against the government more than Sunni Muslims do. Though his people do not like his current boss, he feels that he has the need to be loyal to him, therefore he is.
  
• Mostly apathetic to the issues concerning his current boss.
  

Roleplay Sample:

See Austria

Roleplayer: Aus

Password: Hetalia rocks!

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[Hiroshima]

NAZGOL

Ehehe. ^^;; Anyway, I really like him. Keep up the awesome work, love. <3

Approved, 1/2!

[Texas]

Nicely done, as always hun!

APPROVED! 2/2