The Iranian Green Movement or Green Wave of Iran, also referred to as the Persian Awakening or Persian Spring by the western media, refers to a political movement that arose after the June 12, 2009 Iranian presidential election and lasted until early 2010, in which protesters demanded the removal of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad from office. Green was initially used as the symbol of Mir Hossein Mousavi's campaign, but after the election it became the symbol of unity and hope for those asking for annulment of what they regarded as a fraudulent election. Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi are recognized as political leaders of the Green Movement. Grand Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri was also mentioned as spiritual leader of the movement.
Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani was an Iranian politician, writer, and one of the founding fathers of the Islamic Republic who was the fourth president of Iran from 1989 to 1997. He was the head of the Assembly of Experts from 2007 until 2011 when he decided not to nominate himself for the post. He was also the chairman of the Expediency Discernment Council.
Presidential elections were held in Iran 17 June 2005, with a second round run-off on 24 June. Mohammad Khatami, the previous President of Iran, stepped down on 2 August 2005, after serving his maximum two consecutive four-year terms according to the Islamic Republic's constitution. The election led to the victory of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the hardline mayor of Tehran, with 19.48% of the votes in the first round and 61.69% in the second. Factors thought to have contributed to Ahmadinejad's victory include mobilization of mosque networks and conservative/hardline voters, and a protest vote against corrupt elite insiders and for "new political blood". A loyal supporter of conservative Supreme Leader Khamenei, Ahmadinejad kissed the leader's hand during his authorization ceremony. Officials reported a turnout of about 59% of Iran's 47 million eligible voters, a decline from the 63% turnout reported in the first round of balloting a week before.
Mehdi Karroubi is an Iranian Shia cleric and reformist politician leading the National Trust Party. Following 2009–2010 Iranian election protests, Karroubi was put under house arrest in February 2011 – reportedly ordered by the Supreme Leader of Iran – without officially being charged, although he is accused of being a "seditionist" and "traitor". As of 2021, he is still confined to his house.
Mir-Hossein Mousavi Khameneh is an Iranian reformist politician, opposition of Ali Khamenei the Supreme Leader of Iran, artist and architect who served as the 49th and last Prime Minister of Iran from 1981 to 1989. He was a reformist candidate for the 2009 presidential election and eventually the leader of the opposition in the post-election unrest. Mousavi served as the president of the Iranian Academy of Arts until 2009, when Conservative authorities removed him. Although Mousavi had always considered himself a reformist and believed in reforming the Islamic Regime within the 1979 Revolution constitution, on 3 Feb 2023 in a big change of opinion and after 4 months of violent suppression of Iranian People by Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of Iran, he announced that "he no longer supports the current Islamic Republic constitution", and asked for a widespread referendum to fully change the constitution and make a fundamental change in Iran's political system.
Faezeh Hashemi Bahramani, better known as Faezeh Hashemi Rafsanjani is an Iranian women's rights activist, politician and former journalist who served as a member of Iranian parliament from 1996 to 2000. She is also president of Executives of Construction Party women's league and the former editor-in-chief of Zan newspaper.
The Office for Strengthening Unity, is an Iranian student organization created in 1979, and has been described as "the country's most well-known student organization," and "Iran's leading prodemocracy student group". Founded in 1979 as a conservative Islamist organization to combat leftist, more secular, student groups, the OSU has evolved to support democracy and reform in Iran and thus is now in opposition to the political heirs of its founders.
Ayatollah Taqi Mesbah, commonly known as Mohammad-Taqi Mesbah-Yazdi was an Iranian Shi'i cleric, philosopher and conservative political theorist who served as the spiritual leader of the Front of Islamic Revolution Stability.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, born Mahmoud Sabbaghian, is an Iranian principlist and nationalist politician who served as the sixth president of Iran from 2005 to 2013. He is currently a member of the Expediency Discernment Council. He was known for his hardline views and nuclearisation of Iran. He was also the main political leader of the Alliance of Builders of Islamic Iran, a coalition of conservative political groups in the country, and served as mayor of Tehran from 2003 to 2005, reversing many of his predecessor's reforms.
Alaeddin Boroujerdi is a member of Iranian parliament and former Chairman for the Committee for Foreign Policy and National Security of the Islamic Consultative Assembly of Iran.
Presidential elections were held in Iran on 12 June 2009, with incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad running against three challengers. The next morning the Islamic Republic News Agency, Iran's news agency, announced that with two-thirds of the votes counted, Ahmadinejad had won the election with 62% of the votes cast, and that Mir-Hossein Mousavi had received 34% of the votes cast. There were large irregularities in the results and people were surprised by them, which resulted in protests of millions of Iranians, across every Iranian city and around the world and the emergence of the opposition Iranian Green Movement.
Ali Akbar Javanfekr is a senior Iranian politician and the presidential advisor for press affairs and as of 19 December 2010, he is the Managing-Director of IRNA since 1 November 2010 On 20 November 2011, he was sentenced to a year in prison on charges of "publishing materials contrary to Islamic norms"; this was later upheld by the court.
After incumbent president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad declared victory in the 2009 Iranian presidential election, protests broke out in major cities across Iran in support of opposition candidates Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi. The protests continued until 2010, and were titled the Iranian Green Movement by their proponents, reflecting Mousavi's campaign theme, and Persian Awakening, Persian Spring or Green Revolution.
Following the 2009 Iranian presidential election, protests against alleged electoral fraud and in support of opposition candidates Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi occurred in Tehran and other major cities in Iran and around the world starting after the disputed presidential election on 2009 June 12 and continued even after the inauguration of Mahmoud Ahmedinejad as President of Iran on 5 August 2009. This is a timeline of the events which occurred during those protests.
Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei is an Iranian conservative politician and former intelligence officer. As a senior Cabinet member in the administration of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, he served as Chief of Staff from 2009 to 2013, and served as the fourth first vice president of Iran for one week in 2009 until his resignation was ordered by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Heydar Moslehi is an Iranian cleric and politician who served as the minister of intelligence from 2009 to 2013.
Events in the year 2011 in the Islamic Republic of Iran.
The 2011–2012 protests in Iran were a series of demonstrations in Iran which began on 14 February 2011, called "The Day of Rage". The protests followed the 2009–2010 Iranian election protests and were influenced by other concurrent protests in the region.
Mehdi Khazali is an Iranian publisher, physician, blogger and son of a leading right-wing cleric and former Counsel of Guardians member, Ayatollah Abolghasem Khazali. He is also an Islamic scholar and the director of the Hayyan Cultural Institute in Tehran. Contrary to the legacy of his father - who is a strong supporter of Iranian President Ahmedinejad - he opposes the excessive mixing of religion and government and believes it can be harmful in modern society. He is one of the strongest critics of the government in Iran. He was a presidential candidate at the 2017 election, but was disqualified by the Guardian Council.
The "deviant current" or "current of deviation" is a term used by Iranian officials and conservative rivals of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to describe Ahmadinejad's entourage which functions like a faction or party. Ahmadinejad had some tendency toward Iranian nationalism which deviated from the clerics' theocratic rule, hence top clerics labeled the faction associated with him as "deviant current".
