Iran Capital - Tehran
Chief of State - Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Ali
Hoseini-Khamenei (since 6/4/89)
Head of Government - President Hojjatoleslam Seyed Mohammad Khatami (since 8/3/97)
Local time when the first plane, Flt 11, crashed into New
York's WTC on 9/11/01 - 4:15PM.
Click note for Iran's National Anthem
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, presently living in Tehran and once head of
Hezb-e-Islami group (powerful until most left to join Taliban) requested
that the Taliban form an alliance. 11/7/01
Will not support US military action; will not let US use its
airspace
Relations severed with US after Iran's 1979
Islamic revolution, removing from power US-backed Shah Mohammed Reza
Pahlavi. Militants supported by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini
seized the US Embassy in Tehran in November and held 50 Americans
hostage. The hostages were held 444 days. Have remained hostile.
The "Pasdaran" or Iranian Revolutionary Guard
Corps (IRGC) is responsible for protecting the Islamic revolution.
The IRGC's domestic intelligence service is called
VEVAK, led by the Minister of Intelligence and Security, Ali
Fallahian.
"Qods Force" functions as a foreign special operations and intelligence unit
charged with training Islamic fundamentalists and terror groups in facilities in Iran and the Sudan. Qods is led by Ahmad
Vahidi.
US Intelligence believes there are 10,000 Pasdaran and Qods operatives
worldwide. (1/02)