Reform hopes and the Green Movement
Iranians elect the reformist Mohammad Khatami by a landslide, but reform stalls, and in 2009 millions protest a disputed presidential election under the slogan "Where is my vote?"
- Revolutionary Iran: A History of the Islamic Republic — Michael Axworthy, Oxford University Press (2013)
- Modern Iran since 1797: Reform and Revolution — Ali M. Ansari, Routledge (2019)
- A History of Modern Iran — Ervand Abrahamian, Cambridge University Press (2008)
In May 1997 a smiling, soft-spoken cleric, Mohammad Khatami, won the presidency with about 70% of the vote, carried by women and the young. He spoke of civil society, the rule of law and a “dialogue of civilisations”. Newspapers bloomed, but the unelected institutions around the Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, closed papers and jailed critics, and a student protest in July 1999 was crushed.
- Revolutionary Iran: A History of the Islamic Republic — Michael Axworthy, Oxford University Press (2013)
- A History of Modern Iran — Ervand Abrahamian, Cambridge University Press (2008)
After the hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won in 2005, the reform camp backed Mir-Hossein Mousavi in June 2009. When Ahmadinejad was declared the winner by a wide margin within hours, millions marched in silence through Tehran wearing Mousavi’s campaign green, asking “Where is my vote?” The crackdown killed dozens; the death of a young woman, Neda Agha-Soltan, filmed on a phone, became the movement’s icon. Mousavi and fellow candidate Mehdi Karroubi were placed under house arrest in 2011.
- Revolutionary Iran: A History of the Islamic Republic — Michael Axworthy, Oxford University Press (2013)
- Modern Iran since 1797: Reform and Revolution — Ali M. Ansari, Routledge (2019)
The 2009 election was stolen from Mir-Hossein Mousavi, and the peaceful protests of millions were met with bullets, show trials and torture.
- Revolutionary Iran: A History of the Islamic Republic — Michael Axworthy, Oxford University Press (2013)
- Modern Iran since 1797: Reform and Revolution — Ali M. Ansari, Routledge (2019)
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won a clear victory, and the unrest was "sedition" (fetneh) stirred up by foreign enemies and their dupes.
- Revolutionary Iran: A History of the Islamic Republic — Michael Axworthy, Oxford University Press (2013)
Why it matters today
The reform era and 2009 shaped a generation's view of whether the Islamic Republic can be changed from within. Many who voted, hoped and marched in green concluded it cannot, which helps explain the falling turnout in later elections and the more radical slogans of later protests.