Word: tehran
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...stronghold of Afghanistan's Shi'ite community. Only last week did Taliban leaders admit that eight diplomats and a journalist holed up in the Iranian consulate were massacred by the invaders. Iranian officials were equally upset by the defeat and reported slaughter of the city's Shi'ites. Tehran vowed revenge and announced last week that it was dispatching 200,000 troops for "maneuvers" on the Afghan border...
...Tehran is taking its political jeopardy seriously. Most Iranians are Shi'ite, and they watched with growing disquiet as the puritanical Sunnis of the Taliban swept across Afghanistan like a fierce windstorm. The Taliban's faithful regard all Shi'ites as heretics who face possible persecution for their minority beliefs. Tehran officials charge that the Taliban gives Islam a bad name, but they mainly resent its challenge to Iran's claim to Muslim supremacy. "Iran is looked on as the godfather of Shi'ites everywhere," says Olivier Roy, a French expert on the region. "If the Iranians do nothing, they...
Iran's announcement that it is no longer trying to kill author Salman Rushdie has already paid off; London and Tehran officially restored diplomatic relations Thursday. But the U.S. remains unmoved, and it's not clear what it will take to achieve a similar thaw in Washington...
...status and restore normal relations with the world," says MacLeod. Will the U.S. be impressed? "The most important factor in the British decision was the political will on both sides to find a way to restore relations," says MacLeod. "Right now, that's still lacking in both Washington and Tehran...
Iran's Islamic fundamentalist rulers have a beef with their Afghani counterparts -- so much so that Tehran on Tuesday sent 70,000 troops to play war games on the border between the two countries. Tensions are running high since 11 Iranian diplomats disappeared after the ruling Taliban seized an opposition stronghold. Tehran also has a longstanding loyalty to the beleaguered anti-Taliban opposition. "Iran and the Taliban are deeply suspicious of each other," says TIME Middle East bureau chief Scott MacLeod. Iran's Shiite Muslim tradition is at odds with the Taliban's extreme Sunni interpretation. "The Iranians view...