Twelver Shiites believe in a continuous line of 12 imams, all regarded as descendants of the Prophet Muhammad.

The Islamic Republic has stepped up its systematic persecution of Iran’s Baha’i religious minority. Authorities of the ...

Iran restored Shiite political power. In 1979, the religious cleric Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini became the central figure of an Iranian revolt against the secular and Western-leaning shah.

Iranian law is heavily based in Islamic jurisprudence and frequently distinguishes between Muslims, the recognized religious majority in the country, and unrecognized minorities such as the Baha’i.

Contents Introduction : conceptualizing Iran and building Iranian empires -- Building the First Persian Empire -- The destruction of Achaemenid Persia and the creation of Seleucid Iran -- The rise of ...

Their belief system is thought to be a mix of different religions, including Christianity, Islam and Zoroastrianism, a Persian religion that was once the state religion in parts of ancient empires ...

The Persian Gulf has long been a crossroads of trade, culture, and conflict, shaping the history of nations like Bahrain, ...

Christians in Iran are vilified as members of a ‘sect’ and considered a national security threat.

But the recent war between Israel and Iran — a bloody, 12-day conflict paused by a fragile ceasefire — has brought up religious tensions and political debates that rarely surface in this ...