On February 6, 2009, the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences hosted the international scientific conference "Thirty Years of Iran", dedicated to an epochal event in the socio-political life of modern Iran. The conference was organized by the Iran Branch of the Institute of History of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Embassy of Iran in the Russian Federation and the Cultural Representation at the Embassy of Iran. It was attended by Iranian and Russian scientists, teachers and students of Moscow universities, as well as representatives of Iranian radio and television and print media.

The conference participants were welcomed by Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors.I. V. Zaitsev, Director of the Institute of Information Technology of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Having passed a difficult path since 1979, he said, Iran has achieved a lot in such areas as social policy and education, medicine, social sciences and high technologies. Iran's recent launch of an artificial Earth satellite is the best proof of these successes. The country rightfully claims the role of a regional leader and supports this aspiration with deeds. The speaker quoted the last Shah's Prime Minister, Shapur Bakhtiar, as saying: "The Islamic Republic is an unknown concept for me in all respects. I still haven't read any books about it or seen anything like it." And time has proved the vitality and rightness of the principles of the Islamic revolution, which became its ideological basis.

Welcoming the audience, Iranian Ambassador to Russia Mahmoud Reza Sajjadi analyzed the achievements of Iran over the past thirty years in all areas of modern Iran's life. He further noted the main reasons that contributed to the Islamic revolution in the country: the love of freedom of the Iranian people, who do not tolerate foreign domination, their tendency to independence, and the desire for justice. He paid considerable attention to the future of Iran, in particular Iran's relations with the West, the United States and Israel, which are one of the problematic areas of Iran's foreign policy. Speaking about the Islamic revolution as an important political event in the country's history, Sajjadi also noted that not everyone supports it, but those who disagree make up no more than 10% of the population, which confirms the correctness of the chosen path.

Ebrahimi Torkaman (Head of the Cultural Representation of Iran in Moscow) highlighted the role of the Islamic Revolution in the development of Iranian culture. He noted that the culture of modern Iran is inseparable from the history and culture of Persia. The uniqueness of the Iranian civilization lies in maintaining its connection with the heritage of its ancestors. The Iranian culture is in constant, dynamic development, characterized by originality and integrity. These parameters also characterize the culture of modern Iran, which received a new impetus for its development after the Islamic Revolution.

The conference participants ' reports were devoted to general problems related to the Islamic Revolution, as well as to the analysis of its specific aspects, as well as to the current development of the country. Thus, I. V. Zaitsev considered an unknown source on the history of the Islamic Revolution-the diary of Evgeny Leonidovich Kalinin, which he kept while in Iran since August 27, 1978. Until February 23, 1979, the diary is titled " Victory of the February 1979 Revolution in Iran. Notes of an eyewitness". The author of the notes is a senior translator of the Georgian design institute Kavgiprotrans, which in the late 70s of the last century designed the Mashhad-Serakhs railway and the railway line from Astara to the cargo station on the Caspian coast. The value of E. L. Kalinin's notes lies in the fact that it is an unbiased view of the events that took place in Iran in 1978-1979. The author's field of view includes not only official reports of events from radio and television programs, about the content of which he gives a detailed report, but-most importantly-leaflets of revolutionaries, appeals to the Iranian people by Ayatollah Khomeini and other leaders of the revolution, conversations in the streets, slogans of the participants of the revolutionary movement, the reaction of the people to the events that took place.

G. P. Yezhov (ISAA of Moscow State University), who also witnessed the revolutionary events from the first mass demonstrations of the residents of Tabriz, Isfahan, Mashhad to the shootings of students of the Qom madrasah and students of the University of Tehran, told about how everything happened. The protest and strike movement gradually spread to new cities and districts of the country, individual enterprises and vital sectors of the economy, such as the oil and gas industry; in Tehran, demonstrations were held for hours, in which representatives of various political parties and movements took part. The speaker's most vivid impressions were left from the last days of the Shah's regime-the fall of not only the Pahlavi dynasty that ruled Iran for the last half century, but also the monarchy that lasted for two and a half thousand years, and its last representative, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.

According to V. I. Sazhin (IB RAS), the Islamic revolution in Iran continues. The current Iranian regime, born of the Islamic Revolution, is constantly evolving. According to the speaker, evolution consists only in expanding or narrowing the limits of what is permissible in the vast space of Islamic restrictions (political, economic, social). But this revolution is spiraling. Thus, during the four years of Ahmadinejad's presidency, the revolution returned to its roots, but at a higher level. Such a movement of the Islamic revolution is explained by the desire of the elite to preserve the viability of the regime and prevent a straightforward, progressive and increasing vector of its evolution, which would be fraught with moving away from its origins, weakening the revolutionary principles and, as a result, transforming the regime with the inevitable end of the Islamic revolution in Iran. Speaking about the higher spiral of the current Iranian revolution, the author refers primarily to the level of technological development. The launch of the first Iranian satellite can be considered evidence of this. In conclusion of the report, V. I. Sazhin quotes Ahmadinejad's statement, which predicts the future of the Islamic revolution in Iran: "This revolution is alive, it is still alive 30 years later. We are still at the beginning of the road, and big changes are waiting for us in the future. The thunderous revolution will continue."

V. I. Yurtaev (RUDN University) noted in his report that today, in the context of the global economic crisis, there may be a surge of interest in the Islamic revolution, due to the fact that Imam Khomeini opened a new way of making a permanent revolution in the name of social justice, showing the universalism of Islam and passing on the Messianic covenant of unity to the Iranian people. Imam Khomeini outlined a path for the Muslims of Iran to return to their true state and salvation and consistently implemented a plan to overthrow the regime of the "servants of the devil", i.e., by his definition, the Shah and his court. But the victory over the Shah was supposed to be a triumph of the will of the unarmed over the bayonets of the despot, so "the imam did not declare jihad." The initial goal was to take power peacefully in the country. And the actions of the Mujahideen and Fedai militant groups brought to life a different scenario - "revolutionary violence", which thwarted the plan for a peaceful transfer of power to the Interim Government of Bazargan formed by Khomeini on February 6, 1979.

In the report of S. B. Druzhilovsky (MGIMO(U) Russian Foreign Ministry) noted that despite the accelerating globalization processes in the last decade, anti-globalist protests around the world not only do not subside, but, on the contrary, cover all new countries. In the Muslim world, Iran is at the forefront of the struggle against global globalization, which in principle denies the usurpation of its national priorities by any external value system. However, both in theory and in practice, the Iranian leadership seeks to modernize the economy and integrate it into the global economic system, and also does not abandon "pro-Western" borrowings in the political sphere - the election of governing bodies, holding referendums, parliamentarism, the presence of political parties, etc. The structure of Iran has mechanisms that seriously limit the possibilities of Western expansion in this country. In the economy , this means planning and state regulation in the main sectors, social orientation of economic development, interest-free banks, Islamic funds, etc. The political structure includes the existence of the supreme leader of the state (Rahbar), elected from among the highest Shiite clergy, the Supervisory Board of the Majlis (Iranian Parliament), the Council of Experts, the Council for the Expediency of Decisions, the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution, which mainly consists of representatives of the Iranian clergy and is completely controlled by them. S. Druzhilovsky believes that Iran is least susceptible to the social and cultural aspects of globalization, contrasting them with its national culture and ethics. Iran's experience shows that globalization is an objective process that affects all spheres to one degree or another, but it has limits determined by the specifics of the national identity of individual peoples, which, if desired, can limit or block the impact of destructive aspects of globalization.

Reports on economic issues were read out at the conference.

N. M. Mammadova (IB RAS) presented an analysis of the economic development of Iran over the 30-year period of its existence. The undoubted merit of the Islamic leadership of Iran, she noted, is that it was able to catch up with global economic trends in a timely manner and began to systematically pursue a policy of economic liberalization. And this course did not depend on the political forces that came to power-pragmatists, conservatives, reformers. The average annual GDP growth rate in 2000 - 2007 was 5.9%, while the global average was 3%.2%. They were almost in line with the 6.2% growth rate of middle-income countries. At the same time, a huge step forward has been made in the field of infrastructure development in comparison with the pre - revolutionary period-main gas coverage of 75% of the country's population, active development of the electric power industry. However, according to the speaker, the created Islamic economic model, which includes such elements as banking, Islamic funds for regulating prices for essential goods, and maintaining high purchase prices, has certain flaws. A radical restructuring of the economic structure did not take place. To a large extent, this was hindered by the US and UN Security Council economic sanctions against Iran and the global crisis, which worsened the negative consequences of these sanctions (in the fall of 2008, the indices of the Tehran Stock Exchange began to decline). Although, in general, the Iranian economy was less affected by the global crisis than other world economies. Nevertheless, the experience of Iran's economic development has shown that Islamic norms can be used for different economic models. Now Iran is certainly a profitable object for economic cooperation. Although there is more interest in Iran's political potential and its growing influence on many processes in the region, there is no doubt that Iran's political ambitions are based on its economic component.

The report of G. I. Starchenkov (IB RAS) considered the problems related to Iran's interests in the Caspian Sea region. The author noted that after the collapse of the USSR, the new sovereign states-

Turkey and Iran have started dividing the Caspian Sea, and long disputes have not brought a positive result. If the post-Soviet republics have found a common language, then Iran insists on an equal division of the Caspian Sea, i.e. 20% of its water area. Due to the lack of clear borders between Iran and some neighboring states, it has repeatedly had border disputes, including with Azerbaijan. It should be noted that Iran has not yet really explored its part of the Caspian Sea, and therefore has minimal reserves of hydrocarbons at sea. Iran's high hopes for the region due to its geographical position were met with a serious obstacle - the United States did not allow it to use its territory to transport oil and gas from the Caspian Sea to the Persian Gulf or to revive the "Great Silk Road" through Iran to Turkey and further to Europe. According to the speaker, Iran's current modest position in the Caspian Sea has good prospects.

A number of reports were devoted to the foreign policy course of the Islamic Republic of Iran during its thirty-year existence. Thus, according to L. M. Kulagina (IB RAS), the external factor has always played a significant and sometimes decisive role in the policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The basic principles of foreign policy proclaimed at the beginning of the Islamic revolution - "neither the West, nor the East, but Islam", the export of the Islamic revolution, priority relations with the countries of the Muslim world-have undergone some modifications. The constructive approach of the Iranian Government to the country's foreign policy has yielded positive results. Iran has emerged from the international political isolation in which it was in the first years after the Islamic Revolution. Contacts with the countries of the European Union began to be established. Iran has made some progress in its relations with Arab countries, as well as with Russia. According to the speaker, the Iranian leaders are particularly concerned about the Middle East settlement, the destabilization of the situation in the region, as well as in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Persian Gulf, where American military forces are located. The coming to power of a new US administration may change the political situation in the Middle East, but it is unlikely to be able to withdraw its troops from Iraq and Afghanistan without some support from Iran. Therefore, in the near future, it is quite possible to establish Iranian-American relations.

I. E. Fedorova (Institute of History of the Russian Academy of Sciences) devoted her report to the problem of the influence of the Islamic Revolution on Iran's relations with the United States. She noted that the Iranian revolution of 1978-1979, which took place not only under anti-monarchist, but also under anti-imperialist slogans, radically changed the system of relations between Iran and the United States that developed after World War II. The partnership formed in the 1970s to secure mutual interests in the Persian Gulf region has collapsed. Iran, which was the mainstay of US influence in the Middle East, became its antagonist. After the revolution, Iran's foreign policy was determined primarily by the will of Ayatollah Khomeini and religious and political figures from his entourage, the main principle of which was the liberation of the country from the influence of superpowers. For 30 years, relations between the United States and Iran have practically remained at the same level. The main issues that caused a negative US reaction - Iran's support for the radical Islamic groups Hamas and Hezbollah, opposition to the US plan to resolve the conflict in the Middle East, and the development of the Iranian nuclear program-led the United States to take a set of political, economic and military measures aimed at achieving Iran's economic and diplomatic isolation in the international arena. According to the author of the report, such factors as the global financial crisis, the US interest in cooperation with Iran in solving the problems of Iraq and Afghanistan, and, finally, the Middle East settlement will have an impact on US-Iranian relations.

The report of A. K. Lukoyanov (IB RAS) made an attempt to analyze the connection between such problems as the Islamic revolution and military threats against Iran. He noted that for the first time in the Middle East, such a revolution as the Islamic one made it possible to create a state capable of reaching the level of a global power. The political course of Iran and its independent policy in the region, in particular, the most active support of the Arab people of Palestine, have caused discontent on the part of Israel and the United States as a defender of the Jewish state. For the successful development of the gains of the Islamic revolution and in order to follow the planned path of state-building in the future, Iran needs peace. In this regard, forecasts about a possible Iranian attack on the United States and Israel, especially with the use of atomic weapons, cannot be considered otherwise than devoid of common sense.

The conference also covered some problems of the country's social development during the analyzed period. E. V. Dunaeva's report (IB RAS) was devoted to the women's issue

in Iran. Speaking about the profound socio-economic and political transformations that have taken place in Iran in the 30 years since the establishment of the republican system, it is impossible to ignore the significant changes in the status of women in the country. According to the Constitution of the country, women were granted equal rights with men, taking into account the observance of Islamic norms and the guarantee of favorable conditions for personal development. In 2008, the Mejlis adopted the document "Charter of Women's Rights and Responsibilities under the Islamic Regime", which regulates in detail issues related to women's rights in the family and socio-economic spheres. Positive changes in the social status of women can be attributed to the rapid growth of their social activity, participation in cultural and economic life, and ensuring their representation in political institutions. The influence of women in intra-family relationships has also increased. At the same time, a significant part of Iranian women assess their domestic potential much higher and express their readiness to participate more actively in the country's political structures and economic development. However, in terms of employment, compliance with working conditions, career development, and salary levels, there is discrimination against women compared to men. In recent years, there has also been a tendency to limit women's opportunities to obtain higher education, which is consistent with the traditional approach to the role of women in society - to be a worthy wife and caring mother.

A.V. Fedoseenkova (Institute of History of the Russian Academy of Sciences) devoted her speech to the development of public thought in post-revolutionary Iran. Analyzing the works of the contemporary Iranian thinker Abdulkarim Soroush and prominent Turkish public figure Fethullah Gulen, she noted that in the context of the development of Muslim countries, any project of modernization and democratization can be real only if it is implemented within the framework of the Islamic political and legal tradition. Religious practice, as well as socio-political practice, should be based on a synthesis of Islamic values and scientific achievements. The future of Muslim society depends on whether it can meet the challenges of our time by preserving its identity.

M. S. Kameneva (Institute of History of the Russian Academy of Sciences) stressed that over the 30 years of the IRI's existence, it has achieved great success in the development of national culture: fine arts and architecture, music and performing arts, the film industry, literature, science, education, printing and some other areas. The successful participation of Iranian films in international film festivals, concerts of Iranian musical groups abroad that always attract public attention, a worthy representation at international book exhibitions and fairs, including their own, demonstration of national fine arts outside the country and active restoration of architectural monuments in Iran itself, wide participation of Iranian scientists can serve as evidence of these achievements. in scientific research in various fields, including in the field of nuclear energy, etc. As for the cultural and linguistic aspect, the Persian language in today's Iran is one of the main components of preserving the national unity and integrity of the country. The Iranian leadership, in the context of its cultural and linguistic policy, assesses it as an important factor of national, cultural and, to a certain extent, ideological integration. This is certainly due to the fact that in Iran, the Persian language is increasingly associated with Islam and Islamic ideology and is considered as a means of spreading them to other regions, as the second most important language after Arabic in the Muslim world.

A number of reports were devoted to bilateral Russian-Iranian cooperation. A. M. Polishchuk (IB RAS) focused on trade and economic relations between Russia and Iran. He noted that after the end of the war with Iraq in 1988, Iran began to restore its economy and strengthen its military potential. In 1991, Iran and the USSR signed agreements on the supply of Soviet-made weapons, and in the last year of the USSR's existence, the trade turnover between the two countries exceeded $ 1.3 billion. The abolition of the monopoly of foreign trade in the Russian Federation and the transition from clearing to SLE trading, as well as the decline in production in the Russian Federation, led to a sharp decrease in mutual trade to $ 401 million in 1992. In the following years, there was a gradual increase in mutual trade. Thus, in 2006, the trade turnover between the two countries amounted to $ 2.144 billion, and in 2007 - $ 3.3 billion. In recent years, the structure of Russian exports to Iran has been dominated by ferrous metals - 73.5% (2007), supplies of machinery and equipment account for 7%, wood-4.3%, paper-2.1%. The main factors affecting the current level of trade and economic cooperation between the two countries include: 1) inconsistency in the implementation of the foreign trade policy, 2) lack of proper financing of joint economic projects and guarantees of foreign trade operations, 3) lack of mutual cooperation between the two countries.-

lack of awareness of the business community about the potential of trade and economic cooperation and 4) insufficient quality of goods for export.

The topic of M. R. Arunova's speech (IB RAS) is cooperation between the Russian Federation and Iran in the field of culture, science, and education. She gave information about the joint activities of the two countries in the film and theater arts, sports and interreligious sphere. Iranian films are successfully shown at international forums in Moscow, and Russian film and theater directors receive prizes at festivals in Iran. Addressing the problem of interreligious relations, M. R. Arunova spoke about the work of the Iranian-Russian commission "Orthodoxy and Islam". In recent years, she stressed, the interest of Iranians in the Russian language and Russia has been growing, as evidenced by the holding of an international symposium in Tehran on the study of the Russian language and Russia as a whole, and the increase in the number of educational institutions and courses teaching Russian. Agreements on the mutual exchange of students and postgraduates are being signed between Iranian higher education institutions and Russian universities. In Iran, the number of people who want to get an education in Russia is growing, both in the field of Russian philology, as well as high technologies, natural sciences and medicine. The Russian side provides Iranian citizens with state scholarships for various forms of education.

At the end of the conference, a discussion was held on the reports listened to, in which Masoud Sheikh Zeyneddin, Deputy Head of the Cultural Representation of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Moscow, and Mojtaba Karami, Adviser on Science and Culture at the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran in the Russian Federation, also actively participated.

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