Second Russo-Iranian War begins

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth described the blockade as “going global” as officials said talks might resume in Pakistan. The strategy shifted coercion from direct strikes toward maritime and...

An AP report said US and Iranian negotiators had reached a tentative understanding to extend the ceasefire by 60 days and begin new nuclear talks. The reported framework also contemplated easing the...

Russia’s push to secure control over eastern Caucasian khanates brought Qajar Iran into war. Iranica dates the war’s opening to June 1804, when Russian commander Pavel Tsitsianov appeared before...

Napoleonic France and Qajar Iran signed the Treaty of Finkenstein. France recognized Persian claims to Georgia and promised military assistance against Russia. The agreement shows how Qajar...

The treaty, reached with British mediation, ended the war and recognized Russian possession of territories it had occupied in the Caucasus. Its border settlement displaced Qajar authority across...

The treaty ending the second Russo-Iranian war transferred the khanates of Erevan and Nakhchivan to Russia, imposed an indemnity, and expanded Russian commercial privileges. It formalized a sharp...

Following Muhammad Shah’s death, Nasir al-Din Shah became ruler. His long reign intensified state centralization and foreign borrowing and concessions, while court officials, provincial communities,...

The Báb, founder of the Bábí movement, was executed by firing squad in Tabriz on the order of Qajar authorities. Encyclopaedia Iranica notes disagreement between 8 and 9 July in contemporary accounts....

A group of Bábís attempted to assassinate the Shah near Niyavaran. The attempt failed; state reprisals followed against Bábís and others, including the killing of Táhirih and the torture and execution...

After Qajar forces took Herat, Britain declared war and framed its intervention through the defense of Afghanistan and British India. The episode reflects the imperial strategic logic of the “Great...