Today's date:
 
Spring 1998


The Islamic Revolution: From the Shah to the Spice Girls

Masoumeh Ebtekar, the highest-ranking woman to serve in the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, is vice president for environmental affairs. For years, she has been active in Iran as a leader of women's rights and is an immunologist by medical training. When Iranian militants seized American diplomats as hostages in the US Embassy in 1979, she was the militants' chief spokesperson.

She agreed to talk with NPQ editor Nathan Gardels in Switzerland as part of President Mohamad Khatami's appeal for "cultural dialogue" with the West.

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