The Minor Tyranny (Persian: استبداد صغیر) was a roughly one year long period in Iranian history lasting from the bombardment of the Iranian parliament by the forces of Mohammad Ali Shah on 23 June 1908 to the capture of Tehran by the revolutionary forces on 13 July 1909. This period was marked by the executions and expulsion of many journalists and constitutionalists as an era of absolutism returned to the country.

Iran has a long history of absolute monarchy. In the late 19th century, the pressure to bring in a constitution and limit the powers of the Shah and the royalty grew, as the administration of the Shah proved weak and inefficient, and in several instances he had granted concessions that the population deemed outrageous. Examples of such concessions were the tobacco concession given to Gerald Talbot which led to the tobacco protest, and the Reuter concession, both of which were received with massive backlash from the people. The Shah lived extravagantly and often pushed the country to the brink of bankruptcy, this resulted in an increase of loans from western powers to cover his expenses, which consequently increased western influence in the country's politics gradually.

After a series of protests and strikes, Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar agreed with the formation of a parliament on 5 August 1906, and the first constitution was signed by the Shah on 30 December 1906, officially restricting his own powers and making the government a constitutional monarchy.

The shah died 5 days after signing the constitution, and his son Mohammad Ali Mirza, an avid opponent of the constitutional movement, was crowned Shah of Iran.

As a way to show his opposition to the constitutional movement, Mohammad Ali Shah did not invite the members of the parliament to his coronation ceremony and encouraged the cabinet ministers to ignore the parliament and its members. After his coronation, he tried to get a note from Mozaffar ad-Din Shah's physician stating the late shah had been too unwell to comprehend what he was signing, but his attempt at this failed. He also ignited several conflicts between the country's ethnic and religious minorities to weaken his opponents and prevent them from allying against him.

From the beginning the parliament had issues with the prime minister and the rest of the government. For example, Mirza Nasrullah Khan Moshir ad-Dowleh who was at the time the prime minister of Iran refused to be present in the parliament and nominating ministers for vote of confidence. At the other hand, the government's proposal to get loans from western countries was rejected by the parliament, which proposed the foundation of a national bank. In early 1907 the Shah reportedly told the British ambassador that the current constitution is not favoured by him, and that the parliament is filled with undisciplined and ignorant people who only think about their personal gain. At the time however, he did not have the financial or the military power to enforce his ideals and remove the parliament.

The Shah later refused to sign the constitutional amendment, which covered parts and issues that were not discussed in the original constitution due to the hastiness of the process of its writing and presenting it to the ill Shah before he died. Some of his major disagreements with the article 8 of the amendment which equaled him with the rest of the people of Iran in front of law, and other parts of the amendment which were inspired by the Belgian constitution and heavily restricted his powers and gave massive powers to the parliament, such as dismissing ministers and controlling the military budget. After protests from people, parliament members and constitutionalists, he was forced to sign the amendment, and even joined Society of Humanity to prove his support for the constitution.

Other than the Shah, many courtiers and princes also felt that the constitutional movement was threatening their power and income, and thus actively opposed it and encouraged the Shah to act against the parliament. Kamran Mirza, the Shah's uncle and father in law, led the politicians left from the Naseri era. Ein ad-Dowleh, Mozaffar ad-Din Shah's grand vizier before the constitutional revolution, was also among the main opponents of the movement. Javad Sa'd al-Dowleh, a member of the parliament who was the minister of trade and an opponent of Joseph Naus before the revolution, also started slowly leaning towards the Shah and the court. Seraya Shapshal, the Shah's Russian language teacher and Vladimir Liakhov, the leader of the Cossack Brigade were also opposed to the revolution.