Iranian Revolution
Ayatollah Khomeini returned to Iran and established an Islamic Republic
February 01, 1979
The Shah Falls
In January 1979, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi of Iran fled the country as mass protests overwhelmed his government. The Shah had ruled Iran for nearly four decades, supported by the United States and the United Kingdom. His modernization programs, known as the White Revolution, had transformed parts of Iranian society, but his secret police — SAVAK — had brutally suppressed opposition. By late 1978, millions of Iranians from across the political and social spectrum were in the streets demanding his removal. On January 16, 1979, he left Iran, never to return.
Khomeini Takes Power
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, a Shia Muslim cleric who had been living in exile in France, returned to Iran on February 1, 1979, to a rapturous welcome. Within days, the existing government collapsed and Khomeini's supporters took control. Iran was declared an Islamic Republic in April 1979, following a referendum in which the vast majority voted for the new system. A new constitution established Khomeini as Supreme Leader, giving religious authorities ultimate power over the elected government. Women were required to wear the hijab, and many of the Shah's secular reforms were reversed.
Reshaping the Middle East
The Iranian Revolution had profound consequences for the entire region. It inspired Islamist movements across the Muslim world. It alarmed Saudi Arabia and other Sunni-led Gulf states, who feared Iranian-backed Shia uprisings in their own countries. The United States, humiliated by the subsequent hostage crisis, imposed sanctions that remain in place in various forms today. Iran's support for groups like Hezbollah in Lebanon reshaped regional politics. The revolution's effects continue to define Middle Eastern geopolitics four decades later. See the Iran hostage crisis for what came immediately after.