Iran Becomes an Islamic Republic
The establishment of the Islamic Republic of Iran in 1979 marked a significant turning point in the country's history. Following the overthrow of the shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, in January 1979, a referendum held on April 1 saw overwhelming public support for an Islamic republic, signaling the end of monarchical rule. Iran, historically known as Persia, has a rich cultural heritage and occupies a strategic location in the Middle East, with a population of approximately 67 million and Tehran as its capital. The country's vast petroleum reserves have historically attracted Western interest, particularly during the 20th century.
The political landscape prior to the revolution was heavily influenced by Western powers, especially the United States, which played a role in the 1953 coup that reinstated the shah after the nationalization efforts of Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddeq. The shah's authoritarian regime, characterized by repression and a lack of democratic reforms, led to growing discontent among various societal groups, including middle-class citizens and conservative clerics. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who opposed the shah's modernization efforts, became a central figure in mobilizing opposition, leading to mass protests and strikes that ultimately culminated in the revolution. The Islamic Republic, under Khomeini's leadership, initiated a new era, the implications of which continue to unfold in Iran and its relations with the world today.
On this Page
Subject Terms
Iran Becomes an Islamic Republic
Iran Becomes an Islamic Republic
In a referendum held on April 1, 1979, the people of Iran overwhelmingly approved the establishment of an Islamic republic. Having recently overthrown their monarch, the shah of Iran, the Iranian people thus embarked on a new and dangerous period in their long history, the success or failure of which has still yet to be determined.
Iran was known in classical times as Persia, an ancient civilization going back thousands of years. It occupies a large portion of the Middle East to the north and east of the Persian Gulf. It has a population of roughly 67 million, and the capital and largest city is Tehran, which has nearly 7 million inhabitants. Iran has vast reserves of petroleum, which made it important to the West in the 20th century. In the early 1950s, however, the premier of Iran, Mohammad Mosaddeq, began taking steps to nationalize the foreign-owned petroleum industry, which monopolized Iran's greatest source of wealth and gave the West extensive influence in Iranian affairs. The United States used the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to stage a coup in August 1953 and ousted Mosaddeq from power. He was replaced by Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, the shah of Iran, who had succeeded to the throne in 1941 but had never before exercised real power.
The shah promptly installed an authoritarian government which harshly repressed dissent. His crackdown on communists in particular pleased the United States, as this was the era of America's Cold War with the Soviet Union, the vast communist superpower directly to Iran's north. The United States came to consider Iran and the shah bulwarks against Soviet expansion in the Middle East, and a close Iranian-American relationship developed.
In the early 1960s, the shah began an ambitious program of modernization and industrialization to turn the primarily rural and agricultural nation into a westernized country with a modern economy. The population benefitted from the steadily rising standard of living, but the economic progress made under the shah failed to secure him a stable base of support. The shah was considered the puppet of American interests. Further, his reforms and development plans had not included any moves toward a Western-style democratic government, which alienated the new middle class created by those reforms. The shah kept a tight reign on power, refusing to permit the establishment of any meaningful representative institutions and using his feared secret police, the SAVAK, to stop any criticism of the monarchy. Further, modernization and westernization also led to discontent among portions of the conservative Muslim clerics who opposed changes in cultural traditions. These clerics and their fundamentalist Islamic supporters were led by the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who was forced to leave the country in 1964 but continued to lead the movement from exile.
The revolution against the shah began in January 1978 with a pro-Khomeini demonstration in the city of Qum. Some 70 people were killed when the authorities acted to break it up, and they became martyrs for further demonstrations. The shah's harsh crackdowns only made things worse, and soon a series of strikes paralyzed the economy. From abroad, Khomeini fueled the dissent with denunciations against the regime and a call to arms. In January 1979, the shah was exiled. The Islamic fundamentalists took power, and Khomeini returned to Iran to lead the new Islamic Republic of Iran, approved by the people on April 1.