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| 1978–79 |
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| THE ISLAMIC REVOLUTION eventually overthrew the shah's regime. The opening stage of the revolution was characterized by massive street protests, which involved hundreds of thousands of demonstrators. Marches early in 1978 had primarily drawn agitators from the middle classes, notably students. But during the summer of 1978 the urban poor, goaded by inflation, high unemployment, and spiraling rents, began turning out in large numbers to voice their own grievances. From Sept. 1978 the protests, though confined mainly to the cities, became a true mass phenomenon, aligning the middle and working classes against the shah's government. In the face of such a broad and hostile movement, the shah vacillated. He first declared martial law (Sept. 7), then later passed conciliatory decrees (Nov.), which the opposition ignored. Civil order began to break down as the violence of the demonstrations intensified (Dec.). The shah appointed Shahpur Bakhtiyar, a leader of the National Front, as prime minister, but the move failed to mollify the opposition. Unable to hold out any longer, the shah finally went into exile on Jan. 16, 1979. He died in Cairo on July 27, 1980. His son proclaimed himself Riza II. | 1 |
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| 1979, Feb. 1 |
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| Return from exile of the AYATOLLAH KHOMEINI (See June 3). On Feb. 5, he named Mahdi Bazargan prime minister of a provisional government. The remnants of the shah's government, under Bakhtiyar, resigned (Feb. 11) after the army withdrew its support. | 2 |
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| Feb. 15 |
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| Four generals were shot in the first round of political executions, which, by 1984, had taken the lives of over 5,000 civilian and military officials from the shah's regime. On March 16, Khomeini placed all political trials under the supervision of the Revolutionary Islamic Council, which made the tribunals more regular and systematic. | 3 |
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| March 31 |
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| Voters approved a referendum to establish the Islamic Republic. | 4 |
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| May |
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| Founding of the REVOLUTIONARY GUARDS (PASDARAN). The organization first functioned as a militia serving the radical ulama (men of religion), but later became, in essence, a branch of the national army. By 1987, the force had grown to about 450,000. Besides acting as a mainstay of the Islamic Republic, it remained one of the centers of religious fervor and revolutionary ideology. | 5 |
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| Nov. 4 |
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| Seizure of the U.S. embassy by armed students (See 1979). The U.S. government immediately halted the shipment of spare parts to Iran (Nov. 9) and froze some $11 billion in Iranian assets (Nov. 11). The militants holding the embassy staff released all women, African Americans, and non-U.S. personnel (Dec. 26), leaving 52 diplomats in custody. A secret U.S. mission to rescue the hostages (April 24, 1980) ended in failure and the death of eight U.S. servicemen. The hostages, who were accused of being spies, were finally freed on Jan. 20, 1981, after 444 days in captivity. Iran immediately received one-quarter of its frozen assets abroad; another $3.2 billion of the frozen assets was designated for arbitration. The remaining portion was earmarked to repay outstanding loans. | 6 |
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| Nov. 6 |
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| Resignation of Mehdi Bazargan as prime minister. All power was transferred to the Islamic Revolutionary Council, which had been operating as a parallel government under the direction of the radical ulama since Feb. 1979. | 7 |
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| Nov. 15 |
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| Approval of a constitution for the Islamic Republic. Like all republican governments, the Iranian state would be governed by a president, a cabinet, and a parliament. In addition, there were three “Islamic” institutions: the revolutionary guards, a council of experts to examine legislation and if necessary to veto it, and a vali faqih who nominated candidates for high offices and had the option of taking control of the government. All legislation had to conform to Islamic law. | 8 |
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