page_title: Iranian Revolution
section_title: Conflicts among revolutionaries
hierarchical_section_title: Iranian Revolution / Aftermath: Khomeini's consolidation of power / Conflicts among revolutionaries
caption_attribution_description: فارسی: بنی صدر ، خمینی و اورینا فالاچی خبرنگار ایتالیایی
context_page_description: The Iranian Revolution was a series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynasty under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi—who was supported by the United States—and the replacement of his government with an Islamic republic under the Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, a leader of one of the factions in the revolt. The revolution was supported by various Islamist and leftist organizations and student movements.
  Demonstrations against the Shah commenced in October 1977, developing into a campaign of civil resistance that included both secular and religious elements. The protests rapidly intensified in 1978 as a result of the burning of Rex Cinema which was seen as the main cause of the Revolution, and between August and December that year, strikes and demonstrations paralyzed the country. The Shah left Iran in exile on 16 January 1979, as the last Persian monarch, leaving his duties to a regency council and Shapour Bakhtiar, who was an opposition-based prime minister. Ayatollah Khomeini was invited back to Iran by the government, and returned to Tehran to a greeting by several million Iranians.
context_section_description: Some observers believe "what began as an authentic and anti-dictatorial popular revolution based on a broad coalition of all anti-Shah forces was soon transformed into an Islamic fundamentalist power-grab," that except for his core supporters, the members of the coalition thought Khomeini intended to be more of a spiritual guide than a ruler. Khomeini was in his mid-70s, never held public office, been out of Iran for more than a decade, and told questioners "the religious dignitaries do not want to rule." However, nobody could deny the unanimous central role of the Imam, and the other factions were too small to have any real impact.
  Another view is Khomeini had "overwhelming ideological, political and organizational hegemony," and non-theocratic groups never seriously challenged Khomeini's movement in popular support. Supporters of the new rule themselves have claimed that Iranians who opposed Khomeini were "fifth columnists" led by foreign countries attempting to overthrow the Iranian government.
  Khomeini and his loyalists in the revolutionary organizations implemented Khomeini's velayat-e faqih design for an Islamic republic led by himself as Supreme Leader by exploiting temporary allies such as Mehdi Bazargan's Provisional Government of Iran, whom they later eliminated from Iran's political stage one by one.
caption: Khomeini told questioners that "the religious dignitaries do not want to rule."[179]
exif: {"Image XResolution": "100", "Image YResolution": "100", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "GIMP 2.10.14", "Image DateTime": "2020:02:01 14:03:02", "Image ExifOffset": "136", "Thumbnail ImageWidth": "256", "Thumbnail ImageLength": "199", "Thumbnail BitsPerSample": "[8, 8, 8]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail PhotometricInterpretation": "6", "Thumbnail SamplesPerPixel": "3", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "262", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "10267", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB"}