page_title: Iranian Revolution
section_title: Government reaction
hierarchical_section_title: Iranian Revolution / Approaching revolution (1978) / Government reaction
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Manifestation de soutien au Chah et à la famille impériale à Tabriz en mars-avril 1978 فارسی: تجمع طرفداران شاه در تبریز در ۱۹ فروردین ۱۳۵۷ در واکنش به اعتراضات ۲۹ بهمن ۱۳۵۶ تبریز
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: The Shah was taken completely by surprise by the protests and, to make matters worse, he often became indecisive during times of crisis; virtually every major decision he would make backfired on his government and further inflamed the revolutionaries.
  The Shah decided to continue on his plan of liberalization and to negotiate rather than to use force against the still-nascent protest movement: he promised that fully democratic elections for the Majlis would be held in 1979; censorship was relaxed; a resolution was drafted to help reduce corruption within the royal family and the government; and protesters were tried in civilian courts rather than by military court-martials and were quickly released.
  Iran's security forces had not received any riot-control training nor equipment since 1963. As result, police forces were unable to control demonstrations, thus the army was frequently deployed. Soldiers were instructed not to use deadly force, yet there were instances of inexperienced soldiers reacting excessively, inflaming the violence without cowing the opposition, and receiving official condemnation from the Shah. The Carter administration in the US also refused to sell non-lethal tear gas and rubber bullets to Iran.
  As early as the February riots in Tabriz, the Shah fired all SAVAK officials in the city as a concession to the opposition, and soon began to dismiss civil servants and government officials whom he felt the public blamed. In the first national concession, he replaced the hardline SAVAK chief General Nematollah Nassiri with the more moderate General Nasser Moghaddam. The government also negotiated with moderate religious leaders such as Shariatmadari, apologizing to him for the raid on his house.
caption: Pro-Shah demonstration organized by the Resurgence Party in Tabriz, April 1978
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