Iranian Revolution Essay

Similarly in Iran, Western involvement in Iranian politics led to the rise of Islamist groups and eventually the Iranian Revolution in 1979, later known as the Islamic Revolution. The revolution was in response to Western influence and involvement in Iran during the Pahlavi dynasty. Both Great Britain and Soviet Russia invaded and occupied Iran in August 1941, forcing the abdication of Mohammad Reza Shah in favour of his son, in retaliation to his declaration of neutrality in the Second World War and his refusal to allow Iranian territory to be used to supply and transport arms to Russia. Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Reza Shah’s son then became the Shah of Iran until he was overthrown by the Islamic Revolution in February 1979 led by Ruhollah Khomeini, who was supported by various Islamist and leftist organisations.
The most significant factor that led to the Islamic Revolution of 1979, was the British and American involvement in Iranian politics and their support of Mohammad Reza’s reign. America and Britain backed the coup that deposed Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh, whom through nationalising the Iranian petroleum industry, limited their power and influence. As the industry that was previously
Khomeini was an orthodox Islamist who originally accepted traditional Shia political theory that the government must be run in accordance to religious law, suggesting that a parliament of Shi’a jurists could choose a king. Khomeini later declared that Islamic jurists were the true holders of not only religious authority but political authority in Iran as well, and that only the rule by a leading Islamic jurist would prevent innovation in Islamic law and insure that Sharia law was properly followed in the