A Retrospective on the Iranian Revolution

This week marks the 40th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution.

On Jan. 16, 1979, Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi and his family left Iran. Several weeks later, on Feb. 1, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini returned to Tehran from exile in Paris. Within a matter of days the army declared neutrality, the royal regime collapsed, and new regime was established under the principle of velayat-e faqih—governance of the Islamic jurist. Within another year, almost everyone in my family fled the country.

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