Causes Of The Iranian Revolution

The Iranian Revolution of 1979 was a movement in which the people of Iran, under the leadership of Ruhollah Khomeini, overthrew the current shah. After economic downfall in Iran, Mohammad Reza Shah started to become extremely unpopular, and bitter feelings were growing towards him. These feelings of hatred were led by a man named Ruhollah Khomeini. Khomeini abhorred the way the shah was controlling things in Iran, so he decided to publicize his thoughts and complaints. He denounced and criticized the shah’s ability to rule Iran, acknowledging economic issues, foreign relations, and westernization. Iranians, realizing that the current legislature was ineffective, supported Khomeini and protests filled the streets. Ultimately, the shah’s close

One specific event that caused a lot of paranoia was when the shah passed a law benefiting Americans living in Iran. Iranians were outraged by how Americans were being treated in Iran, but they also started to worry that Iran would soon become an American colony (Iran through the Looking Glass 23). The Iranian population was strongly against the shah’s dependence on the US, and they opposed all this western influence. Following, the shah spent millions of dollars on US weapons, and he also had many US soldiers living in Iran (Iran through the Looking Glass 23, Cleveland 399). This illustrated the shah’s desperation to westernize Iran and his growing relationship with the US. America was already starting to settle in Iran, but the shah was only welcoming the foreigners. The people of Iran disapproved of the US making Iran their second home, for they wanted America to depart from

For instance, the shah’s family took millions of dollars from Iran to use for their own luxurious style of living. However, for Iran’s population, the prices to own land and property skyrocketed (Iran through the Looking Glass 23, Cleveland 399). Evidently, this use of Iran’s revenue was wasteful and self-centered, for it showed how corrupt the Iranian leader was and why he was exceptionally unpopular. Next, Thinking that Iran could become a world power, the Shah started focusing solely on oil production, and he spent billions of Iranian dollars on US and British weapons. Iran had been making a great deal of money through oil production, but the money was spent on wasteful causes, such as the military (Iran through the Looking Glass 25, Cleveland 399). The living conditions of Iranians was slowly deteriorating, yet the shah’s desire to westernize Iran were his main priority. Iranians were infuriated by the shah’s economic decisions, and the usage of Iranian money was not benefiting