"23" Year pictorial History Of
IRAN
1977
Yazdi advises Khomeini to intensify his anti-Shah campaign, claiming that the new U.S. Administration of President Jimmy Carter wants the Shah to go, Khomeini issues an edict "disposing" the Shah. The Shah and Carter exchange state visits.
1978
The daily Ettelaat in Tehran publishes a fake letter insulting Khomeini. There are riots in Qom and, later, in Tabriz and a dozen other cities. Hundreds are killed in clashes with the security forces. Khomeini calls for the overthrow of the Shah and is expelled from Iraq. He goes to France and continues his attacks on the Shah as the tide of revolution sweeps everything in its path.
1979
Khomeini returns from exile two weeks after the Shah leaves Iran and is greeted by millions. Bakhtiar’s Cabinet disintegrates and the revolution is victorious. In a referendum, the people approve the formation of an Islamic Republic. The American Embassy in Tehran is raided and occupied by revolutionary students who seize the diplomats there hostage. Hundreds of former officials are executed.
1980
Executions continue. The coalition formed under Khomeini begins to suffer serious divisions. Iraq invades Iran and scores major early victories. Bani-Sadr is elected President but a general election gives control of Parliament to his rival Beheshti. An abortive attempt by a U.S. task force to free the hostages fails in the Tabas desert making the future of the captives look bleak. But secret talks between Beheshti and Carter, through special emissaries, lead to a final accord on the release of the hostages.
1981
The American hostages are released twenty minutes after Reagan is sworn in as the new President of the United States. The struggle between Bani-Sadr and Beheshti comes to a head. Khomeini backs Beheshti, who emerges victorious. Bani-Sadr concludes an alliance with the Mujahedeen who launch an armed insurrection and, later, murder over two thousand mullahs and top officials, including Beheshti. Bani-Sadr is deposed as President, flees to France and joins the opposition to Khomeini. Iran scores victories in the war with Iraq and Khorramshahr is lliberated.
1982-83
The new wave of repression, begun in the previous year, is intensified and between 5,000 and 10,000 people, mostly supporters of the Mujahedeen, are executed. The number of political prisoners tops 40,000. Grand Ayatollah Shariatmadari is accused of involvement in a plot to kill Khomeini and is "defrocked." Ghotbzadeh is executed on a similar charge.
Iranian forces carry the war into Iraqi territory but soon run out of steam. The mullahs consolidate their hold on power and purge their former allies in the fight against the Shah.
The top leaders of the pro-Soviet Tudeh Party are arrested and charged with high treason. Thousands of militants patrol the streets of major cities to impose "Islamic" rules of dress and behavior.
.............. The situation became even more confused when Americans learned that President Reagan, the very man who had vowed never to make concessions to terrorists, had secretly sold arms to the mullahs in exchange for the release of three hostages in Beirut. More disappointing to many Americans was the fact that Israel, America’s closest and most popular ally in the region, had played a crucial role in persuading President Reagan to seek a long-term association with the hated mullahs in Tehran.
Reagan’s dramatic change of course in the summer of 1987 did not help the task of understanding America’s problems either. The president had justified his secret deals with the mullahs by referring to the Soviet threat to Iran. But in July 1987 he ordered the US Navy to enter the Persian Gulf to bolster the Arab side against Iran while he issued an invitation to the Soviets to help bring peace to the region.
All the pictures used here, are from the issues of the Time , Newsweek , U.S. news and world report and some Iranian Newspapers.
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