Most revolutions eventually moderate as the demands of governing a nation temper ideological zeal—as happened in the Soviet Union and China over time. Nationalism tends to prevail over internationalism, and the pursuit of self-interest takes precedence over export of an ideology. Iran’s revolution, however, has remained unusually committed to its ideological mission abroad even at significant cost to its domestic development. The mass uprising of 1979 that promised justice and freedom has tragically ended up as a revolution that devoured itself. The Islamic Republic is entrenched enough to endure the massive bombardment by the US and Israel, but its legitimacy at home has long worn thin.
Iran’s Islamic Revolution of 1979 began as a genuine mass revolt against monarchical despotism, but ended up trading one form of dictatorship for another. The revolution that overthrew Mohammad Reza Shah was not originally an Islamist project. It was a broad coalition of liberals, nationalists, Marxists, clerics, and merchants united by opposition to the Shah’s autocracy, his brutal secret police, and his close alignment with the United States. What followed, however, was a remarkable exercise in political usurpation. Under the leadership of Ruhollah Khomeini, the Islamists outmanoeuvred, ousted, and executed many of their former revolutionary allies.
The revolution that overthrew Mohammad Reza Shah was not originally an Islamist project. It was a broad coalition of liberals, nationalists, Marxists, clerics, and merchants united by opposition to the Shah’s autocracy
At the heart of the new order was Khomeini’s doctrine of Velayat-e Faqih—the rule of the Islamic jurist. This was a radical political innovation. Traditional Shia theology had held that in the absence of the Hidden Imam, political authority was a necessary but imperfect arrangement. Khomeini overturned this idea and argued that the supreme jurist should exercise full authority over the state in all domains—religious, political, judicial, and military, until the return of the Hidden Imam. One might think of it as a form of “clerical Leninism”—a revolutionary vanguard claiming a monopoly over truth and power in the name of a historical mission.
A formidable repressive apparatus soon emerged to secure the new order. Revolutionary courts dispensed swift and often summary justice. The Basij militia enforced ideological and social conformity. Universities were purged during the cultural revolution of the early 1980s. Women saw many of their legal and social freedoms rolled back. Ethnic minorities, including Kurds, Arabs, and Balochs, faced periodic repression. Over the decades, mass protests have erupted with increasing frequency demanding reform and a reset. But all of them were crushed with the severe use of force. At the same time, the Islamic Republic projected itself abroad as the champion of the oppressed in the Muslim world, positioning itself against American imperialism and Zionism. It built proxy militias across the Middle East that threatened the regional order. This created a striking contradiction: a regime that spoke in the name of liberation abroad remained deeply repressive at home.