One of the most dramatic changes in government in Iran's history was seen with the 1979 Iranian Revolution where Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was overthrown and replaced by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. The authoritarian monarchy was replaced by a long-lasting Shiite Islamic republic based on the principle of guardianship of Islamic jurists, (or "Velayat-e faqih"), where Shiite jurists serve as head of state and in many powerful governmental roles. A pro-Western, pro-American foreign policy was exchanged for one of "neither east nor west", said to rest on the three "pillars" of mandatory veil (hijab) for women, and opposition to the United States and Israel. A rapidly modernizing capitalist economy was replaced by a populist and Islamic economy and culture.
The leader of the revolution and founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, was the Supreme Leader of Iran until his death in 1989. He was followed by Ali Khamenei.
From 1999 to present, there have been a series of political/social/economic protest movements in Iran, the July 1999 student protests, 2009 presidential election protests, protests in 2011–2012, 2019–2020 and the 2022-2023 Mahsa Amini protests. All have been violently suppressed by the government and several hundred people have been killed.
General trends
During the era of the Islamic Republic, Iran has grown from 39 million (1980) to 81.16 million (2017) people.
Some things remain much as they were under the monarchy. Iran has retained its status as a major regional power—it is far larger than any of its Persian Gulf neighbors, and possesses large reserves of gas and oil than all except Saudi Arabia. Its national cohesion brought by a long history as a nation, strong central state government and its oil export revenues have brought it "respectable" levels of income, literacy, college enrollment, infant mortality, and infrastructure. Modern trends found under the monarchy, such as urbanization, growing enrollment in higher education and literacy, continued.
Politics and government
The Islamic Republic of Iran is an Islamic theocracy headed by a Supreme Leader. Its constitution was approved in 1979 and amended in 1989. Jaafari (Usuli) school of thought is the official religion. Theocratic bodies supervise the government which has an elected president and elected governmental bodies at the national, provincial and local levels. All male and female citizens from the age of 18 on up may vote for candidates approved by the Council of Guardians which had veto power over who can run for parliament (the Islamic Consultative Assembly) and whether its bills can become law.
Foreign affairs
Following the 1979 revolution in Iran, the Islamic revolutionary regime of Ayatollah Khomeini dramatically reversed the pro-Western foreign policy of the regime it overthrew. Since then, Iran has oscillated between the two opposing tendencies of revolutionary ardour (promoting the Islamic revolution and struggling against non-Muslim tendencies abroad) and moves towards pragmatism (economic development and normalization of foreign relations). Khomeini's 1989 fatwa calling for the killing of British citizen Salman Rushdie for his allegedly blasphemous book, The Satanic Verses, demonstrated the willingness of the Islamic revolutionaries to sacrifice trade and other ties with western countries to threaten an individual citizen of a foreign country living thousands of miles away. On the other hand, Khomeini's death in 1989 led more pragmatic policies, with Presidents Hashemi Rafsanjani and Mohammad Khatami leading the charge for more stable relations with the west as well as its surrounding, non-Revolutionary-Islamic neighbors—i.e., Saudi Arabia. Following the 2005 election of President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, Iran has returned to a more hardline stance, frequently antagonizing the west and its neighbors while battling for control over the region.
In the immediate aftermath of the revolution, the Islamic Republic went to war against Saddam Hussein's Iraq after the latter launched a military invasion in the 1980s. With most foreign aid going to Iraq, Iran was forced to accept a ceasefire by 1988. Tensions with Iraq remained long after the war; it was not until the death of Saddam himself that Iran and Iraq have started improving their relations.