Iran 1979: an opportunity squandered
Forty years ago protests in Iran rolled over into a revolution. John Rose tells a tale of huge potential brutally suppressed.
The Iranian Revolution of February 1979 was one of the most startling events of the 20th century. This is true not just because of the almost total participation of the entire population in the active overthrow of the Shah, the dictatorial self-proclaimed monarch, but also because of the determination of the new regime to install what it described as an “Islamic Republic”.