Iran Today: 25 Years After the Islamic Revolution

The Iranian Revelution of 1979 shook the world and changed the strategic balance in the region. In the build up to the Revolution there was a unity of purpose that was summed up by Ayatollah Khomenini: 'The monarchy must go. The Shah is corrupt. His hands are dripping with blood. He is a foreign agent. He is the Yazid of age.' In the perception of most Iranians, a tyrant has usurped the state; its retrieval was therefore essential. Beyond that, however, there was a little by way of an agreed agenda for social reconstruction. This became evident in the years that followed. Revolutionary passion first gave way to revolutionary reason and then reawakened desire for reforms.