The Iranian revolution put an end to the rule of the Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlevi, who
had alienated powerful religious and political forces with a programme of modernisation
and Westernisation.
January 1979 saw the US-supported Shah forced to leave the
country after widespread demonstrations and strikes. On 1 February,
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini returned to Iran following 14 years of exile in Iraq and France for opposing the regime.
