Iran marks the 40th anniversary of Islamic revolution

What is issue?

• Iranian President Hassan Rouhani stood before a big crowd celebrating the Islamic Revolution’s 40th anniversary and vowed to boost his country’s military and ballistic missile program, defying US pressure and sanctions.
• Tens of thousands of people gathered in Tehran’s Azadi (Freedom) Square to mark the 1979 overthrow of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, a Western-installed monarch, which paved the way to clerical rule.
• Rouhani has accused Trump of openly agitating for regime change in Iran. US President Donald Trump put economic sanctions re-imposed in 2018 sought to keep Iran’s military — namely its ballistic missile program — in check.

Background of Islamic revolution:-

• The Iranian Revolution also known as the Islamic Revolution or the 1979 Revolution was a series of events involving the overthrow of the monarch of Iran, Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, and replacing his government with an Islamic republic under the Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, a leader of one of the factions in the revolt.
• The movement against the United States-backed monarchy was supported by various leftist and Islamist organizations and student movements.
• Demonstrations against the Shah commenced in October 1977, developing into a campaign of civil resistance that included both secular and religious elements, and which intensified in January 1978.
• Between August and December 1978, strikes and demonstrations paralyzed the country. The Shah left Iran for exile on 16 January 1979, as the last Persian monarch, leaving his duties to a regency council and Shapour Bakhtiar who was an opposition-based prime minister. 
• Ayatollah Khomeini was invited back to Iran by the government, and returned to Tehran to a greeting by several million Iranians.
• The royal reign collapsed shortly after on 11 February when guerrillas and rebel troops overwhelmed troops loyal to the Shah in armed street fighting, bringing Khomeini to official power. 
• Iran voted by national referendum to become an Islamic republic on 1 April 1979 and to formulate and approve a new theocratic-republican constitution whereby Khomeini became Supreme Leader of the country in December 1979.

(International)(channel newsasia)

Pic courtesy: Voice of the Cape