On February 1, 1979, just shy of two weeks after Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi fled Iran, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini flew from Paris to Teheran, ending 15 years of exile. Long a symbol and leader of Islamic opposition to the shah's secular and Western-aligned rule, his return was one of the final pegs in a series of events that led to the founding of the Islamic Republic that rules Iran to this day.
Beginning in late 1978 and continuing through to the first weeks of 1979, popular protests grew and spread throughout Iran. Anger over economic conditions, corruption exemplified by Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi's family's massive oil wealth, and the close relationships between the shah and the West drove the unrest, although several other grievances also played important roles. Hoping to quiet the anger against him and his regime, the shah implemented a number of desperate and half-hearted reforms in response to the peoples' demands.
By January 1979, the shah realized that his days ruling Iran were numbered. He made several last minute attempts to negotiate a deal whereby he would be allowed to remain in Iran, but was consistently rebuffed. Faced with the reality that he and his family would not be safe if they remained in the country, the shah fled Iran on January 16, 1979.
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