Timeline Of The Iranian Revolution

This article is a timeline of events relevant to the Islamic Revolution in Iran. For earlier events refer to Pahlavi dynasty and for later ones refer to History of the Islamic Republic of Iran. This article doesn't include the reasons of the events and further information is available in Islamic revolution of Iran.

1941

* August–September: World War II allies Britain and Soviet Union invade Iran to secure railway to supply Soviet Union. They depose Reza Shah whom they consider too sympathetic to the Axis powers, and they exile him to South Africa. His son Mohammad Reza becomes the new Pahlavi Shah of Iran. He was very happy about this

1953

* August: Shah Muhammad Reza Pahlavi, who had resisted for months despite British and American calls for him to dismiss Prime Minister Mohammed Mossaddegh, gets nervous about the popular nationalist prime minister's designs when Mossadegh dissolved the parliament and began rule by decree. As a result, the Shah dismisses Mossadegh as prime minister. But Mossadegh refused to step down and instead arrested the royal messenger delivering the dismissal order. In a panic, the Shah flees to Italy. CIA and British intelligence initiate and execute "Operation Ajax" with conservative Iranians to overthrow Mossadegh. Shah returns to Iran.

1961

* March 31: Husain Borujerdi, the prominent Marja of all Shi'a, dies. Khomeini emerges as one of the probable successors to Boroujerdi's position of leadership. This emergence was signaled by the publication of some of his writings on fiqh, most importantly the basic handbook of religious practice entitled, like others of its genre, Tozih al-Masael. He was soon accepted as Marja-e Taqlid (source of imitation) by a large number of Iranian Shi'is.Ayatollah Khomeini
/ref> In this year his students, who were the teachers of seminary, established Society of Seminary Teachers of Qom, which played key role during establishment of new government after victory of revolution.

1962

* October–November: Khomeini organizes opposition to the Shah's Local council election bill. The Bill introduced by Shah's government allows women to vote for the first time and non-Muslims to run for councils. Religious pressure forces government to back down completely and abandon the bill. Khomeini emerges from fight as "the regime's principal political foe" and "undisputed spiritual leader of ... bazaari activists."

1963

* January: Mohammad Reza Pahlavi proposes "White Revolution". The government introduces a six-point reform bill to be put to a nationwide referendum vote. Six points also included Women's suffrage, as well as other reforms. Khomeini summoned a meeting of his colleagues in Qom to press upon them the necessity of opposing the Shah's plans.
* January 22: Khomeini issued a strongly worded declaration denouncing the Shah and his plans. Two days later Shah took armored column to Qom, and he delivered a speech harshly attacking the ulama. Khomeini continues his denunciation of the Shah's programs, issuing a manifesto that also bore the signatures of eight other senior scholars. In it he listed the various ways in which the Shah had violated the constitution, condemned the spread of moral corruption in the country, and accused the Shah of comprehensive submission to America and Israel. He also decrees that the Norouz celebrations for the Iranian year 1342 be canceled as a sign of protest against government policies. Escalating antipathy between Shah and Ayatollah climaxes in June with drawing parallels between the Umayyad Caliph Yazid I and the Shah and warns the Shah that if he did not change his ways the day would come when the people would offer up thanks for his departure from the country.
* January 24: Shah orders to arrest Khomeini two days later, and major protest riots in cities over Iran the day after that which is called Movement of 15 Khordad. Martial law is declared and hundreds are killed. After nineteen days in the Qasr prison, Ayatollah Khomeini was moved first to the 'Eshratabad' military base and then to a house in the 'Davoudiyeh' section of Tehran where he is kept under surveillance.

1964

* April 7: Khomeini is released from custody and returns to Qom. In autumn he denounces " capitulations" (the government's underhanded extending of diplomatic immunity to American military personnel), and calls the agreement as surrender of Iranian independence and sovereignty, made in exchange for a $200 million loan that would be of benefit only to the Shah and his associates, and describes all those in the Majlis who voted in favor of it as traitors, concluding that the government is illegitimate. He is arrested immediately and taken to Mehrabad Airport in Tehran. He's exiled in November, and does not return to Iran for 15 years.

1965

* 10am January 22: Hassan-Ali Mansur, the prime minister, who passed the Geneva Convention American Force Protection Act, also known as "Capitulation Law" is assassinated by Mohammad Bokharaii and Amir Abbas Hoveyda is appointed in his stead.
* September 5: Khomeini leaves Turkey for Najaf in Iraq, where he was destined to spend 13 years. He teaches in seminary during this time.

1970

*January 21-February 8: Khomeini gives a series of nineteen lectures to a group of his Talaba (students) on Islamic Government while he was in exile in Iraq in the holy city of Najaf. Notes of the lectures were soon made into a book that appeared under three different titles: '' The Islamic Government'', ''Authority of the Jurist'', and ''A Letter from Imam Musavi Kashef al-Qita'' (to deceive Iranian censors). The small book (fewer than 150 pages) was smuggled into Iran and "widely distributed" to Khomeini supporters before the revolution.

1975

* March 2: Rastakhiz (Resurrection) party as an Iranian monarchist party is founded by Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
* June 1975: Anniversary of the uprising of 15 Khordad. Students at the Feyziyeh madreseh hold a demonstration within the confines of the building, and a sympathetic crowd assembles outside. Both gatherings continues for three days until they are attacked by military forces, resulting in some casualties. Khomeini reacts with a message in which he declares the events in Qom and similar disturbances elsewhere to be a sign of hope that "freedom and liberation from the bonds of imperialism" is at hand.

1977

*October 23: Mostafa Khomeini, the son of Ayatollah Khomeini, died while the family lived in Najaf. His death led to unfounded rumors of foul play by Shah's regime and became the subject of a "martyrdom" by opponents of Shah's government, and would fuel the growing discontent with the Shah that eventually led to the Iranian Revolution.

1978

* January 7: An article in the Ettela'at newspaper by the Information Minister Daryoush Homayoun, titled "Black and Red Imperialism" accuses Khomeini of homosexuality and other "misdeeds". Later in his book, Hun claimed that this was done on the Shah's order.
* January 9: Demonstration of 4,000 students and religious leaders in the city of Qom against the article. The armed police was provoked by the angry demonstrators which resulted in death of between 10 and 72 demonstrators. Protests credited with breaking the "barrier of fear" of security forces "at the popular level".
* February 18 : Arbayeen (i.e. 40th day observance) of Qom's fallen protesters. Groups in a number of cities marched to honour the fallen and protest against the rule of the Shah. This time, violence erupted in Tabriz. According to some reports approximately 100 demonstrators are killed.
* March 29: Arbayeen of Tabriz's fallen protesters by demonstrations in various cities. Demonstrators are killed by police in Yazd.
* May 10: Arbayeen of Yazd's fallen protesters. Demonstrations in various cities. In Qom, commandos "burst into" the home of Ayatollah Kazem Shariatmadari, a leading cleric and quietist, and shoot dead one of his followers right in front of him. Shariatmadari then joins opposition to the Shah.
* June 6 : Head of SAVAK, Nematollah Nassiri, dismissed and Nasser Moghadam is appointed instead. "First significant concession to the unrest."Harney, ''Priest and the King,'' p.14
*June 20: 40th day cycle of marking demonstration deaths passes with little violence, thanks to calls by Shariatmadari's for observance in mosques not on the streets. Inflation subsiding. Regime's "carrot and stick" and anti-inflation measures seem to be working.
*August 6: Shah pledges free elections by June 1979 in broadcast to the nation.
* August 12: Killing of demonstrators in Isfahan.
* August 16 : Jamshid Amouzegar declares martial law in response to vast demonstrations.
* August 19: 477 die in arson fire at Cinema Rex in Abadan. Regime and opposition blame each other.
* August 27: Jamshid Amouzegar is replaced by Jafar Sharif-Emami as the prime minister. Sharif Emami "reverses" some of the Shah's policies. Closes casinos (owned by Pahlavi Foundation), abolishes the imperial calendar and declares all the political parties have the right to be active.
* September 4: Mass march at Eid al-Fitr of hundreds of thousands in Tehran by Khomeini supporters.
* September 8: dubbed " Black Friday" Shah declares martial law in response to protests against Pahlavi dynasty. The military of Iran use force including tanks and helicopters to break up the largely peaceful demonstrators. About 88 demonstrators (including three women) are killed. Opposition leaders falsely spread the death count figures as high as "tens of thousands".
* September 24: Iraqi government embargoes the house of Khomeini in Najaf and bans his political activities.
* September 25 (3rd of Mehr): Rastakhiz party is disbanded.
* October 3: Khomeini leaves Iraq for Kuwait after being pressured by Iran's neighbor Iraq to "tone down his anti-compromise rhetoric". He is refused entry at the Kuwait border.
* October 6 : Khomeini embarks for Paris.
* October 10: Khomeini takes up residence in the suburb of Neauphle-le-Château in a house that had been rented for him by Iranian exiles in France. He enjoys media attention from journalists across the world who come to France to interview him. His image and words became a daily feature in the world's media.
* October 11: Strike of Newspapers
* October 16: Arbayeen of protesters killed on " Black Friday". Some people were killed in the main mosque of Kerman. "A rapid succession of strikes cripple almost all the bazaars, universities, high schools, oil installations, banks, government ministries, post offices, railways, newspapers, customs and post facilities," etc. and "seal the Shah's fate."
* October 21: Iran Oil industry workers go on strike.
* November 4 : Destructive riots frustrated by Shah's unsuccessful attempts at conciliation with his opponents, military hardliners decide to order troops "to stand aside and allow mobs to burn and destroy to their hearts' content." Thousands of shops, banks, restaurants and other public buildings damaged. Conciliatory Prime Minister Sharif-Emami resigns. Army raid in Tehran University, students participating in demonstrations are killed.
* November 5 : Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi broadcast on television a promise not to repeat past mistakes and to make amends saying, "I heard the voice of your revolution... As Shah of Iran as well as an Iranian citizen, I cannot but approve your revolution."
* November 6: General Gholam Reza Azhari appointed as the prime minister. Enforces martial law.
* November 8: Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi arrests thirteen prominent members of his own regime.
* November 27: Millions throughout the country celebrate "weeping" and "jumping" after seeing Khomeini's face in the moon, after rumour sweeps the land that the Imam's face will so appear on this night. Even the Tudeh Party embraces the story.
* December 10 and 11: Tasu'a and Ashura. As many as 17 million people "up and down the country march peacefully demanding the removal of the Shah and return of Khomeini." 17-point resolution is presented during the demonstration "declaring the Ayatollah to be the leader of the Iranian people," and calling on Iranians to struggle until the Shah is overthrown.
* December 29: Long-time opposition politician Shapour Bakhtiar was chosen as the prime minister by Shah as the Shah prepares to leave the country. Last prime minister of the Pahlavi dynasty.

1979

* January 3: Shapour Bakhtiar of the National Front (Jabhe-yi Melli) was appointed prime minister to replace General Azhari.
* January 4: Shapour Bakhtiar approved as the Prime Minister by Parliament.
* January 12: Revolutionary Council formed by Khomeini to manage revolution. The names of its members are not disclosed.
* January 16: Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and Shahbanu Farah Pahlavi leave Iran for Aswan, Egypt, to be welcome by Anwar Sadat. The Shah states that he has left for vacation and medical treatment.
* January 22: Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and his family leaves Egypt for Morocco.
* January 23: An attempt by the Royal Council to negotiate with Ayatollah Khomeini fails as Jalaleddin Tehrani, the head of the council who was sent to France, unexpectedly turns against the Royal Council, announces his resignation and declares the council as illegal.
* February 1: Khomeini returns to Iran from exile. According to BBC
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