Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi was ousted during a revolution led by the Ayatollah Khomeini in 1979. The Shah’s fall marked the end of more than 2500 years of the monarchy in Iran and the formerly western-oriented state became an Islamic republic. The documentary tells the men’s life stories and the tale of more than three decades of rivalry. The Shiite cleric Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini became a staunch opponent of the Shah’s shortly after he ascended the throne in the 1940s. Khomeini continued to challenge the Iranian monarch throughout his reign. One of the high-points of their clash was in 1963, during a major modernization project known as the "White Revolution.” Another came in 1978, when Khomeini turned the tables on the Shah and seized power in Tehran. Once exiled by the Shah, he became the leader of the Islamic Revolution and the favorite of all those who felt deceived by the monarchy. Islamic fundamentalism emerged victorious from the struggle to create new challenges for global politics. The documentary shows a great deal of little known archive material and interviews eyewitnesses, historians, representatives of the Shah’s regime and allies of Khomeini. Among those we talks to are Iran’s last queen, Farah Diba; the first elected president of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Abolhassan Banisadr; former German Economics Minister Hans Friderichs; and a one-time Khomeini follower, Hassan Yussefi Eshkevari.
Aside from Frence, which countries helped the Ayatollah?
I don't know about yous... but, we inside the military camps used to tune in to BBC Persian for the news, messages from Khomeini, and upcoming demonstrations... things like that...
That is precisely what I am implying. The "revolution" was planned and paid for by those who wanted the Shah out.
@GR
I have often wondered about why a secular country, such as France, would accept to let in and shield someone like Khomeini.
From what I heard, it was upon the Shah's own request that France took Khomeini in. Namely, the Shah believed that getting Khomeini as far away as possible from Iran was somehow going to lessen Khomeini's influence on the Iranian population.
Apparently, the Shah was wrong. And so was France.