Nationalism In The Iranian Revolution

Nationalism took a new transformed look as the revolutionary waves made their way through the latter half of the decade of the 1970’s in Iran. Anger over decades of pro-Western influence, coupled with domestic turmoil, directed Iran’s storied nationalistic past toward the formation of a new independent Iranian Republic. The Shah’s legitimacy and sovereign claim to the throne was all but dismantled. In reference to Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi’s perception of his rule as the Revolution spread, Iranian Prime Minister Amir Abbas Hoveyda criticized the Shah saying he “was like a man who had lavished everything on a beautiful woman for years only to find she had been unfaithful all along.” Unable to gain control of the striking and restless population,

Deeply rooted in the reverse trajectory of the movement of nationalism in Iran leading up to and during the Iranian Revolution, was distaste for foreign and particularly American influence, so, in an effort to avoid both USSR and Western likenesses, the Shi’a Muslim majority, including the Revolutionary leader, Supreme Ruler Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, advocated for a distinctly new society, neither Western nor Eastern. In the final years before the end of his rule, the Shah had ignored the obvious demand for a shift toward an Islamic centered state to govern Iran, further signaling his disconnect with the changing atmosphere. This disconnect was heavily juxtaposed by the rhetoric and actions of the Ayatollah Khomeini. Calling on the sovereignty of not only the Iranian people to legitimize his leadership, but also claiming the backing of God, Khomeini called the Shah’s government illegal. Continuing on, Khomeini denounces any Western ideology and that the will of the Nation of Iran and the will of God were one. The advocacy of fundamental Islamic Sharia Law, led by the Ayatollah and the Shi’ite Muslims in Iran, dictated a major changing of the guard of the social structure. Not only was Iran changed, but the