Iran’s distinctive political system — which has been designed in such a method that the Shia clergy has final authority in all essential issues associated to the state, at the same time as elections are held in common intervals — is a baby of the 1979 revolution.
Whereas it’s popularly known as the “Islamic revolution”, the anti-Shah motion was not simply Islamic. True, Ayatollah Ruholla Khomeini, who, whereas in exile in Iraq’s Najaf, had known as for the Shah’s ouster, and have become the embodiment of the mass agitations within the Nineteen Seventies. However Iranians from totally different political sections, together with nationalists, liberals, leftists and commerce unionists, had actively joined the motion, in search of freedom from the Shah’s dictatorship.
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The Shah, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, who needed to briefly flee the nation within the early Fifties and was restored after the CIA helped the monarchists orchestrate a coup in opposition to the democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh, was kind of indifferent from the political actuality on floor. He orchestrated grand ceremonies celebrating the monarchy (such because the extravagant 1971 celebration of “the two,five hundredth yr of the Iranian monarchy” spending some $100 million), banned all political events besides the monarchist Resurgence Get together (Hezb-e-Rastakhiz) and assumed himself the title of Aryan Solar (Aryamehr) — apolitical and non secular information of Iran. When an more and more remoted Shah tried to consolidate an increasing number of powers in his fingers, SAVAK, his secret police, ran amok within the nation, rounding up political dissidents.
Iranians aren’t any strangers to political revolt and defiance. In 1896, Naser al-Din Shah, the fourth Shah of Qajar Iran, was assassinated inside a mosque in Tehran. The assassination and its aftermath would finally result in the Constitutional Revolution of 1905-1911, which led to the institution of a Parliament in Persia.
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Reza Shah Pahlavi ignored this historical past of revolt when he unleashed his forces on more and more disgruntled protesters, which finally led to his personal downfall. When the Shah fled the nation in January 1979, Khomeini was in Paris. He landed in Tehran’s Mehrabad airport, which was managed by the revolutionaries, on February 1, 1979.
They turned a disused ladies’ faculty in central Tehran right into a make-shift headquarters of the Revolutionary Council. And one of many first issues Khomeini did was to kind a paramilitary drive — the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). However the Islamists couldn’t ignore different sections of the revolution fully.
So, Khomeini ushered in a brand new system that may have an elected President and Parliament, whereas the clerics would stay firmly in management. He promised an Islamic revolutionary authorities primarily based on Sharia, a mannequin which he known as Vilayat-e Faqih (Guardianship of the Faqih, or the Islamic Jurist).
Clerical management
Iran’s state has each elected and unelected branches and the unelected department is extra highly effective than the previous. The President, Parliament (Majles) and the Meeting of Consultants are immediately elected, whereas the Supreme Chief, the Guardian Council and the Expediency Council are appointed by the clergy. The President is the top of the federal government, which is in control of operating the day-to-day affairs of the nation, however will not be the top of the state. The Supreme Chief is essentially the most highly effective particular person within the nation and is each the political chief and non secular information of the Islamic Republic.
The presidential time period is 4 years and Presidents can’t have greater than two consecutive phrases. The election course of itself is basically thought of honest (although there have been disputes, such because the 2009 elections), however all of the candidates are vetted by the Guardian Council, which normally disqualifies an awesome majority of the candidates. The 290-member Islamic Consultative Meeting (Majles) has the authority to legislate. However all of the Payments the Majles passes ought to go to the unelected Guardian Council, which might vet whether or not the Invoice is in compliance with the Islamic Structure and values.
The highly effective Guardian Council has 12 members, a mix of six non secular consultants, who will immediately be appointed by the Supreme Chief, and 6 Islamic authorized jurists, nominated by the Chief Justice (who in flip is appointed by the Supreme Chief). So the Supreme Chief’s workplace has direct or oblique management over the Guardian Council, which oversees the elections, vets the candidates and has a veto over Parliament.
Not like the President, the Supreme Chief doesn’t have any mounted time period. Because the 1979 revolution, Iran has had solely two Supreme Leaders — Khomeini (who died in 1989) and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was assassinated by a joint American-Israeli strike on February 28, 2026. Iran, now at battle with the U.S. and Israel, is at the moment within the course of of selecting its third Supreme Chief.
The Structure mandates the 88-member Meeting of Consultants to elect the Supreme Chief. The Meeting, which additionally has the authority to supervise and dismiss the Supreme Chief, is immediately elected, however the candidates are strictly vetted by the Guardian Council, whose members are immediately or not directly picked by the Supreme Chief. If there are authorized disputes between the elected Majles and the unelected Guardian Council, the 45-member Expediency Council, which advises the Supreme Chief, may have final adjudicating powers. And all 45 members of the Council are appointed by the Supreme Chief, who can be the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces.
In essence, the Islamic Structure ensures that the Supreme Chief and the clerical institution keep firmly in control of all branches of the state.
Principalists and reformists
Iran’s political class is broadly divided into two classes — principalists (higher often known as hardliners) and reformists. The principalists make up the conservative bloc that enjoys the help of the clergy, whereas reformists advocate political and social reforms from inside. The election of Mohammad Khatami as President in 1997 was a essential second for reformist politics. However Mr. Khatami, an influential and standard reformist, didn’t usher in any main adjustments within the system. Hassan Rouhani, the previous President, was additionally a reformist, whereas his successor, Ebrahim Raisi, was a principalist. The present President, Masoud Pezeshkian, belongs to the reformist camp.
When Khomeini established his clerical rule after the revolution, many anticipated the brand new order to break down rapidly. As an alternative, Khomeini purged inner dissent and consolidated the clergy’s grip even when the nation fought an eight-year battle with Iraq. Over 4 a long time later, the system the Ayatollah constructed faces its gravest challenges but.
Iran was bombed by Israel and the U.S. in June 2025, whereas the alliance community it had inbuilt West Asia has been weakened by Israeli assaults.
In January 2026, Iran witnessed large protests and riots amid deteriorating financial scenario. And now, with Israel and the U.S. bombarding Iran and brazenly calling for regime change, the Islamic Republic is preventing a do-or-die battle on a number of fronts.
Printed – March 05, 2026 07:00 pm IST