Skip to content
History–Tours
19781978–1979 · Tehran

The Iranian Revolution

The white marble Azadi Tower in Tehran, where huge revolutionary crowds gathered in 1978 and 1979
Photo: Bernard Gagnon. CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Months of strikes and mass marches against Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi forced him into exile in January 1979. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini returned from France on 1 February to a crowd of millions, and a referendum in March created an Islamic Republic. In November students seized the US embassy and held 52 Americans hostage for 444 days, setting the course of Iran's relations with the West ever since.

Travel advisory. Many governments, including the UK and US, advise against all travel to Iran, citing the risk of arbitrary detention. We list this event for reference, and don't list guides here until travel is possible again.

Sites

  1. Site 1: Former US embassy compoundThe seized embassy, now a museum, its outer walls painted with anti-American murals.Map ↗
  2. Site 2: Azadi TowerThe Shah's monumental arch, renamed Freedom Tower, where vast crowds marched.Map ↗
  3. Site 3: Behesht-e Zahra and the Mausoleum of KhomeiniThe cemetery where Khomeini spoke on his return, and his gilded shrine beside it.Map ↗

More from the Cold War

Read more: reference. Summary written by History-Tours.com.