ABSTRACT
By the third year of the Islamic Revolution in 1982, Ayatollah Khomeini and his dedicated supporters were in total control of the state and the revolutionary institutions. Like every other revolution, Iran’s also created a new political elite, at whose core stood the fundamentalists. Although the fundamentalist camp was not homogeneous from the outset of the Islamic Revolution, it demonstrated a remarkable degree of cohesion when fighting its rivals. The crusader faction, supported by the lower middle class, the lower class, the shopkeepers, the middle-rank ulama, and many of the revolutionary organizations, were avid proponents of egalitarianism and self-sufficiency. In foreign affairs, the crusaders favored an aggressive export of the Islamic Revolution and the prolongation of the war until total victory and the removal of President Saddam Hossein. The fear shared by all Arab governments in the Persian Gulf that the Islamic Revolution could destabilize the region made President Hossein more belligerent toward Iran.
