ABSTRACT
The Iranian revolution of 1979 was profoundly significant not only for Iran but also for the Middle East as a whole, for Islamic states throughout the world, and for outside powers dealing with the Middle East. Within Iran, the revolution has been called "a cataclysmic event" that transformed the country's political, social, economic, and legal structure. Mehdi Bazargan, who founded the Freedom Movement in 1961, was representative of the liberal opposition forces that rallied to his organization. The year 1978 marked the opposition's transformation from a moderate reformist movement of the professional middle classes to a popular Islamic revolution inspired by Khomeini and supported by the urban masses. By the time Khomeini returned to Iran, the state, the army, and the internal security forces had disintegrated. The economy had collapsed, and organizations from the political Left to the Far Right had begun contesting for power.
