A report on Ruhollah Khomeini, Iran–Iraq War and Ali Khamenei

Top-left to bottom-right: Iranian child soldier on the frontlines

Iranian soldier in a trench wearing a gas mask to guard against Iraqi chemical attacks

Port quarter view of the USS Stark listing to port after being mistakenly struck by an Iraqi warplane

Pro-Iraq MEK forces killed during Iran's Operation Mersad

Iraqi prisoners of war after the recapture of Khorramshahr by Iranian forces

ZU-23-2 anti-aircraft gun being used by the Iranian Army

Meeting of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Houari Boumédiène and Saddam Hussein (left to right) during the Algiers Agreement in 1975.

Ruhollah Khomeini's birthplace at Khomeyn

Ruhollah Khomeini rose to power after the Iranian Revolution.

Khamenei in a protest during Iranian Revolution in Mashhad

Location of Khuzestan Province in Iran which Iraq planned to annex

Ali Khamenei in military uniform during Iran–Iraq War

Iranian President Abolhassan Banisadr, who was also commander-in-chief, on a Jeep-mounted 106mm recoilless anti-tank gun. Banisadr was impeached in June 1981.

Khamenei in the hospital after the assassination attempt

Khomeini as a student with his friends (second from right)

The Shatt al-Arab on the Iran–Iraq border

Ali Khamenei has shaken hands with his left hand since the unsuccessful assassination.

Khamenei as Tehran's Friday Prayer Imam in 1979

Khomeini's speech against the Shah in Qom, 1964

Iranian F-14A Tomcats equipped with AIM-54A, AIM-7 and AIM-9 missiles.

Khamenei reading Will of Ruhollah Khomeini in Assembly of Experts

Khomeini denouncing the Shah on 'Ashura (3 June 1963)

Resistance of the outnumbered and outgunned Iranians in Khorramshahr slowed the Iraqis for a month.

Iranian president Abulhassan Banisadr on the battlefront

Khomeini in exile at Bursa, Turkey without clerical dress

Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and Massoud Rajavi, the leader of MEK and the National Resistance Council of Iran (NCRI) in 1988.

Khamenei at the Great Conference of Basij members at Azadi Stadium, October 2018

The Entrance of Khomeini's House in Najaf, Iraq

The surprise attack on H-3 airbase is considered to be one of the most sophisticated air operations of the war.

Iranian soldier holding an IV bag during the Iran–Iraq War

International Holy Quran Competition's participants meeting with Khamenei, June 2013

Iranian Northrop F-5 aircraft during Iran-Iraq war

Participants of 31st International Islamic Unity Conference meeting with Khamenei, December 2017

Ayatollah Khomeini in front of his house at Neauphle-le-Chateau in a media conference

Iraqi T-62 tank wreckage in Khuzestan Province, Iran

Khamenei and former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani

Iraqi soldiers surrendering after the Liberation of Khorramshahr

Khamenei with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Ali Larijani and Sadeq Larijani in 2011

Arrival of Khomeini on 1 February 1979. When asked about his feelings of returning from exile in the plane, he replied Hich; "None."

Khomeini and the interim prime minister, Mehdi Bazargan

An admonitory declaration issued from the Iraqi government in order to warn Iranian troops in the Iran–Iraq War. The statement says: "Hey Iranians! No one has been downtrodden in the country where Ali ibn Abi Ṭālib, Husayn ibn Ali and Abbas ibn Ali are buried. Iraq has undoubtedly been an honorable country. All refugees are precious. Anyone who wants to live in exile can choose Iraq freely. We, the Sons of Iraq, have been ambushing foreign aggressors. The enemies who plan to assault Iraq will be disfavoured by God in this world and the hereafter. Be careful of attacking Iraq and Ali ibn Abi Ṭālib! If you surrender, you might be in peace."

Khamenei casting his vote in 2013 presidential election

95,000 Iranian child soldiers were made casualties during the Iran–Iraq War, mostly between the ages of 16 and 17, with a few younger.

Khamenei in meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, 23 November 2015

Carpet given to Khotan mosque by Ayatollah Khomeini

Khamenei meeting with his counterpart, China's paramount leader Xi Jinping, 23 January 2016

Ruhollah Khomeini with Ahmad Khomeini and Mohammad-Ali Rajai

Khamenei with Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven, 11 February 2017

Mourning men in residence of Khomeini around his seat area, Jamaran, 4 June 1989.

Sixth International Conference in Support of the Palestinian Intifada, Tehran, 2017

Khomeini and his successor, Ali Khamenei

Iraqi POW who was shot by Iranian troops after they conquered the Iraqi Majnoon oil field in October 1984

Pro-government Syrians with portraits of Assad, Ayatollah Khomeini and Khamenei, April 2018

Iranian troops fire 152 mm D-20 howitzer

Khamenei speaking to Iranian Air Force personnel, 6 February 2016

Murals of Khomeini and Ali Khamenei, Shah Mosque in Isfahan

Battle of the Marshes Iran front 1983 rest after exchange of fire 152 mm D-20 H

Khamenei meeting with Hajj authorities, 2018

Operation Earnest Will: Tanker convoy No. 12 under US Navy escort (21 October 1987)

Iranian women with portraits of Khamenei, 2014

A map indicating the attacks on civilian areas of Iran, Iraq, and Kuwait targeted during the "War of the Cities".

Iraqi commanders discussing strategy on the battlefront (1986)

Iranian President Ali Khamenei on the battlefront during the Iran–Iraq War

Operation Dawn 8 during which Iran captured the Faw Peninsula.

Iranian soldier killed during the Iran–Iraq War with Rouhollah Khomeini's photo on his uniform

The People's Mujahedin of Iran, supported by Saddam, started a ten-day operation after both the Iranian and Iraqi governments accepted UN Resolution 598. Casualty estimates range from 2,000 to 10,000.

Adnan Khairallah, Iraqi Defense Minister, meeting with Iraqi soldiers during the war

IRGC navy speedboats using swarm tactics

An Iranian soldier wearing a gas mask during the Iran–Iraq War.

The Iranian frigate IS Sahand burns after being hit by 20 U.S. air launched missiles and bombs, killing a third of the crew, April 1988

Iranian soldiers captured during Iraq's 1988 offensives

USS Vincennes in 1987 a year before it shot down Iran Air Flight 655

MEK Soldiers killed in Operation Mersad in 1988

Al-Shaheed Monument in Baghdad was erected to commemorate the fallen Iraqi soldiers during the war.

An Iranian soldier's funeral in Mashhad, 2013

An Iraqi Mil Mi-24 on display at the military museum of Sa'dabad Palace in Iran

President Ronald Reagan and Vice President George H. W. Bush work in the Oval Office of the White House, 20 July 1984.

USS Stark (FFG-31) listing following two hits by Exocet missiles.

Victims of the 1987 chemical attack on Sardasht, West Azerbaijan, Iran

Damage to a mosque in Khoramshahr, Iran, the city that was invaded by Iraq in September 1980

Iraq's primary rationale for the invasion was to cripple Iran and prevent Ruhollah Khomeini from exporting the 1979 Iranian Revolution movement to Shia-majority Iraq and internally exploit religious tensions that would threaten the Sunni-dominated Ba'athist leadership led by Saddam Hussein.

- Iran–Iraq War

Most of his period in power was taken up by the Iran–Iraq War of 1980–1988.

- Ruhollah Khomeini

He was succeeded by Ali Khamenei on 4 June 1989.

- Ruhollah Khomeini

Khamenei was one of Iran's leaders during the Iran–Iraq War in the 1980s, and developed close ties with the now powerful Revolutionary Guards which he controls, and whose commanders are elected and dismissed by him.

- Ali Khamenei

Khamenei served as the third President of Iran from 1981 to 1989, while becoming a close ally of the first Supreme Leader, Ruhollah Khomeini.

- Ali Khamenei

One faction, comprising Prime Minister Mir-Hossein Mousavi, Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Velayati, President Ali Khamenei, Army Chief of Staff General Ali Sayad Shirazi as well as Major General Qasem-Ali Zahirnejad, wanted to accept the ceasefire, as most of Iranian soil had been recaptured.

- Iran–Iraq War

5 related topics with Alpha

Mass demonstrations at College Bridge, Tehran

Iranian Revolution

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Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi official coronation photo 1967

Ayatollah Sayyid Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini (revolutionary leader).

People of Tehran in the demonstrations of 5 June 1963 with pictures of Ruhollah Khomeini in their hands

Two armed militants outside the Embassy of the United States, Tehran where diplomats are held hostage. Behind of them is a banner written: "Long live anti-imperialism and democratic forces". Photograph by Abbas, dated 1979, from the Iran Diary series

The Shah of Iran (left) meeting with members of the U.S. government: Alfred Atherton, William Sullivan, Cyrus Vance, Jimmy Carter, and Zbigniew Brzezinski, 1977

Pro-Shah demonstration organized by the Resurgence Party in Tabriz, April 1978

Demonstration of 8 September 1978. The placard reads, "We want an Islamic government, led by Imam Khomeini".

Demonstration of "Black Friday" (8 September 1978)

Ayatollah Khomeini in Neauphle-le-Château surrounded by journalists

Mohammad Beheshti in the Tehran Ashura demonstration, 11 December 1978

"The Shah is Gone" —headline of Iranian newspaper Ettela'at, 16 January 1979, when the last monarch of Iran left the country.

A protester giving flowers to an army officer

Shah and his wife, Shahbanu Farah leaving Iran on 16 January 1979

Cartoon depicting Shapour Bakhtiar and Mosaddegh on 22 January 1978 issue of Ettela'at, during the revolution

Iranian prime minister Mehdi Bazargan was an advocate of democracy and civil rights. He also opposed the cultural revolution and US embassy takeover.

Iranian armed rebels during the revolution

Khomeini told questioners that "the religious dignitaries do not want to rule."

Executed Generals of Imperial Army: Reza Naji, Mehdi Rahimi, and Manouchehr Khosrodad

People celebrating anniversary of the revolution in Mashhad in 2014.

An injured revolutionary during protests against Pahlavi regime.

Current Iranian leader, Ali Khamenei in a Revolutionary protest in Mashhad.

Shah visiting Bakhtiar cabinet before his exit from Iran.

People celebrating Shah's exit from the country.

Removal of Shah's statue by the people in University of Tehran.

People accompanying Khomeini from Mehrabad to Behesht Zahra.

Khomeini before a speech at Alavi school.

The Iranian Revolution, also known as the Islamic Revolution was a series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynasty under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, and the replacement of his government with an Islamic republic under the rule of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, a leader of one of the factions in the revolt.

At the same time, events that made up both the crisis and its resolution were the Iran hostage crisis, the invasion of Iran by Saddam Hussein's Iraq, and the presidency of Abolhassan Banisadr.

To honor the 40th anniversary of revolution around 50,000 prisoners were forgiven by order Ali Khamenei to receive "Islamic clemency".

Iran

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Country in Western Asia.

Inscription of Ardeshir Babakan (r. 224–242) in Naqsh-e Rostam: "This is the figure of Mazdaworshiper, the lord Ardashir, Shahanshah of Iran..."

An Ashrafi Coin of Nader Shah (r. 1736–1747), reverse:"Coined on gold the word of kingdom in the world, Nader of Greater Iran and the world-conquerer king."

A cave painting in Doushe cave, Lorestan, from the 8th millennium BC

A bas-relief at Persepolis, depicting the united Medes and Persians

Tomb of Cyrus the Great, founder of the Achaemenid Empire, in Pasargadae

The Achaemenid Empire (550 BC–330 BC) around the time of Darius the Great and Xerxes I

The Parthian Empire (247 BC–224 AD) in 94 BC at its greatest extent, during the reign of Mithridates II

Tomb of Hafez, a medieval Persian poet whose works are regarded as a pinnacle in Persian literature and have left a considerable mark on later Western writers, most notably Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Henry David Thoreau, and Emerson

Venetian portrait, kept at the Uffizi, of Ismail I, the founder of the Safavid Empire

A portrait of AbbasI, the powerful, pragmatic Safavid ruler who reinforced Iran's military, political, and economic power

Statue of Nader Shah, the first Afsharid ruler of Iran, at his Tomb

A map showing the 19th-century northwestern borders of Iran, comprising modern-day eastern Georgia, Dagestan, Armenia, and the Republic of Azerbaijan, before being ceded to the neighboring Russian Empire by the Russo-Iranian wars

The first national Iranian Parliament was established in 1906 during the Persian Constitutional Revolution

Reza Shah, the first Pahlavi king of Iran, in military uniform

The Allied "Big Three" at the 1943 Tehran Conference.

Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and the Imperial Family during the coronation ceremony of the Shah of Iran in 1967.

Ruhollah Khomeini's return to Iran on 1February 1979

An Iranian soldier wearing a gas mask on the front-line during the Iran–Iraq War

The Green Movement's Silent Demonstration during the 2009–10 Iranian election protests

The 2017–18 Iranian protests were initiated on 31 December 2017 and continued for months.

Mount Damavand, Iran's highest point, is located in Amol, Mazenderan.

Persian leopard, listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List.

Iran's syncretic political system combines elements of an Islamic theocracy with vetted democracy.

Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of Iran, meeting with his counterpart, China's paramount leader Xi Jinping on 23 January 2016. Iran and China are strategic allies.

Ali Khamenei voting in the 2017 presidential election

Iranian former President Hassan Rouhani meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Iran and Russia are strategic allies.

The Islamic Consultative Assembly, also known as the Iranian Parliament

Protest against U.S. recognition of Jerusalem as capital of Israel. Tehran, 11 December 2017.

Sophisticated indigenous long range missile system Bavar-373 paraded in Tehran.

Iran's provinces by their contribution to national GDP (2014)

A proportional representation of Iran exports, 2019

More than a million tourists visit Kish Island each year.

Iran holds 10% of the world's proven oil reserves and 15% of its gas. It is OPEC's second largest exporter and the world's 7th largest oil producer.

Literacy rate of Iran's population plus 15, 1975–2015, according to UNESCO Institute of Statistics

Sharif University of Technology is one of Iran's most prestigious higher education institutions.

The production line for AryoSeven at the Iranian biopharmaceutical company of AryoGen

Iran's provinces by population density (2013)

Iron Age gold cup from Marlik, kept at New York City's Metropolitan Museum of Art

Kamal-ol-Molk's Mirror Hall, often considered a starting point in Iranian modern art

Tomb of the 10th-century Persian poet Ferdowsi, author of Šāhnāme, the classical Persian composition of the Iranian national epics, in Tus

Zoroaster, the founder of Zoroastrianism, depicted on Raphael's The School of Athens

Karna, an ancient Iranian musical instrument from the 6th century BC, kept at the Persepolis Museum

The Roudaki Hall, constructed between 1957 and 1967 in Tehran

Reproduction of the 3rd-millennium BC goblet from southeastern Iran, possibly the world's oldest example of animation.

Abbas Kiarostami (1940–2016), an acclaimed Iranian film director

Behrouz Vossoughi, a well-known Iranian actor who has appeared in more than 90 films

Haft-Seen, a customary of Nowruz, the Iranian New Year

Chelow kabab (rice and kebab), one of Iran's national dishes

The Azadi Stadium in Tehran is West Asia's largest football stadium.

An Iranian tea tray served near Garden of Mausoleum of Omar Khayyam in Nishapur

After the Iranian Revolution, the current Islamic Republic was established in 1979 by Ruhollah Khomeini, who became the country's first Supreme Leader.

The government of Iran is an Islamic theocracy that includes elements of a presidential democracy, with the ultimate authority vested in an autocratic "Supreme Leader"; a position held by Ali Khamenei since Khomeini's death in 1989.

On 22 September 1980, the Iraqi army invaded the western Iranian province of Khuzestan, initiating the Iran–Iraq War.

Iranian students crowd the U.S. Embassy in Tehran (November 4, 1979)

Iran hostage crisis

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On November 4, 1979, 52 United States diplomats and citizens were held hostage after a group of militarized Iranian college students belonging to the Muslim Student Followers of the Imam's Line, who supported the Iranian Revolution, took over the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and seized hostages.

Iran attempted to use the occupation to provide leverage in its demand for the return of the shah to stand trial in Iran

Anticipating the takeover of the embassy, the Americans tried to destroy classified documents in a furnace. The furnace malfunctioned and the staff was forced to use cheap paper shredders. Skilled carpet weavers were later employed to reconstruct the documents.

Two American hostages during the siege of the U.S. Embassy.

Barry Rosen, the embassy's press attaché, was among the hostages. The man on the right holding the briefcase is alleged by some former hostages to be future President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, although he, Iran's government, and the CIA deny this.

An anti-Iranian protest in Washington, D.C., in 1979. The front of the sign reads "Deport all Iranians" and "Get the hell out of my country", and the back reads "Release all Americans now".

A headline in an Islamic Republican newspaper on November 5, 1979, read "Revolutionary occupation of U.S. embassy".

A group photograph of the fifty-two hostages in a Wiesbaden hospital where they spent a few days after their release.

A heckler in Washington, D.C., leans across a police line toward a demonstration of Iranians in August 1980.

Americans expressed gratitude for Canadian efforts to rescue American diplomats during the hostage crisis.

Vice President George H. W. Bush and other VIPs wait to welcome the hostages home.

The hostages disembark Freedom One, an Air Force Boeing C-137 Stratoliner aircraft, upon their return.

A protest in Tehran on November 4, 2015, against the United States, Israel, and Saudi Arabia.

Simulation of the first day of the event, 3 November 2016, Tehran

Operation Eagle Claw remnant in the former embassy

The former US embassy, known as the "espionage den," "den of espionage", and "nest of spies" by the Iranians after the crisis.

In September 1980, Iraq invaded Iran, beginning the Iran–Iraq War.

In Iran, the crisis strengthened the prestige of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and the political power of theocrats who opposed any normalization of relations with the West.

When the authorities encouraged them to chant "death to America," the protesters instead chanted "death to the dictator" (referring to Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei) and other anti-government slogans.

People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran

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Iranian political-militant organization.

MEK leader Massoud Rajavi with Iraqi president Saddam Hussein.

MEK forces killed during Operation Mersad (Operation Forough Javidan)

MEK demonstrators carrying Lion and Sun flags and those of 'National Liberation Army of Iran'

Rudy Giuliani, Newt Gingrich, James T. Conway, Bill Richardson and other American politicians at the MEK event in 2018

Bomb debris after assassination of President Mohammad-Ali Rajaei and Prime Minister Mohammad-Javad Bahonar in 1981

Letter in Persian requesting that the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union lend any amount of money (up to US$300,000,000) to the Mujahedin Organization and requesting that the supporters of the Mujahedin Organization be allowed to cross the Soviet-Iranian border and be granted a temporary asylum; memorandum to the TsK KPSS from Olfat

The Nahj al-Balagha, a 10th century collection of the sayings of Ali ibn Abi Talib was the main source of inspiration for the MEK in its early years.

Entrance Gate of Ashraf City when populated by PMOI exilees

Stamp in memory of martyrs of the 7th Tir bombing

Mohammad-Reza Sa'adati, executed on charges of assisting the MEK

Its revolutionary interpretation of Islam contrasts with the conservative Islam of the traditional clergy as well as the populist version developed by Ayatollah Khomeini in the 1970s.

Near the end of the Iran–Iraq War, a military force of 7,000 members of the MEK, armed and equipped by Saddam's Iraq and calling itself the National Liberation Army of Iran (NLA) was founded.

The MEK also failed to assassinate some key figures, including Iran's current leader Ali Khameni.

Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps

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IRGC tank in 2012 military parade in Tehran

Qiam (left) and Sejjil 2 (right) ballistic missiles in a 2012 exhibition

One of the various types of fast attack craft used by the IRGC

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC; or Sepâh for short) is a branch of the Iranian Armed Forces, founded after the Iranian Revolution on 22 April 1979 by order of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

Among the dead was General Ahmad Kazemi, the IRGC ground forces commander, and Iran–Iraq War veteran.

On 17 January 2020, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) which mistakenly shot down a Ukrainian passenger plane, were protected by Ali Khamenei in the Friday sermon.