Aftermath of the Iranian Revolution

Aftermath of the Iranian Revolution
Part of the Cold War
Date 11 February 1979 – December 1983[1] Location Iran Result Islamic Republican Party victory[1] Ruhollah Khomeini consolidates power Referendum and establishment of Islamic Republic of Iran Iran hostage crisis and resignation of the Provisional Revolutionary Government Rebellions in Kordestan, Khuzestan, Khorasan and Baluchistan suppressed NEQAB coup d'état failed Impeachment and exile of Abolhassan Banisadr Crackdown on opposition and political opposition parties banned Implementation of the "Iranian Cultural Revolution" Hijab for all women by law Iran–Iraq War commences (and continues until 1988) Armed opposition largely marginalized; low-level insurgency continues
Belligerents
Political: Islamic Republican Party Combatant Clergy Association Islamic Coalition Society Armed groups: Army Revolutionary Guards Revolutionary Committees Mojahedin of the Islamic Revolution Organization Hezbollah Muslim Student Followers of the Imam's Line	Political only: Freedom Movement National Front JAMA Movement of Militant Muslims Nation Party SUMKA Muslim People's Republic Party National Democratic Front National Resistance Movement of Iran Pan-Iranist Party Azadegan Armed groups: People's Mujahedin Tudeh Party Peykar Furqan Neqab Union of Iranian Communists Union of Communist Militants Workers' Way Fedaian (majority) Fedaian (minority) Fedai Guerrillas Laborers' Party Turkmen People's Cultural and Political Society Separatists: KDPI Komala DRFLA PFLA AFLA  Iraq Sudan Royal Saudi Air Force
Commanders and leaders
Ruhollah Khomeini Morteza Motahari † Mohammad Beheshti † Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani Abulhassan Banisadr[a] Mohammad-Ali Rajai † Mohammad-Javad Bahonar † Ali Khamenei (WIA) Mohammad-Reza Mahdavi Kani Mir-Hossein Mousavi Qasem-Ali Zahirnejad Mohsen Rezaee	Mehdi Bazargan Abulhassan Banisadr[a] Shapour Bakhtiar Mohammad Kazem Shariatmadari (POW) Sadegh Ghotbzadeh  Karim Sanjabi Dariush Forouhar (POW) Kazem Sami Habibollah Payman Noureddin Kianouri (POW) Akbar Goodarzi † Massoud Rajavi Mousa Khiabani † Ashraf Dehghani Mansoor Hekmat Rahman Ghasemlou Foad Soltani † Saddam Hussein
Strength
Iranian Armed Forces: Total forces 207,500 (June 1979); 305,000 (peak); 240,000 (final)[1] Theater forces: 6,000–10,000[1]	2,000 to 10,000[1]–15,000[2] (MEK); 3,000 (Paykar);[2] 5,000 (Fedai factions in total);[1][2] 10,000 to 25,000[1]–30,000[2] (KDPI), 5,000 (Komolah)[2]
Casualties and losses
3,000 servicemen (conservative estimate)[1]	1,000 estimated KIA (MEK);[1] 4,000 estimated KIA (KDPI)[1]
10,000 estimated KIA (total)[1] not including Iran–Iraq War
^ a b Abulhassan Banisadr was President of Iran until June 1981, thus a member of the ruling group. After he was deposed by the Islamic Republican Party-dominated parliament, he went exile, fighting against the system.

Following the Iranian Revolution, which overthrew the Shah of Iran, in February 1979, Iran was in a "revolutionary crisis mode" from this time until 1982^[3] or 1983^[4] when forces loyal to the revolution's leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, consolidated power. During this period, Iran's economy and the apparatus of government collapsed; its military and security forces were in disarray.

Rebellions by Marxist guerrillas and federalist parties against Islamist forces in Khuzistan, Kurdistan, and Gonbad-e Qabus started in April 1979, some of them taking more than a year to suppress. Concern about breakdown of order was sufficiently high to prompt discussion by the US National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski over the danger of a Soviet invasion/incursion (the USSR sharing a border with Iran) and whether the US should be prepared to counter it.^[5]

By 1983, Khomeini and his supporters had crushed the rival factions and consolidated power. Elements that played a part in both the crisis and its end were the Iran hostage crisis, the invasion of Iran by Saddam Hussein's Iraq, and the presidency of Abolhassan Banisadr.^[3][4]