Jan 16 marks the 40th anniversary of the beginning of the end for Iran’s Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi after months of turmoil that led to the demise of the 2,500-years-old monarchy. A story about the momentous event is reproduced below.

JUBILANT Iranians danced in the streets of Tehran on Tuesday (Jan 16, 1979), chanting “The shah is gone” as word spread swiftly through the capital that the monarch had left the country. Their joy spread to other parts of the Arab world and to Paris, where the shah’s arch foe, Ayatollah Khomeini, greeted the news with “God is great.” Statues of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi were pulled to the ground in Tehran and some Iranians cut his portrait out of banknotes. Horns honked, bakers gave away free cakes and cookies, and Iranians dumped candy into passing cars. They sprinkled each other with rosewater as they heard that the shah had slipped out of the country and flown to Egypt. Throughout Iran, cheering demonstrators held aloft portraits of Khomeini, the self-exiled leader who directed the religious opposition to the shah. He has vowed to establish an Islamic republic in Iran, where more than 90 per cent of the population is Muslim.

The shah, under withering religious and political pressure, left unannounced early Tuesday for Egypt and is expected to go to the United States. He said his departure was for medical treatment, but there is wide speculation he will not return. When the shah arrived in Aswan in southern Egypt he was greeted by small crowds along the route he travelled with President Anwar Sadat. In Tehran, the joy was mixed with bitterness towards the man who had held virtually absolute rule. Other Iranians expressed hope their country could return to normalcy after a year of anti-shah strikes and rioting that took at least 1,500 lives.

Published in Dawn, January 17th, 2019