Since the early 1900s Iran was governed by a Constitutional Monarchy. Parliament voted on a Prime Minster and the Shah (head of state/Monarch) would grant ruling power to whoever won that vote.
In 1953 Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh who won a parliamentary vote on his country having greater control of oil reserves which were run by a British oil company. Mosaddegh wanted an audit of the oil companies books to verify they were being paid the proper royalties and wanted greater control over the oil reserves.
This didn’t go over well with the Brits so with help from the US they organized an overthrow of the duly elected leader of Iran and gave total power to the current Shah Raza Pahlavi. That Shah ruled from 1953-1979. It was a dictatorship which included imprisoning and torturing any political opposition. While the abuses eased up some in the 60s in the 70s leftist guerillas began an offensive against the government in an attempt to overthrow the Shah. The abuse of opposition by the Shah intensified. The Shah was overthrown early in 1979 by a group led by Ruhollah Khomeini known as the Ayatollah Khomeini. President Jimmy Carter gave the Shah asylum so he could get cancer treatment. The people and the religious leaders blamed the US for being complicit with the Shah’s regime.
Nov 1979 students stormed the US embassy and took hostages for over a year. Ayatollahs have been in charge ever since.
IMO – the claim Iran started this war in 1979 is not true. Iran has a reason to be upset with the US. For those of you who would object to them taking US hostages how is that any different from what we have done in Venezuela except it was their head of state. Legitimate or not.
