On January 16, 1979, Shah Pahlavi and his immediate entourage
left the country, reputedly taking a vacation. Antigovernment
militants rejoiced in the streets and toppled a public statue of
the shah. They were confident he never would return—unless
in custody, to stand trial for what they considered a long list of
crimes against the people.
The shah left governmental control in the hands of a newly
appointed prime minister, Dr. Shahpour Bakhtiar, a leader of
the National Front. “Now you have everything in your hands,”
he told Baktiar at the Tehran airport before departing. “I hope
you will succeed. I entrust Iran to you and to God.”^29
Bakhtiar, a reformer who was working to change the consti-
tution, set up a Regency Council to oversee government affairs
in the shah’s absence. His efforts came far too late. Trying to
allay the developing revolution was like trying to cap a volcano
with a pot lid. Khomeini scoffed at the prime minister and his
new council. He considered Bakhtiar illegitimate because he
was controlled by the shah. Khomeini announced instead an
Islamic Revolutionary Council and made plans to fly home to
Iran in triumph.
Bakhtiar tried to prevent Khomeini’s return, realizing the
people needed only the presence of their legendary ayatollah
for the revolution to explode. He ordered airports closed. But
Bakhtiar’s authority was evaporating. Khomeini arrived in
Tehran from exile on February 1, 1979. He quickly signaled his
intention to topple the shah’s regime. Visiting a city cemetery
where slain revolutionaries lay buried, he remarked acidly
that “when we want to name a government, we get instead a
cemetery full of people.”^30
For a dangerous week, civil war appeared imminent. While
revolution-minded militants rampaged through Tehran, an
army of four hundred thousand soldiers remained under the
control of Bakhtiar’s government. Fighting broke out between
supporters of the revolution and loyalists to the shah. However,
many troops soon began to defect to the cause of the revolution.
Khomeini’s new council named a prime minister of a transitional
The Shah’s Government Collapses 53