7 The 100 Most Influential World Leaders of All Time 7Islamic state. Iran’s Shī‘ite clerics largely took over the
formulation of governmental policy, while Khomeini
arbitrated between the various revolutionary factions and
made final decisions on important matters requiring his
personal authority. First his regime took political ven-
geance, with hundreds of people who had worked for the
shah’s regime reportedly executed. The remaining domes-
tic opposition was then suppressed, its members being
systematically imprisoned or killed. Iranian women were
required to wear the veil, Western music and alcohol were
banned, and the punishments prescribed by Islamic law
were reinstated.
The main thrust of Khomeini’s foreign policy was the
complete abandonment of the shah’s pro-Western orien-
tation and the adoption of an attitude of unrelenting
hostility toward both superpowers. In addition, Iran tried
to export its brand of Islamic revivalism to neighbouring
Muslim countries. Khomeini sanctioned Iranian militants’
seizure of the U.S. embassy in Tehrān on Nov. 4, 1979, and
their holding of American diplomatic personnel as hos-
tages for more than a year. He also refused to countenance
a peaceful solution to the Iran-Iraq War, which had begun
in 1980 and which he insisted on prolonging in the hope of
overthrowing S·addām. Khomeini finally approved a cease-
fire in 1988 that effectively ended the war.
Iran’s course of economic development foundered
under Khomeini’s rule, and his pursuit of victory in the
Iran-Iraq War ultimately proved futile. Khomeini, how-
ever, was able to retain his charismatic hold over Iran’s
Shī‘ite masses, and he remained the supreme political and
religious arbiter in the country until his death in 1989. His
gold-domed tomb in Tehrān’s Behesht-e Zahrā’ cemetery
has since become a shrine for his supporters. Ideologically,
he is best remembered for having developed the concept
of vilāyat-e faqīh (“guardianship of the jurist”) in a series of