Iran is at the centre of global attention as protests and state repression continues to shape daily life inside the country. To understand the significance of the current Iranian revolution, you must understand the history of the 1979 Iranian revolution. This revolution did not appear out of nowhere, it had been building up for decades and decades of oppression and dictatorship. Iran’s current crisis reflects a long struggle over power, identity and freedom that spans before and after the revolutions itself.
Before 1979, Iran was ruled by Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, whose reign pursued rapid modernisation and close ties with the West. In urban centres such as Tehran, Iran appeared increasingly modern and outward-looking. While women in the UK in 1979 were protesting for liberation rights, women in Iran had never been freer. Many women had access to education, employment and legal rights that were very uncommon at the time in this region. Persian women had the freedom to dress however they liked such as miniskirts, fitted dresses and uncovered hair, whereas others decided to dress more modestly or wear headscarves but the choice of how to dress was entirely up to the individual. Dress code reflected Iran’s social diversity rather than state control.
The 1979 Iranian revolution was a turning point in Iran’s history. This revolution brought together many unlikely coalitions, students, workers, leftist and bazaar merchants, despite different ideological views, they were united by opposition to authoritarian rule, inequality and foreign domination. As protests escalated throughout 1978, state violence only strengthened public opposition. Nationwide strikes ruined the economy, while Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini emerged as the symbolic leader of this movement.
In January 1979, the Shah fled Iran and within weeks the monarchy collapsed and was replaced by the Islamic Republic following a national referendum. However, this revolution did not lead to political pluralism as many thought it would instead, power was consolidated under a new constitution that placed ultimate authority in the hands of the supreme leader. Former allies were marginalised, dissent was criminalised and any opposition was suppressed.
After the revolution, one of the most immediate and visible changes after 1979 were concerned with women’s dress. The Islamic republican introduced mandatory hijab laws which required women to cover their hair and dress modestly in public. By the early 1980s, non-compliance with this law could result in fines, arrests or imprisonment.
What once been a personal choice became a legal obligation and lead to many women resenting their religion due to the iranian regime. Clothing turned into a symbol of ideological loyalty and was enforced by morality police and state institutions. Over time resistance emerged in everyday forms such as loosening headscarves, wearing bright colours and even wearing hijabs which were see through. These small acts carried significant political meaning in a system that policed personal appearance.
Iran’s current crisis cannot be reduced to a single moment because this movement has been building up for decades but the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini a 22-year-old woman who was arrested for breaching hijab laws, this acted as a catalyst. Her death in morality police custody sparked nationwide protests under “Woman, Life, Freedom”. These protests were led largely by women and young people, this was not just about the hijab it was about the years of oppression, economic hardship, political exclusion, censorship and state violence.
The economic collapse of Iran’s national currency created the conditions that allowed protests to spread. In the years leading up to the current unrest of Iran, the Iranian rial experienced a dramatic fall in value, wiping out savings, driving up food prices and pushing millions closer to poverty. This was a crisis of survival, basic necessities became increasingly unaffordable. Young people facing unemployment and found economic independence increasingly impossible.
Businesses closed down following strikes throughout the industry and members of the public who are not protesting still face violence from the police in Iran. Maysam Mousavi was walking home from work when he was shot by agents positioned above the Parand shopping centre, where his neighbours found him in the street and informed his family yet out of fear for arrest his family could not take him to hospital until the following morning where he died after surgery due to his wounds. This challenges the narrative that the Islamic Republic has held that only “agitators” or “instigators” are targeted but instead it shows that in periods of unrest, everyday life itself has become political. His death reflects a widening reality that when the force is deployed across cities, the boundary between protester and bystander erodes and everyone falls victim. Grief has become political and funerals turn to protests.
The people of Iran will not rest until justice and freedom is brought to everyone. Iran’s revolution did not end in 1979, it continued in classrooms, in the streets, in quiet acts of refusal and in the names of those who lost their lives, but society refuses to be quiet any longer the people are rioting for basic human rights and will not stop until the regime has fallen and peace reaches Iran once and for all.
