A state propaganda effort backfires

During a Tehran visit, Jimmy Carter celebrated the Shah’s leadership. Revolutionary supporters later cited the speech as evidence that Washington ignored repression to preserve an allied monarchy.

Carter’s endorsement demonstrated the strategic relationship linking arms sales, oil and regional security to the monarchy.

The newspaper Ettela'at printed an article portraying Ayatollah Khomeini as a foreign-backed reactionary. Revolution supporters saw it as a state-directed insult intended to discredit religious...

Seminary networks in Qom treated the article as an attack on both Khomeini and the independence of the religious establishment.

The article spread rapidly among students and clerics, helping turn outrage into organized protest.

Thousands protested the Ettela'at article and defended Khomeini, transforming a press controversy into open opposition to the monarchy.

Police opened fire during the Qom protest. The disputed death toll became less important politically than the shared memory of martyrdom.

Supporters later remembered the confrontation as a moment when public defiance overcame fear of the Shah's security apparatus.

Religious commemorative practices created a forty-day rhythm through which local deaths could generate national mobilization.

A forty-day memorial for those killed in Qom became a mass anti-government demonstration in Tabriz.