The Shah leaves Iran

The proposed government became part of a final attempt to transfer authority before the monarch left Iran.

From exile, Khomeini announced a revolutionary council charged with guiding the transition and preparing a new political order.

Its authority was presented as arising from the mass movement rather than from institutions appointed by the Shah.

The declaration called for elected representatives to consider a constitution for an Islamic republic.

The body brought together clerical and lay figures while much of its membership initially remained secret for security reasons.

Millions interpreted the departure as a victory over dictatorship, foreign dependency and the political order created after the 1953 coup.

Shapour Bakhtiar tried to preserve a constitutional monarchy, but most revolutionary forces rejected a government still appointed by the Shah.

Military and state institutions lost cohesion as popular committees, strikes and revolutionary leadership gained practical power.

Prison doors opened for activists from Islamist, Marxist and other opposition currents as the royal security system disintegrated.

The releases embodied a central revolutionary demand: freedom for those imprisoned for resisting monarchy and repression.