Rajai wins the presidential election

Khomeini dismissed Bani-Sadr from the presidency following the Majlis vote. Iran’s early wartime president lost office as clerical leaders consolidated their control over the political system.

A bomb concealed in a tape recorder wounded Ali Khamenei during a mosque appearance. The attack injured a senior revolutionary figure months before he became Iran’s wartime president.

An explosion at the Islamic Republican Party’s Tehran headquarters killed Mohammad Beheshti and many senior officials. The loss intensified Iran’s political emergency during the war.

A CIA assessment judged that Iraq sought to use the Israeli reactor raid to weaken Syrian and Libyan support for Iran. The document examined regional realignment during the ongoing war.

A British parliamentary answer recorded £85.7 million in petroleum-related imports from Iran in 1980. Oil commerce continued during the year that Iraq invaded Iran.

Dean Fischer said Washington was unaware of Israeli shipments to Iran. He restated restrictions on U.S.-built arms after reports linked an Argentine cargo-plane crash to military supplies.

Ousted president Bani-Sadr escaped Iran aboard a military aircraft and received asylum in France. His flight moved a major strand of Iranian political opposition into exile while the war continued.

Khomeini issued the decree confirming Rajai as president after the July election. The endorsement made his authority conditional on adherence to Islam, the Constitution and the country’s interests.

UPI cited diplomatic sources alleging British recovery tanks sold through Jordan were intended for Iraq. The report also described planned work on Chieftains captured from Iran.

UPI relayed an ABC investigation into Israeli military supplies reaching Iran during the hostage crisis. The reporting described spare-parts transactions that predated the later Iran-Contra channel.