Hand in hand, these secularists and the religious drove Muhammad Reza Shah from the throne in January 1979. What would become of Iran? The centuries-old tradition of kingship had collapsed and the future was uncertain. In its original stages, this revolution, under the direction of Khomeini, was seen as a plan that would reorder Iran's social hierarchy and renounce western power and influence. According to Mackey, this revolution was "powered by political, economic, and social inequities of Pahlavi Iran and driven by nationalism."" However, this revolution soon turned into another revolution, or a revolution within a revolution, as groups and political parties struggled to define the culture of Iran, which was then in a state of turmoil. .
Khomeini's eventual return to Iran, on January 31, 1979, was a triumphant one. Greeted by hundreds of car horns, the word was out on the streets of Tehran that the "agha amad, the respectful one has returned-. Although he was 78 years of age on the day of his return, his supporters saw him as the man who had battled against the shah for a decade and a half. For many, he was viewed as the savior of Iran's Islamic identity. Could he live up to these high expectations?.
On February 5, 1979, Khomeini introduced Mehdi Bazargan as interim prime minister. Bazargan was an extremely religious man who came out of the National Front. He was Western-educated and was a pre-revolutionary writer who had reshaped Marxist ideology in terms of Islam. He had a deep respect for the rule of law, parliamentary democracy, basic freedoms, and respect for the individual. Although handpicked by Khomeini, these were two very different individuals. Most of what Bazargan cherished was rooted in Western political thinking, which Khomeini saw as secularism, a hated cultural import from the imperial West. Continuing his sweeping changes, n February 10, Khomeini ordered that the curfew should be defied.