Fun fact: The conservative religious state was formed when the US wouldn’t let go of proxy control of the country and it led to a revolution from US-hating hardliners and fundamentalists who overthrew the Shah and started a revolution in 1979. Whether or not the US’s installation of the Shah in the 50’s led to this outcome can be debated, but the fact is the US and Europe got really concerned that Iran was going to start managing their own oil and the oil around the region. (Iran was basically the center of the Middle East for a long time, and they could have easily risen to a first-world, progressive super-power if they had control over their own resources and elections.)
Fun fact: The conservative religious state was formed when the US wouldn’t let go of proxy control of the country and it led to a revolution from US-hating hardliners and fundamentalists who overthrew the Shah and started a revolution in 1979. Whether or not the US’s installation of the Shah in the 50’s led to this outcome can be debated, but the fact is the US and Europe got really concerned that Iran was going to start managing their own oil and the oil around the region. (Iran was basically the center of the Middle East for a long time, and they could have easily risen to a first-world, progressive super-power if they had control over their own resources and elections.)