Ruhollah Khomeini

Ruhollah Khomeini was a Shia cleric who became the leading opponent of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Exiled after denouncing the shah, he developed the doctrine of clerical guardianship and returned during the 1979 revolution. As supreme leader he oversaw the destruction of rival political movements, the hostage crisis, the Iran–Iraq War and severe legal and social repression. He died in 1989.

Dalia Sofer’s The Septembers of Shiraz and other novels of revolutionary Iran depict families living under the state created in Khomeini’s name, even when he remains a distant public presence. Fiction often explores the gap between broad opposition to the shah and the clerical monopoly that followed. His recorded speeches and symbolic authority make him pervasive in stories without requiring frequent direct scenes.

James Clavell’s Whirlwind is set in February 1979, Struan’s helicopter crews are scattered across Iran as the monarchy collapses and revolutionary forces compete for control.

In non-fiction, Ruhollah Khomeini is discussed in Ben Macintyre’s The Siege and Ben Macintyre’s Redwood. Ben Macintyre’s The Siege approaches the subject through political ambition and government, court politics and dynastic power, and military command and battlefield decision-making.