Tehran, January 16, The Iran Project – On January 16, 1979, when the Etellaat newspaper reported that Shah already left the country with a large bold headline of “the Shah left”, people poured into the streets, celebrating not Shah's "departure" but his "escape" from the country.

In fact, they realized well that the anti-Shah resistance has forced the puppet ruler to flee after 37 years of despotic rule.

Unlike the series of increasing unrest and protests across the country in 1978 and 1979, no one of the pro-regime elements either inside or outside the country could predicted that the Shah's regime is experiencing its final days and is in imminent danger of overthrowing.

Like any other political and social change, the Shah's escape from Iran can be traced back to the sequences of events occurred in the prior months or year. In fact, due to the synthesis of developments inside and outside the country Shah and his family forced to exit the country.

Looking into the historical resources on the revolutionary era of 1978 and 1979, the following incidences are introduced as the reasons paving the way for Shah's escape.

Internal Developments

In 1978 revolutionaries' strikes in different firms particularly in the National Oil Company and increasing protests in different cities had almost paralyzed Iran.

The popular revolutionary upsurge under the various names such as 40th day ceremony for martyrs across Iran, the regime's earlier massive killing of protesters in September 1978, and the failure of Azhari military government in restoring peace and order had fully disabled the regime to sooth the public anger and resentment.

This was based on the mentioned grounds that the later developments came and significantly catalyzed the Islamic revolutionary movement of Iranian Muslims. The formation of "Revolution Council" following Imam Khomeini's decree on January 12 is considered a highly effective move by Islamic revolutionary elements which made Shah felt hopeless.

Formed by the clergies fully trusted by Imam Khomeini, the council was charged to set the ground for the establishment of an interim government.

Appointing the prime minister, drafting the Islamic Revolution Guardian Corps (IRGC) statute, establishing the Islamic courts, holding referendum and setting the preliminary stages for adoption of the country's constitution were among the other major defined responsibilities of the council.

International developments; Guadeloupe Conference

Along with the flow of the developments inside the country some incidents outside Iran left Shah with no choice but to make an extremely painful decision. To put it simply, the meeting by four Western leaders who convened in Guadeloupe, a fascinating French overseas territory, discussed the upheavals in Iran agreeing that supporting Shah is no longer possible.

Impressed by the Iranians' resistance against the regime's violent crackdown, the French President Giscard d’Estaing, US President Jimmy Carter, British Prime Minister James Callaghan, and German chancellor Helmut Schmidt were sufficiently convinced to abandon Shah's support to preserve their own interests in Iran.

Thus, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi who initially took power by the direct support of West in 1941 and had managed to get rid of a serious threat for his survival in August 1953 through the plot of coup by West , this time was convinced that the West's permanent support has come to end.