The revolutionary leader who established the Islamic Republic of Iran in 1979 was?

• A. Ayatollah Khomeini
• B. Reza Shah Pahlavi
• C. Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi
• D. Mohammad Mossadegh

Answer: (A)

This item tests who became the central figure in turning Iran into an Islamic Republic in 1979 and shaping its system of governance. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini was the driving force behind the revolution, bringing together religious authority and political leadership to challenge the Shah’s regime. After years in exile, he returned to Iran in early 1979 and quickly became the movement’s leader. Following the Shah’s overthrow, a referendum approved replacing the monarchy with an Islamic Republic, and a new constitution established a theocratic system with Khomeini as the Supreme Leader—the ultimate authority over both state and religious matters. His ideology of governance under Islamic rule, known as Velayat-e faqih, provided the framework for combining political power with religious authority, making him the figure who established Iran’s Islamic Republic.

The other figures were associated with different eras or systems: one was a monarch who attempted modernization from a royal throne, another was the last Shah whose regime was toppled, and another was a 1950s nationalist prime minister. None of them founded or directed the creation of the Islamic Republic in 1979.