Perhaps the most significant event in Iranian history is the Islamic Revolution that culminated in the establishment of the Islamic Republic of Iran on April 1, 1979. In 1978, opposition to the Shah's regime mounted and following a nationwide strike, the Shah fled to Egypt. The next month, the Ayatollah Sayyed Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini, who the Shah had exiled, returned to Iran. The Ayatollah was a conservative Shi'a cleric considered the figurehead of the Islamic Revolution. Additioanlly, Khomeini was the first Supreme Leaderof the new Iranian Republic until his death in 1989.
