Millions take to the streets across Iran to celebrate the 47th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution and reject the ongoing threats of military intervention.

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Last Wednesday, February 11, an estimated 26 million people — 28% of Iran’s population — gathered in thousands of villages, towns andcitiesacrossthecountryto mark the 47th anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, which overthrew the Western-backed monarchy of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.

The gigantic turnout is a striking display of unity and defiance, in the face of the increasing threats of military action by Israel and the United States.

To understand the anniversary’s significance, it is necessary to revisit what led up to the revolution 47 years ago.

The Islamic Revolution was a response to the tyrannical and corrupt, Western-backed Imperial State of Iran, led byShah Pahlavi,whose rule banned trade unions, opposition parties and independent media, andwhosebrutal “secret police force created withCIAassistance and trained byMossad,” — known as SAVAK — had:

tortured thousands of political prisoners using methods including whipping, electric shocks, nail-pulling, mock executions, and sexual violence. A former SAVAK torturertestified in courtthat he had personally tortured hundreds, describing routine use of whips, electric prods, and forced confessions under extreme duress. Amnesty International’s 1976 reportcataloguedwidespread use of the bastinado, boiling-water enemas, and acid drips, confirming systematic state terror designed to crush any opposition.

In the year leading up to the dictatorship’s collapse, Iran was gripped by protests and months-long strikes, where an estimated 10,000 people werekilled.

During this time, in January 1979, Pahlavi reportedly left Iran for “medical treatment” in the U.S. and appointedShapour Bakhtiarto head a provisional government in his absence. Days after he left,The Washington Postpublished areportclaiming Pahlavi left the country with a staggering $20 billion of the nation’s wealth.

Source: Global Research