<P> Reza Shah was deposed in 1941 by an invasion of allied British and Soviet troops who believed him to be sympathetic with the allies' enemy Nazi Germany . His son, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was installed by the allies as monarch . Prince Pahlavi (later crowned shah) reigned until the 1979 revolution with one brief interruption . In 1953 he fled the country after a power - struggle with his Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh . Mossadegh is remembered in Iran for having been voted into power through a democratic election, nationalizing Iran's British - owned oil fields, and being deposed in a military coup d'état organized by an American CIA operative and aided by the British MI6 . Thus foreign powers were involved in both the installation and restoration of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi . </P> <P> The shah maintained a close relationship with the United States, both regimes sharing a fear of / opposition to the expansion of Soviet / Russian state, Iran's powerful northern neighbor . Leftist and Islamist groups attacked his government (often from outside Iran as they were suppressed within) for violating the Iranian constitution, political corruption, and the political oppression by the SAVAK (secret police). </P> <P> Shia cleric Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the Iranian revolution, first came to political prominence in 1963 when he led opposition to the Shah and his program of reforms known as the "White Revolution", which aimed to break up landholdings owned by some Shi'a clergy, allow women to vote and religious minorities to hold office, and grant women legal equality in marital issues . </P> <P> Khomeini declared that the Shah had "embarked on the destruction of Islam in Iran" and publicly denounced the Shah as a "wretched miserable man ." Following Khomeini's arrest on June 5, 1963, three days of major riots erupted throughout Iran, with Khomeini supporters claiming 15,000 were killed by police fire Khomeini was detained and kept under house arrest for 8 months . After his release he continued his agitation against the Shah, condemning the regimes's close cooperation with Israel and its "capitulations"--the extension of diplomatic immunity to American government personnel in Iran . In November 1964, Khomeini was re-arrested and sent into exile where he remained for 14 years until the revolution . </P>

What was the goal of the iranian revolution