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Article: Iran: a revolution that lost its way. (International)
- Article from:
- The Economist (US)
- Article date:
- February 11, 1989
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1989 Economist Newspaper Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Iran A revolution that lost its way
"WE ARE behind schedule." So says Iran's President Ali Khamenei in a rare example of revolutionary understatement. On most of the anniversaries since February 11 1979, when Ayatollah Khomeini installed his Islamic government in Tehran in place of the Shah, Iran has preferred to trumpet the revolution's achievements.
On this anniversary, its tenth, the revolution still has something to celebrate: its own survival, and the survival of its leaders, for longer than many outsiders expected. There is a ceasefire, if not yet a formal peace, in the ruinous eight-year Gulf war against Iraq. But the war ended with a near-defeat ...