The 1979 Iranian Revolution shifted US policy from promoting Islam to denouncing it

Evidence

The Iranian Revolution of 1979 was the pivotal moment that shifted US attitudes against what the West soon labeled “Islamic fundamentalism.” The popular revolt successfully toppled the US-backed Shah, who had ruled with an iron fist. The revolution was the product of deep discontent among workers, students, peasants, and traders (or bazaaris) against the Shah. Iran’s workers, in particular its oil workers, were the key muscle that brought the Shah down, but were unable to play an independent role. This allowed Khomeini to maneuver between various factions over the course of two years and finally to take power for the Islamic Republican Party, as historian Nikki Keddie and others have argued. When Khomeini took over the leadership of the revolution and established what he called an Islamic state, it provided inspiration to organizations of political Islam in the region, who saw their hopes and dreams realized. The United States ratcheted up the negative “Islam” frame. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 407

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to ch9 claims that the Iran hostage crisis opened the door to Reagan’s war on terror and that Iranian oil workers powered the 1979 revolution. — connects to: US policymakers treated Islamist movements as allies before the Iranian Revolution. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 473; Islam organizations were US allies before the 1979 Iranian Revolution — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 389; Iran’s 1979 revolution redirected US fear from secular nationalism to Islamism — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 246 (+7 more)

Broader Connections

• Iran’s 1979 events made Islamism the coming Green Menace for the US. #exemplifies (0.85) — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 254
• Cold War logic led the US to fund Islamists even after Iran’s revolution #qualifies (0.85) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 247
• Iran’s 1979 revolution redirected US fear from secular nationalism to Islamism #qualifies (0.80) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 246
• An intercivilizational quasi war between Islam and the West developed after 1979 #expands (0.80)
• Iran’s 1979 revolution shifted the frame from Arabs to Islamism #qualifies (0.75) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 455
• Political Islam was not uniformly seen as an enemy before the Iranian Revolution #corroborates (0.75)
• Western scholars saw Islam as withering until the Iranian revolution changed minds #corroborates (0.70) — Robert Irwin, For Lust of Knowing, 478
• The American public first linked Islam with terrorism only after the Iranian Revolution. #qualifies (0.70) — Sahar F. Aziz, The Racial Muslim, 669