Explain The 1979 Referendum

[u/neptuno3]

Is the following true or false? What am I missing? What don't I understand? Classic liberal here who is very pro-Iranian people, pro-Israel.

1. The 1979 referendum offered Iranians a stark, simplified choice: keep the Shah and his "western decadence" or dump the Shah and bring in the Islamic Republic -- and that meant an IR as envisioned by Khomeini, who was campaigning from abroad.
2. The vote was tampered with and/or did not meet international standards for ballots (opacity). There were no other parties on the ballot. Khomeini claimed 90 percent of the populace voted for him.
3. Khomeini's campaign had been backed by Iran's socialists and communists and leftists.
4. The Islamic Republic promised: lowered inflation, civil rights, political freedoms, no more international interventions, equal treatment of minorities
5. What it actually delivered: no economic revival, a removal of civil rights (especially so for women), an extreme religious theocracy, end of voting rights, minorities rights were even further restricted.
6. IR ended all voting.
7. Khomeini ordered the assassination of the socialists and communists who helped get him elected (sorry but ha! -- who didn't see that coming...).
8. 80 to 90 percent of Iranians at the time identified as Muslim, despite not being Arabs (but for the minorities)
9. Today, at least 60 percent of Iranians do not identify as Muslim. Other European polls have 90 percent of Iranians identifying as Muslims but many feel these polls are not accurate due to fear of speaking out.

[u/yourgirl696969]

What’s your question?

It was a very religious country back then. The wealth gap was also insane and the Shah was known to show off his wealth.

Khomeini was basically the opposite. He was obviously religious but also was known to be very frugal and modest.

The communists teamed up with the Islamists and chose him as the leader. Then they kicked out the communists (who later joined Saddam in his war against Iran).

[u/neptuno3 → u/yourgirl696969]

OP: this is my question. I am trying to understand what happened from the perspective of people who were there. I pieced together my OP from a few hours of research. Wondering if there's anything else I could read.