After the mass rallies of ninth and tenth of Muharram 1978, the Shah’s fall was foreseeable. Consequently the idea of establishing an interim organisation that was going to take charge in the aftermath of regime collapse had become the common theme among the pro-Khomeini clerics. The idea was translated into action when Ayatollah Morteza Motahari Khomeini’s most cherished pupils went to Paris only to return with Imam’s blessings and directions on how to build this organisation, a system of government that was named, most plausibly, the Council of Islamic Revolution (CIR).
The CIR support for IRP was a fact;. In times the two acted as parts of the same body. CIR’s constitution granted the organisation immense powers that were used by CIR clerics to solidify the position of IRP in the post-revolution Iranian system. In the second article of the CIR constitution we read:
Until the constitution is written and approved and the desired Islamic government is established, the Council of Revolution temporarily will have the same authorities and responsibilities that which according to the previous constitution [constitutional monarchy] and its amendment, belonged to the two houses of parliament and the institution of monarchy.206
The high position which CIR enjoyed during the interim period was inconsistent with Bazargan’s professional government mandate. However, Bazargan tried to defy this authority and criticised CIR for acting beyond its mandate. However with constitutional rights similar to those of the previous monarch and the twin parliaments put together, it is not clear what the CIR could possibly do to be considered as acting beyond its legal remits. The constitutional boundaries of CIR were so
Majid Saeli Kordehdeh, Shouraaie enghelabe eslamie iran [The Council of Islamic Revolution of Iran], Tehran, 2005, The Centre for Islamic Revolution Documents, p. 251.
immense that almost no decision they took could have been labelled unconstitutional or extra- constitutional. The only thing that could limit this organ was that it was supposed to be interim and temporary due to its lack of electoral legitimacy.
Initially CIR was supposed to be an interim organisation, accountable to Khomeini and in charge of three major assignments. First, to oversee the progress of the revolution so even in the case of Khomeini’s death, the revolution will continue its correct Islamic path. Second, to provide the logistics necessary for the success of the revolutionary government. And third, to supervise the transitional period between the fall of the monarchy and the establishment of a new legitimate system based on elections.207
However just like many other revolutionary bodies in the history of Islamic revolution, CIR exceeded its term of office and became part of what was later known as the “parallel government”. According to Nikki Keddie,
Khomeinists dominated what could be called the parallel Islamic government, especially The Council of the Islamic Revolution (CIR), which passed laws and competed with the PRG (Provisional Revolutionary Government) on many matters, though they worked together to defeat rebellious ethnic minorities and to impose financial order by nationalizing major industries and banks.208
CIR activities were not consistent to the efforts of PRG that was aimed at bringing calm and stability to the revolution- tormented Iran. Therefore it would not be wrong to blame CIR, partially at least, for the resignation of Bazargan’s provisional cabinet.
In a public speech given back then by Hojatoleslam Ali Khamenei in Imam Reza’s shrine at Mashad (Aug 1980), Khamenei reveals his account of CIR’s internal disputes.209
He divided the members of CIR into two sub-categories, 1.) those who strive for maximum implementation of Islam into the society and 2.) those who were cynical about the success of such a project.
He told the audience in Mashhad how their faction in the CIR have managed, albeit with the help of Imam Khomeini, to stop prime minister Bazargan from dissolving the Constitutional Assembly. He also revealed for the first time that there were several “verbal arguments” between their
207
Saeli Kordehdeh, Shouraaie enghelabe eslamie iran, pp. 33-35. 208
Nikki R. Keddie and Yann Richard, Modern Iran : roots and results of revolution / with a section by Yann Richard, Updated edition, London, Yale University Press, 2006, p. 245.
(Khomeinist) faction and Bazargan on the issue of the latter’s selection of assistants especially his persistence in choosing Amir Entezam as his deputy, who “was once Shahpor Bakhtiar’s close friend”. Khamenei added that Bazargan was reluctant to increase the scope of the activities aimed at removing the old regime personnel from their posts after the revolution. In addition Khamenei announced that that he and a few more of his colleagues in CIR were active in rejecting the plans for handing over the American hostages to the CIR. In this revealing speech Khamenei asserts that:
The day when the American advocates and statesmen, alongside their international brokers, were insisting that the American hostages should be in the custody of CIR and those two days during which this matter was discussed in the council were the most difficult days that we ever had during that era. The Western- educated, Western- oriented gentlemen who came from the West could not comprehend that CIR did not have the right to take the hostages from the students to keep them in its own foreign ministry. The days when these issues were discussed, some of the foreign press (the translation and original pieces of which we have read) were saying that: American statesmen have happily announcing that the problem of hostage taking will be resolved as soon as CIR, who is the acting executive power in the country, accepts the responsibility of the hostages. We stood firmly in the face of such actions. Me personally and two of the brothers have issued a warning and proclaimed that if the CIR took in the hostages we will make our objection public and we shall discuss the issue with Imam.210
During CIR’s short life, (from 12 January 1979 when Khomeini announced its establishment until 20 July 1980)211 the Council of Islamic Revolution has played an important role in securing the power in the hands of Ayatollah Khomeini and his loyal clergy. At first and in the absence of an elected parliament, the CIR was thought to act as a legislative power but the CIR have circulated the PRG’s executive power and become the most powerful revolutionary organisation in the country.
It must be acknowledged that Khomeini had originally invested a lot of trust in Mehdi Bazargan’s capabilities. Bazargan was the first Prime Minister after the revolution, a man whose adherence to Islam and trustworthiness were well-known; otherwise Khomeini was not going to ask him to form the Provisional Revolutionary Government. Furthermore, Mr. Bazargan was appointed by Khomeini as a member of the CIR before and after his job as a Prime Minister which shows that until the last days of the CIR’s life, Bazargan enjoyed a considerable level of Khomeini’s trust. According to Shaul Bakhash, initially the IRP clerics on CIR were in agreement with the Bazargan on the need to contain the revolutionary committees and courts and to impose a degree of central control.212
210
Jomhourie eslami, Esfand 26/ March 17, 1981
211 Saeli Kordehdeh, Shauraie enghelabe eslamie iran, p. 21-76.
During his term in office, Bazargan was doing what he could to prevent collision between PRG and CIR; he went as far as inviting CIR members to become partners in his government, a proposal that met the acceptance of CIR’s clergy members. Yet for reasons that were obvious from Khamenei’s speech, mentioned earlier in this chapter, the conducts of CIR were contradicting PRG’s activities. There was a clear conflict between the IRP clerics in the CIR and the other faction. It was this conflict of interests and ideologies together with other misfortunate events such as the hostage- taking that eventually resulted in the collective resignation of the Provisional Revolutionary Government of Mehdi Bazargan.