1979 - The Iranian Revolution, the siege of Makkah, and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan

RIYADH: In a region in which major geopolitical events are almost commonplace, the trio of seismic shocks that erupted in 1979 made it a year like no other. 

A single thread connected the Iranian revolution, the siege of Makkah and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan: The birth of a brand of Islamic extremism that would have catastrophic consequences for millions, with repercussions that continue to reverberate around the entire world to this day. 

The first rumblings began the previous year, amid widespread disquiet in Iran at the increasingly oppressive rule of Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, whose “White Revolution” reforms were seen by many as pushing the Westernization of the country too far, too quickly. 

A religious demonstration in January 1978 in the city of Qom, a center of Shiite scholarship 130 kilometers southwest of the capital, Tehran, was broken up violently when security forces opened fire, killing as many as 300 protesters, mainly seminary students. 

Demonstrations spread to cities across the country, culminating by the end of the year in widespread strikes and protests amid demands that the shah step down and Grand Ayatollah Khomeini be allowed to return from exile in France. 

On Jan. 16, 1979, the shah and his family left Iran, never to return. On Feb. 1, Khomeini arrived at Mehrabad Airport in Tehran, stepping off an Air France flight from Paris after 15 years in exile to a tumultuous welcome by millions of Iranians. 

Within 10 days, the last remaining vestiges of the old regime had collapsed and Shapour Bakhtiar, the prime minister appointed by the shah barely a month earlier, fled into exile. 

On April 1, 1979, the results of a national referendum were revealed and, with the support of more than 98 percent of the voters, Khomeini declared the creation of the Islamic Republic of Iran, of which he would be supreme leader. 

The Iranian Revolution was founded on a sectarian constitutional basis that emphasized the export of its revolutionary ideology, and so it fueled sectarian tensions across the region. 

The revolution introduced the Guardianship of the Jurist theory (Wilayat Al-Faqih), a sectarian principle that positions the Islamic jurist, or expert on Islamic law, above the state and its people, granting him ultimate authority over foreign relations and national security. 

Crucially, the guardian jurist perceives himself to be the leader of all Muslims worldwide, his authority not limited to Iranians or even Shiites. It was this claim of universal leadership that most alarmed other countries in the region, as the theory disregards state sovereignty, promotes sectarian groups, and grants the revolutionary regime the “right” to intervene in the affairs of other nations. 

The new Islamic Republic’s commitment to the principle of exporting its revolution further exacerbated regional hostilities, with the Iran-Iraq War that broke out in 1980 serving as a flash point. 

Iran’s revolutionary agenda had sought to undermine Iraq, a pivotal Arab country, by inciting and supporting Shiite groups and militias with training, financial aid and weapons. Ultimately, it would be these groups that formed the basis of the militias Iran leveraged extensively after the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, when Saddam Hussein’s Baath regime fell. 

It was not long before the fears among Iran’s neighbors that the revolution would spread throughout the region appeared to be realized. 

On Nov. 20, 1979, following the dawn prayer in the Grand Mosque of Makkah, more than 200 armed men, led by Juhayman Al-Otaibi, a religious extremist, seized the sacred site and announced that the long-awaited Mahdi, the harbinger of the day of judgment, prophesied to bring justice after a period of oppression, had appeared. This supposed Mahdi was Al-Otaibi’s brother-in-law, Mohammed Al-Qahtani. 

Al-Otaibi instructed his followers to lock the doors of the mosque and position snipers atop its minarets, which overlook Makkah. Meanwhile, the man identified as the Mahdi, who believed himself to be under divine protection, was swiftly shot by Saudi special forces when he appeared during the clashes without protection. 

The siege of Makkah continued for 14 days, ending with the capture and execution of Al-Otaibi and dozens of his surviving fellow insurgents. 

While there was no evidence to suggest direct Iranian involvement in the seizure of the Grand Mosque, the revolutionary climate in Iran provided ideological inspiration for many extremist movements and armed organizations during that period. 

The Saudi government’s robust response to the siege sent a clear and unequivocal message to extremist factions: rebellion and violent ideologies would not be tolerated. This strategy of deterrence proved instrumental in safeguarding the Kingdom from further violence and bloodshed. 

But 1979 had a further shock in store. On Dec. 25, just over a month after the siege of Makkah ended, Soviet troops invaded Afghanistan. 

The invasion took place during a period of intense political instability in the country. In 1978, President Mohammed Daoud Khan and his family were overthrown and killed by Nur Mohammed Taraki, a Communist. 

Taraki’s rule was short-lived; his former political party comrade, Hafizullah Amin, seized power and killed him. Amin’s attempts to align Afghanistan more closely with the US prompted the Soviets to orchestrate his assassination, replacing him with Babrak Karmal, a more reliable Communist, thereby securing a more compliant leadership. 

The Soviet intervention was driven by a combination of motives. Economically, Afghanistan’s wealth of natural resources made it a valuable target. Politically, the invasion aimed to help prop up the faltering Communist regime and ensure no hostile government emerged in Afghanistan, a key neighbor within the Soviet Union’s immediate geopolitical sphere. 

This was particularly critical within the broader context of the Cold War, in which the US was actively working to counter Soviet influence by encircling the Soviet Union and curbing its expansionist ambitions. 

The Soviet army faced strong resistance in Afghanistan from the Islamist Mujahideen, who received substantial support from international powers, particularly the US and its regional allies, and in the end the intervention proved futile. 

For 10 years the Soviet Union endured significant human and material losses in Afghanistan but failed to regain control and political stability in the country through the political system they endorsed. This system lacked popular legitimacy and controlled only limited territory, with the rest of the country remaining under the control of opposition forces. 

All these factors finally compelled the Soviet army to withdraw from Afghanistan after almost a decade. A subsequent civil war culminated in Taliban coming to power in 1996. 

The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan had far-reaching consequences. Geopolitically, it exposed the limitations of the Soviet army, and the failure in Afghanistan coincided with internal political and economic decline within the Soviet Union, its inability to compete with the US in the arms race, and the outbreak of popular uprisings in countries that had adopted the socialist model. 

As such, the invasion is widely regarded as a major contributing factor in the eventual collapse of the Soviet Union. 

The war also became a breeding ground for extremist jihadist movements. Arabs and Muslims who joined the Afghan resistance found the conflict to be a unifying platform, drawing leaders and fighters from several countries in the Islamic world. 

Upon returning to their homelands, these individuals brought with them military expertise and radical ideologies. This environment facilitated the establishment of terrorist organizations, as these veterans sought to replicate the armed struggle to overthrow regimes in their own countries. 

The most prominent product of this phenomenon was Saudi-born Osama bin Laden, who fought alongside the Mujahideen against the Soviets in Afghanistan. He founded the terror group Al-Qaeda, which emerged as a leading force among extremist religious organizations. 

Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda played a central role in the global wave of terrorism that culminated in the 9/11 attacks on the US, and all the repercussions that followed. These included the invasion of Afghanistan by a US-led coalition in 2001, and the rise of Iranian-backed terror groups in Iraq following the overthrow of Saddam Hussein in 2003, which ultimately led to the rise of Daesh. 

• Dr. Mohammed Al-Sulami is head of the International Institute for Iranian Studies (Rasanah).