Ayatullah Ruhollah Khomeini was the Iranian Shiite religious leader. Educated in Islam at home and in theological schools, in the 1950s he was designated ayatollah, a supreme religious leader, in the Iranian Shiite community. Khomeini's criticisms of Reza Shah Pahlevi led to his exile in 1964. Settling in Iraq, Khomeini continued his outspoken denunciations, developing a strong religious and political following abroad, until forced to leave (1978) by Saddam Hussein; he then moved to France. Following the revolution that deposed Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlevi, Khomeini returned triumphantly to Iran in 1979, declared an Islamic republic, and began to exercise ultimate authority in the nation. His conservative ideology opposed pro-Western tendencies. Khomeini's rule was marked by the Iran hostage crisis and the Iran-Iraq War. During the latter conflict Iranian leader Ruhollah Khomeini declared that Iran would not cease fighting until Saddam's regime was toppled.
Iran began a series of offensives, which proved successful enough to cause Iraq to resort to the use of chemical weapons, a tactic reviled by the international community. Khomeini's troops captured the oil-rich Majnoon Islands from Iraq in February, 1984, and southern Iraq's Fao peninsula in early 1986. The United States and several Western European nations became involved in the war in 1987, in response to Iranian attacks on Kuwaiti oil tankers traveling in the Persian Gulf. These attacks sullied Iran's international reputation considerably, making it difficult for Khomeini to obtain arms. (Moin, 2000)
