"Ayatollah Khomeini was a learned theologian who believed that only a wise Islamic Jurist could bring justice to a deeply divided Iran. He opposed foreign influence and became a bitter critic of the reigning monarch, Reza Shah, whom his followers overturned in 1979. In power, Khomeini replaced a dictatorship disguised as a monarchy with one lurking behind the facade of republican government. He established a unique regime based on Islam that long survived him."