Casualties of the Iranian Revolution

Tucker explains that the consensus of historians regarding estimated deaths during the Iranian Revolution (from January 1978 to February 1979), numbers between 532 and 2,781.

The number of protesters and political prisoners killed after the fall of the Shah by the new Islamic Republic as it consolidated power is estimated by human rights groups to be several thousand. According to Tucker's estimations, in the period of 1980 to 1985, between 25,000 to 40,000 Iranians were arrested, 15,000 Iranians were tried and 8,000 to 9,500 Iranians were executed.

Casualties of the monarchy

The Preamble of the 1979 Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran speaks of the Islamic Revolution being "watered by the blood of more than 60,000 martyrs and 100,000 wounded and disabled". The revolution's leader, Ruhollah Khomeini also stated that "60,000 men, women and children were martyred by the Shah's regime." In reference to the 60,000 figure, the military historian Spencer C. Tucker notes that "Khomeini's regime grossly overstated the revolution's death toll for propaganda purposes". Tucker explains that the consensus of historians regarding estimated deaths during the Iranian Revolution (from January 1978 to February 1979), numbers between 532 and 2,781.

Emadeddin Baghi, while a researcher at the Foundation of Martyrs and Veterans Affairs (Bonyad Shahid) -- established after the revolution to compensate the survivors of fallen revolutionaries -- found a smaller number were killed. Between 1963 and 1979 he estimated 3164 in the anti-Shah movement were killed. The Foundation of Martyrs identified 744 dead in Tehran (where the majority of the casualties were supposed to have occurred). The coroner's office counted 895 dead; and Tehran's main cemetery, Behesht-e Zahra, 768 dead.

According to Kurzman, "the shah frequently told foreign emissaries that he was unwilling to massacre his subjects in order to save his throne".

By date

According to one collection of 'martyrs of the revolution,` Laleh'he-ye Enqelab, examined by Charles Kurzman,

• 35 demonstrators died in the first eight months of 1978,
• 33 in Shahrivar (August–September 1978) and
• 18 in Mehr (September–October 1978), when the revolution turned to strikes instead of street protests.

When the military regime was installed in Mehr 1978, the number of deaths jumped to

• 45 in Aban (October–November 1978), then to
• 85 in Azar (November–December 1978),
• 137 in Dey (December 1978 – January 1979), and
• 179 in Bahman (January–February 1979).

19 Day protest in Qom

The 9 January 1978 (Dey 19, 1356) protest in the holy city of Qom against a libelous story about Ayatollah Khomeini was perhaps the first major protest of the revolution. The official death toll of monarchy was nine. U.S. diplomats first reported to Washington that 20 to 30 died, then fourteen. Rumors spread immediately that one hundred or more were killed, and "opposition estimates ranged up to 300." Public opinion at the time as reflected in "a small survey in Tehran the following week" found that "more people believed the opposition's casualty figures than the government's". In contrast, a list recently produced by the Center for Documents on the Islamic Revolution, a "pro-revolutionary institute", found five people died in the protest.

29 Bahman protest in Tabriz

40 days later, on 18 February 1978, (Bahman 29), groups in a number of cities marched to honour the fallen and protest against the rule of the Shah. The state brought in "troops and tanks from nearby bases." This time, violence erupted in the northwestern city of Tabriz. According to the opposition, 500 demonstrators were killed there, according to the government ten were. "A recent [circa 2004] pro-revolutionary review of the event, however, has stated definitively that the total was 13 dead."

Cinema Rex fire in Abadan

The 19 August 1978 fire at a movie theater in Abadan killed at least 420 people. The event started when four men doused the building with airplane fuel before setting it alight.

Khomeini immediately blamed the Shah and SAVAK for setting the fire, and, due to the pervasive revolutionary atmosphere, the public also blamed the Shah for starting the fire, despite the government's insistence that they were uninvolved. Tens of thousands of people took to the streets shouting "Burn the Shah!" and "The Shah is the guilty one!"

According to Roy Mottahedeh, author of The Mantle of the Prophet, "thousands of Iranians who had felt neutral and had until now thought that the struggle was only between the shah and supporters of religiously conservative mullahs felt that the government might put their own lives on the block to save itself. Suddenly, for hundreds of thousands, the movement was their own business."

After the revolution, many claimed that Islamist militants had started the fire. After the Islamic Republic government executed a police officer for the act, a man claiming to be the lone surviving arsonist claimed he was responsible for starting the fire. After forcing the resignation of the presiding judges in an attempt to hamper the investigation, the new government finally executed Hossein Takb'alizadeh for "setting the fire on the Shah's orders," despite his insistence that he did it on his own accord as an ultimate sacrifice for the revolutionary cause.

"Black Friday," 17 Shahrivar

The clash between government and protestors that is said to have enraged anti-Shah forces and eliminated "any hope for compromise," occurred on 8 September 1978 (Shahrivar 17) in Tehran. The Shah introduced martial law, and banned all demonstrations, but thousands of protesters gathered in Tehran. Security forces shot and killed demonstrators in what became known as Black Friday.

The clerical leadership declared that "thousands have been massacred by Zionist troops," "Estimate of casualties on ... Black Friday, range from fewer than 100 to many thousands. The post-revolutionary Martyr Foundation could identify only 79 dead, while the coroner's office counted 82 and Tehran's main cemetery, Beheshte-e Zahra, registered only 40."