Actually out of the house of Saud, the Shah, and the current Iranian government, the current Iranian government is the best of 3 rotten apples. The shah was absolutely brutal.
current Iranian government? Maybe, but not Khomeini. SAVAK were a really nasty bunch, but nothing compares to Khomeini's methods of mine clearing. The Shah wasn't anywhere near as bad as Saddam though, Saddam is about as bad as secular governments go, and I'd rather live in Saddam's Iraq than Saudi Arabia.
Shah's Iran typically got around 6,5 Freedom House rating, better than 7,7.
There were
TWO revolutions in Iran in 1978-79. The first one overthrew the Shah and wanted to establish a nationalist and constitutional republic (a goal of some in Iran since 1905, BTW). The second one was Khomeni's Islamic revolution which toppled - not the Shah, but those who had toppled the Shah. A lot like how the Soviet Union got formed, with the Bolsheviks toppling the Kerensky government and not the Tsar.
And not all Shi'a clergy backed Khomeni. Google this guy: Ayatollah Mahmoud Taleqani
He was disappeared (yeah, 'heart-attack', suuure) by Khomeni, who tried to erase knowledge of him Stalin-style.
