Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran world. The Islamic Republic of Iran created shortly after the Islamic Revolution. The first major demonstrations with the intent to overthrow the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi began in January 1978, with a new, Islam-based, theocratic Constitution being approved in December 1979, ending the monarchy. The Shah fled Iran in January 1979 after large strikes and demonstrations against him and his regime paralyzed the country. Ayatollah Khomeini would return in February of the same year after a long period of exile, greeted in the capital of Tehran by several million Iranians. The final collapse of the Pahlavi dynasty occurred shortly after
Counties of Iran and is headed by a "farmandar", the governor of the county and the highest-ranking official in the division. Among the provinces of Iran, Fars has the highest number of "shahrestan"s (23), while Qom uniquely has only one, being coextensive with its namesake county. In 2005, Iran had 324 "shahrestan"s. To better understand these subdivisions, the following table is useful. Assume that province P is divided into two counties: A and B. County A has 3 districts: Central, X, and Y. The Central district is the district that contains City M, the capital of the county. Each district contains one or