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
Administrative divisions of Iran Administrative divisions of Iran The first level of country subdivisions of Iran are the (; "ostānhā") provinces. Each province is further subdivided into counties called shahrestan (), and each shahrestan is subdivided into districts called bakhsh (). There are usually a few cities () and rural districts () in each county. Rural districts are a collection of a number of villages. One of the cities of the county is appointed as the capital of the county. According to the government of Iran, (Iranian calendar 1394), the figures are as follows: According to the Statistical Center of Iran, the figures are