Mir-Hossein Mousavi Iranian revolution neared, Mousavi, whose earliest political hero was Che Guevara, became more actively involved in the struggle. He initially participated in the establishment of the Jonbesh-e Mosalmanan-e Mobarez (Movement of Militant Muslims) alongside Habibollah Peyman which eventually led him to join ranks with Mohammad Beheshti, who was a close associate of the revolution leader, Ruhollah Khomeini, and abandoned his previous connections with Ali Shariati. Following the collapse of the Shah's regime in 1979, Mousavi helped Mohammad Beheshti found the Islamic Republican Party in 1979 in order to assist the establishment of the Islamic Republic in Iran and hasten the
2009 Iranian presidential election protests joining the Iranian global hunger strike reached over fifty with Toronto, Vancouver, Washington DC, Los Angeles, Chicago, London, as well as Italy, Australia, and Ireland. The hunger strikes are for freedom of all Iranian political prisoners and for "not" recognizing the presidential elections and its president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2009. Robert Redford joined and supported the hunger strike in Washington on 20 July. BBC News has described the overall reaction by the international community to the 2009 Iranian presidential election as "muted". Mir-Hossein Mousavi has not asked for any kind of foreign assistance or called on other leaders to comment.