The Imperial Iranian Flag

I didn't see that any of the news agencies caught it but there was a demonstration in Iran this week in which the demonstrators were waving Iranian flags. But if we take a close look the flags were not the present flag of Iran. The flags had the lion, the sword and, the sun. 

This was the Imperial Flag, of the Shah's monarchy that was overthrown by the present government in the revolution of 1979. The flag was changed after the revolution, with these symbols removed.

The turning point of the Iranian Revolution is considered to be "Black Friday", September 8, 1978, when the Shah's forces opened fire on demonstrators, killing dozens. That is what turned demonstrations for reform into a full-fledged revolution. After that there was no possibility of compromise, the revolution would either fail or it would succeed.

In this budding reversal of the Iranian Revolution the demonstrators recently marked "Bloody Friday". The recent postings, on October 20, were mostly about the Iranian Revolution and this movement to reverse it, which may be the most serious challenge that the Revolutionary Government has faced in decades.

While I am not Iranian, and do not wish to interfere in the internal affairs of countries that are not my own, I do have an autographed portrait of Empress Farah, the widow of the Shah and last empress of Iran, on my wall here.