Iran's revolution at 25: out of gas

"For years, they tried to push the religious stuff down [students'] throats, and it caused a reaction," says the revolutionary, noting a recent poll that reportedly found 45 percent had negative feelings toward religion. "Twenty years ago, is that reaction the leaders of Iran wanted? They wanted to train soldiers for Islam, and got exactly the opposite."

Even some senior clerics have been disturbed by political restrictions.

"Islam is the religion of peace, of rights, of justice, not tyranny, violence and prisons - let alone terrorism and killing people and torture in prisons, even if this torture is putting them in solitary confinement," said reformist Grand Ayatollah Yusef Saanei, in a recent interview.

"All of these things are against Islam," says Mr. Saanei, one of only a handful of grand ayatollahs in Shiite Islam. "In one word: What you would like for yourself, you must do for others. These are all the human rights and freedoms, which the Prophet calls justice."

Instead, vigilante groups still break up political meetings, and some human rights legislation is tied up by hard-liners, Saanei says: "I don't think Iran can be presented as an Islamic example."

That assessment is far from the vision ofa quarter century ago. The aim then was to "export the revolution," and for Iran to be a beacon for all Muslims.

"We thought we would get rid of the US, get a new government with a good leader, and all our problems would be over," says the former revolutionary. "Only in the last decade we began to think of what we missed - human rights, democracy. I wish I could blame the mullahs, but it's a much deeper problem all of us Iranians share."

1979: Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, pro-Western and close to the United States, is removed in a February uprising. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini establishes an Islamic theocracy. Nine months later, student militants seize the US Embassy.

2004: Hard-line religious leaders rule the Islamic republic, under Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khameini. President Mohammad Khatami and other democratic reformers are likely to lose control of parliament in Feb. 20 elections.

1979: Iran is at the height of its military and economic power, though many lived in poverty. Iran's GDP is estimated at $76.7 billion. Iran accounts for about 18 percent of total OPEC oil export revenues. Per capita income is $1,986.

2004: Iran agrees to bring its nuclear program under international scrutiny. Iran's population has doubled to nearly 70 million, and it is beset by high unemployment and inflation. But estimated GDP is $458 billion. Per capita income: $7,000. Iran accounts for about 10 percent of total OPEC net oil export revenues. The US economic embargo, enacted during the 1980s Iran-Iraq war, is still in place.

1979: Half of Iranians are illiterate.

2004: Literacy is at about 80 percent.

1979: Miniskirts are the rage, and, though seen as offensive to some, sexy cinema posters are ubiquitous in Tehran. Alcohol is available.

2004: Women must cover themselves from head to foot in public, there are no racy advertisements, and alcohol consumption is prohibited.

Source: Associated Press, Energy Information Administration, The World Almanac 1980, Central Intelligence Agency

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