Aftermath of a conflict that looked like the start of civil war
Perhaps the biggest danger facing Iran, after the stern Ayatullah Ruhollah Khomeini returned from exile, was a direct confrontation between army units loyal to Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi and civilian supporters of the Ayatullah. Last week it happened. Elite troops of the imperial guard, summoned to put down a rebellion by air force cadets, ran into a wall of armed civilians. Fighting continued, sporadically but bitterly, through the weekend, and Iran seemed to be staggering toward the brink of civil war. By Sunday more than 200 people had died. At that point, the supreme army command announced its neutrality in the country's political dispute and ordered the troops back to their barracks. Support by the military was the only thing propping up the regime of embattled Prime Minister Shahpour Bakhtiar. He had no choice except to resign, thereby clearing the way for Khomeini to transform Iran into an Islamic republic. The Ayatullah issued a statement claiming that "victory is near."
The fighting broke out at the Doshan Tappeh air force base in eastern Tehran; it was provoked by a skirmish between airmen supporting Khomeini and others loyal to the government. The Khomeini contingent was reinforced by thousands of civilians who rushed to the area, in what appeared to be a preplanned move. Joining them later were 8,000 leftists of the "Saihkal Marxist Group," which takes its name from a Caspian village seized by the Communists 14 years ago. As the crowds swirled into the area, leaders with bullhorns announced that men with military experience could pick up weapons at a nearby garage. Later, others broke into the base's armory and carried away its weapons.
The pro-Shah airmen at the base were no match for this force. The crowds quickly set up guard posts at the base gates and prepared for a counterattack. While men filled sandbags and gathered material for barricades, women wrapped in black chadors set about making Molotov cocktails. Although heavily armed Chinook helicopters cruised overhead all day long, no soldiers appeared through the haze from burning tires and garbage that covered the area.
Shortly after midnight, crack units of the Javidan guards, which had taken up positions along the road leading to the base, moved forward. As the fighting intensified and the gunfire became almost constant, private cars were commandeered to take the dead and dying to hospitals. One victim was Los Angeles Times Correspondent Joe Alex Morris Jr., 51, a veteran Middle East reporter, who was fatally shot in the chest by a bullet while watching the battle.