The events of November 1979 became an influential tool with which to discredit opposition to the growing power of the revolutionaries. Files and documents produced from the US embassy proliferated. The discovery of classified information by the groups storming the building led to revelations regarding every Iranian who had had any contact with the embassy, who was then potentially subject to prosecution. The main suspects of this turn were in the first instance the members of the provisional government, seen in derisory terms as ‘liberals’ who would return Iran to dependence on the United States; they were forced to resign following the embassy takeover. The political consequences of this moment in the Revolution were undoubtedly to concentrate power in the hand of a powerful revolutionary group that was largely dominated by a number of clerical figures, and to focus on pressing social and economic problems. Moreover it paved the pass for the passing of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic with its various vital clauses, which was presented as a matter of urgency in the context of the need to unite against the US conspiracy. While Bazargan had been in office, only one clause on the mandate of the velayat-e faqih (guardianship of the jurisconsult) had been passed. This shows the American nature of the provisional government. After his ousting, various clauses granting extensive powers to the highest-ranking religious leadership were added to the Draft Constitution then put forward for referendum. Imam Khomeini urged the masses to unite in support of this proposed Constitution of the Islamic Republic against the common enemy: I will be voting in favour [of the constitution] on election day and I ask of all my dear brothers and sisters of all layers of society and from wherever they are to vote in favour of this fateful law. My beloved! Today while we face a satanic enemy ... do not allow the weakening of the foundations of the Islamic Republic. If you believe in Islam, so you also have to believe in the Islamic state. Islam is in danger. And if you are nationalist, so your country is in danger. ... If there is disunity amongst us, this will be to the advantage of America and the great powers.
New Economic Plan in Post-Revolution Iran
