In 1979 the US removed the shah from power and installed the “vile” Ayatollah Komeini . This was accomplished by General Westmoreland in the Carter administration. The U.S. had been paying the exiled Komeinis living expenses in Paris for the previous 7 yrs just in case they may need him. A religious fundamentalist was more preferable to the US than a socialist. The shahs power was weakened because of the socialist movement. The U.S. had to replace him.
That was in 1979. The U.S. staging a proxy war through Iraq invaded Iran in 1980 to destroy their infrastructure built by the Shah with U.S. help in the past. After the country was sufficiently flattened the U.S. stopped the war after the 1988 official U.S. attack.
What is interesting is the U.S. gave Saddam Hossain Saran nerve gas to release in Iran. This caused a lot of devastation and deaths to the Iranian people. However this “vile” govt refused to release Saran nerve gas on Iraq saying they were weapons of mass destruction. Iran had stockpiles of Saran gas from under the shah. They never used them. They are so vile aren’t they?
After 1988 the rebuilding started. Iran was forced to start from scratch and build everything themselves because of the U.S. sanctions and embargoes. That made Iran strong. Students attended university to learn to be scientists and engineers to help with the rebuilding. Iran was able to circumvent the oil embargo and find ways to sell their oil. While no one was looking Iran became a strong power to deal with over 35 years.