Iran starts marking 40th anniversary of Islamic Revolution
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Iran on Friday started celebrating the 40th anniversary of the country's 1979 Islamic Revolution that toppled the US.-backed shah, overturned 2,500 years of monarchical rule and brought hard-line Shiite clerics to power.
The climactic events that year in Iran -- where footage of revolutionaries in the streets gave way to black-and-white images of blindfolded American hostages in the US Embassy hostage crisis months later -- not only changed Iran's history but also helped shape today's Middle East.
