Also the Iranian Revolution (which wasn’t entirely Islamist in nature, but they were the ones who won the power struggle in its immediate aftermath - the liberals were out of the picture by 1980, while the communist opposition got finished off in mass executions in 1988) happened due to the unpopularity of absolute monarch Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who was stubbornly supported by the US to his last days.

And this has roots in the western-supported coup against Mohammad Mosaddegh in 1953, who was a social democratic reformer.

It’s a story that unfortunately repeats many times around the region, and globally too.

No, not partially. Entirely. When you destroy the left, you get the right taking power. And the fact that the theocrats were more popular than the CIA puppet should tell you a lot.

The US installed a regime so terrible Iran chose a religious autocrat over that

Russia didn’t invade, it was literally invited into the country by a socialist democracy (but I repeat myself)

Also no, youre wrong. The base of power was with tribal leaders, not oriented around far right religious extremism.