The United States was caught completely unawares when Ayatollah Khomeini overthrew the Shah of Iran in 1979. The Washington establishment was left scrambling to come up with an explanation for this deeply embarrassing intelligence failure.A befuddled security official famously declared that the reason the “Foggy Bottom” (the US Department of State) hadn’t anticipated a religiously inspired political revolution in Iran was: “Whoever took religion seriously?”Subscribe to gift this articleGift 5 articles to anyone you choose each month when you subscribe.Subscribe nowAlready a subscriber? Fetching latest articles