Commander-in-Chief of the Iranian Armed Forces in the context of "Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi"

Mohammad Reza Pahlavi (Persian: محمدرضا پهلوی [mohæmˈmæd reˈzɒː pæhlæˈviː]) (26 October 1919 – 27 July 1980) was the Shah of Iran from 1941 to 1979. He succeeded his father Reza Shah and ruled the Imperial State of Iran until he was overthrown by the 1979 Islamic Revolution led by Ruhollah Khomeini, which abolished the Iranian monarchy to establish the Islamic Republic of Iran. In 1967, he took the title Shahanshah (lit. 'King of Kings'), and also held several others, including Aryamehr (lit. 'Light of the Aryans') and Bozorg Arteshtaran (lit. 'Grand Army Commander'). He was the second and last ruling monarch of the Pahlavi dynasty.

During World War II, the Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran forced the abdication of Reza Shah and succession of Mohammad Reza Shah. During his reign, the British-owned oil industry was nationalized by the prime minister Mohammad Mosaddegh, who had support from Iran's national parliament to do so; however, Mosaddegh was overthrown in the 1953 Iranian coup d'état, which was carried out by the Iranian military under the aegis of the United Kingdom and the United States. Subsequently, the Iranian government centralized power under the Shah and brought foreign oil companies back into the country's industry through the Consortium Agreement of 1954.

The Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran (Persian: نظام جمهوری اسلامی ایران, romanized: Nezâm-e Jomhuri-ye Eslâmi-ye Irân), known simply as Nezam (Persian: نظام, romanized: Nezâm, lit. 'the system'), is the national government of Iran.

Its constitution, adopted by a referendum, calls for separation of powers, with executive, legislative and judicial systems. The supreme leader of Iran is the country's head of state and commander-in-chief of the armed forces.