Iran: Guarding the Revolution

Three films tell the story of how the Islamic Republic of Iran has found itself under siege both from its own people and from beyond its borders.

With the Islamic Republic facing the biggest political crisis in its 30-year history, these films reveal how the 1979 Revolution sowed the seeds of discord that led to the post-election bloodshed of June 2009.

Through first-hand accounts, rare archive footage and dramatic reconstruction, we recount the creation of the Islamic Republic and the struggle for its control: how the revolutionary movement was made up of religious and secular groups whose competing agendas continue to resonate in today's battle between Moussavi and Ahmadinejad.

The final film tells the inside story of the international effort to stem Iran's nuclear ambitions since they were revealed in 2002.

Episode 1: The Seeds of Discord

When he announced the coming revolution from Paris in 1979, Ayatollah Khomeini promised a tolerant, democratic Iran. But on returning to Tehran, he set about destroying his former leftist allies and setting up a religious dictatorship. In its first ten years the Islamic Republic consolidated its power under the cover of the Iran-Iraq war. It purged its opponents and created a Shi'ite state where religious intolerance and Sharia law ruled the lives of every Iranian.

Today, many of Iran's opposition leaders live in exile, from where they're often at the forefront of today's 'Green Movement'. Amongst them, ironically, are some who stood beside Khomeini 30 years ago. They tell how they lost faith in his Iran and fought to realise their dream of a democratic state - but were defeated by the autocratic clerical regime they'd helped Khomeini create.

Episode 2: Iran's Torment

This programme chronicles the struggle for democratic freedoms in the Islamic Republic since the death of its founder, Ayatollah Khomeini, and shows how the current reform movement was born. In 1988, Iran stood at a crossroads: the war with Iraq over, no longer could the ayatollahs use the threat of invasion to unite the country. Their answer: brutal repression. Thousands of people were executed. Many more were tortured, often for years on end.

Soon, ordinary Iranians had had enough. In 1997 they elected a reformist president and parliament to clean up their country. But the new era was stillborn. The ayatollahs ignored the wishes of the people and their elected representatives. They set up a 'parallel government' and instigated a period of repression that continues to this day.

Episode 3: Chain Reaction

If a nuclear catastrophe were to occur, it's likely to be in the Middle East, the world's most volatile region. Using the latest Pentagon software we model the likely effect of a single nuclear bomb dropped on Cairo - up to seven million deaths and total devastation. The international system for regulating nuclear proliferation is failing. Leading Arab politicians accuse the western powers of using the system to consolidate their power and keep the Islamic world down, by increasing their own nuclear arsenals and allowing their allies, like Israel, to produce nuclear weapons.

By defying that system, will Iran's actions actually bring greater stability through creating parity between Israel and Iran? Will this then force Israel to negotiate over Palestine? Or will it encourage other nations across the region to develop their own nuclear capabilities and create what nobody wants - a chain reaction?