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Agitation in Iran was visible by May in predominantly intellectual circles.

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A National Organization of University Teachers began fighting for academic freedom while university and seminary students called for academic freedom in the schools. Leading up to the beginning of the Iranian Revolution, Iranians had grown increasingly disillusioned with the Shah. Initially, protestors wanted to reestablish laws that created a constitutional monarchy.

The Constitution required the Shah to adhere to the laws of Islam and to gain the approval of the Parliament majlis. In the first phase of the revolution, much of the nonviolent resistance arose from the creativity of the students.

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When banned from holding demonstrations, University of Tehran activists stood in silence in front of their library, quietly agitating for freedom of speech. The students also targeted U. President Nixon because of his military support of the Shah; they dribbled basketballs on the path of the Nixon-Shah motorcade, an allusion to a popular photograph circulating of Fidel Castro playing basketball.

The National Front party, which had earlier opposed Western domination of the oil industry, was revived in late by Dr. Karim Sanjabi and called on the Shah to hold free and fair elections, restore the constitution of , respect freedom of speech, free political prisoners, and allow for an independent Iran in foreign affairs.

Sanjabi and the two other leaders of the National Front—Foruhar and Bakhtiyar—also accused the Shah of wrecking the economy by neglecting agriculture. By the end of , professionals and students had created organizations, written manifestos, and sent letters to the Imperial Palace, but had not mobilized the support of the nation.

A turning point came on January 7, A government editorial in a newspaper accused anti-regime clerics of working with communists and the Ayatollah Khomeini of licentious behavior and of being a British spy.