The Iranian Revolution reached its decisive phase in early 1979.
Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi left Iran in January 1979.
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini returned to the country in February after years of exile.
The monarchy collapsed, and revolutionary forces established control over the state.
The transformation affected virtually every part of Iranian society.
Businesses connected to the previous economic and political order faced uncertainty. Foreign companies and Western cultural institutions became particularly complicated subjects in the new political environment.
The United States soon became a major focus of hostility within the revolutionary movement.
American influence in Iran, which had been an important feature of the previous era, was increasingly rejected by the new political order.
In this atmosphere, a restaurant carrying the name and identity of a major American corporation was unlikely to continue operating normally.
The reported result was the closure of the KFC restaurant.
