President Mohammad-Ali Rajai; From Sarvan and Zabul to New York

After Bani-Sadr was dismissed from office in June 1981, Rajaʾi assumed the presidency and Mohammad Javad Bahonar became prime minister. The increasing dominance of the IRP sparked violent opposition to the regime, and on August 30, 1981, Rajaʾi, Bahonar, and a number of other IRP and government officials were killed in a bomb blast allegedly set by the Mojāhedīn-e Khalq (Persian: “People’s Fighters”), an organization with both Marxist and religious leanings that opposed Khomeini’s regime.