To human rights campaigners at that time, the Shah's great error was to alienate the population with torture and bloodshed. But in hindsight some historians say the Shah was too weak, slow and irresolute in repression.
"The regime's approach is far more reliant on repression than the Shah," said Alex Vatanka, director of the Iran Program at the Middle East Institute.
"Khamenei had learned the lesson, as he lived through the revolution, that if you tell the people you've heard their voices and that you are wrong, this is the end of your leadership. He doesn't want to do that," said Vatanka.
Nevertheless, Khamenei’s unyielding rhetoric also carries risk, Vatanka said.
"If Khamenei does not listen ... and stop this nonsense that protests are all foreign-led, there will be more protests," he said.
While university students have played a pivotal role in current protests with dozens of universities on strike, there has been little sign of the Bazaar and oil workers joining in.
"Bazaaris were important during the 1979 revolution as, at the time, they saw the Shah's economic reforms as against their interests and therefore backed the revolution," Vatanka said.
"Today, the Bazaar has nothing to defend, as it no longer controls the economy which is now in the hands of the Guards."
The Guards, loyal to Khamenei, is an industrial empire as well as being a powerful military force. It wields political clout and controls Iran's oil industry.