Persian Civil War (The Fires of God)

The Persian Civil War was an armed conflict that began in January 1978 when Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, an outspoken opponent of the Sassanid regime and proponent of Islamism, declared war against the state of Persia and against the House of Sassan itself. With the support of the Islamic Republican Army and the Communist Party of Persia, Khomeini declared himself the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Persia. The Imperial Persian Army, under the command of Shahanshah Khosrau XIII, immediately set about suppressing the uprising. The war escalated when NATO declared its support for the Sassanid regime, which caused the Russian Empire to declare its support for the Rebel Faction, shortly followed by the Muslim nations of the Saudi Caliphate, the Emirate of Ethiopia and the Sultanate of the Congo. As a result, the Zoroastrian League, an alliance of fifteen nations (sixteen including Persia itself), declared its support for Persia. As a consequence of the wide breadth of nations involved, the Persian Civil War has been called "World War Two-and-a-Half" by some historians since the war ended.