The Iranian Revolution of 1979 had a profound effect on the Middle East and the rest of the world. The major world powers at the time, the US and the Soviet Union, followed the revolution closely....Show moreThe Iranian Revolution of 1979 had a profound effect on the Middle East and the rest of the world. The major world powers at the time, the US and the Soviet Union, followed the revolution closely. Past research has examined both powers' responses to the revolution and the outcomes of these responses. However, this research was very much a product of its time, and was therefore coloured by Cold War interests and ideologies. This thesis uses discourse analysis of the Soviet Union's two largest newspapers, Pravda and Izvestia, to map the USSR's response to this new development in the Middle East, and contextualises this response within the framework of Soviet state ideology.Show less