Iran is going through a process that will eventually separate the church from the state, and ensure the people have full democracy.
In the 1530's dear old Henry VIII decided enough was enough over the Catholic Church dictating to him that he couldn't divorce his wife, and mounted the Reformation to start a process of the state running it's affairs to suit itself, not the church. Later our monarchs would learn that the people had the ultimate power through a democratic system and not even the monarch, let alone church, could dictate what parliament willed. That would take almost another 400 years.
The American Act of Independance of 1776 has the 1st Amendment which specifies that the churches have no say in the legal and political democratic process, as inserted by Thomas Jefferson in 1791. Church and State is separated, but that phase is not used to describe the situation today.
In 1789 the French started the separation process with a Revolution that killed off the Estates system, whereby the church and monarch had all the power, and spent all the peoples money. Eventually the New Democratic state and the people had the power they sought.
Spain was once highly influenced by the Catholic Church, even declaring the English Elizabeth I a bastard and a heratic, let alone killing Mary Queen of Scots, persuading King Phillip II to launch his infamous Amadda of 1588. In 1905 Spain offially got around to the separation of Church from state.
So, as I observe it, the people of Iran is starting to question the authority of the church/ clerics and the political masters, such as the President. They are fed up with limited work, lack of food, and no say in their future. The very ingediants that ignited the French Revolution. The only problem at the moment is that the protesters do not seem to have specific leaders, as the French Revolution had the middle classes, the professionals, using their expertise to organise what happened, at least until they lost control of the Revolution from 1790 onwards, with a million deaths by 1802, then another million lost under Napaleon.
What Iran is just starting is a very long process that, for some started in 1979, will be costly and take many decades to reach some form of conclusion. But that is the pattern that European countries have witnessed, and already many Middle Eastern countries have suffered painfully from.
The World has got a long way to go before we see any sign of peace on Earth.