Entire recent generations of Iranians are responsible for this. What did they expect when they voted for an Islamic republic? Sunshine lollipops and rainbows?
This is quite a distorted retelling of history. Nobody voted for the IR. There was a very powerful leftist movement (en vogue at the time, thanks in part to the USSR) that sought to remove the pro-west Shah and his perceived corruption. Sure there were grievances, like stifling of any political dissent by the secret police.
Ultimately the movement was co-opted by fundamentalists as the leftists had gathered support from various groups but without clear ideas of what would replace the monarchy. And thus Khomeini returned from exile in France to claim the throne, turban rather than crown, and the rest is, as they say, history.
