The OIR emerged as a force on the eve of the attempted Qatif Uprising in 1979.[8][9][10] In the ensuing violence many OIR members and supporters were arrested. The OIR itself claimed that 60 of its members died, 800 were wounded, and that 1,200 were arrested. Following the failed uprising Saffar, along with much of the leadership of the OIR, went into exile in Iran,[11] along with Western Europe and North America.