Ruhollah Khomeini's return to Iran

Ruhollah Khomeini’s return to Iran on 1 February 1979, after 14 years in exile, was an important event in the Iranian Revolution.

It led to the collapse of the provisional government of Shapour Bakhtiar and the final overthrow of the Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, on 11 February 1979.

Following the revolution, Khomeini became the country's Supreme Leader, a position created in the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran as the highest-ranking political and religious authority of the nation, which he held until his death.

Khomeini was a marja ("source of emulation") in Twelver Shia Islam, a Mujtahid or faqih but he is primarily known for his political activities.

At first, he was sent to Bursa, Turkey on 4 November 1964, where he stayed in this city hosted by a colonel in the Turkish Military Intelligence named Ali Cetiner in his own residence.

[4] In October 1965, after almost eleven months, he moved to Najaf, Iraq, where he stayed until 1978, when he was encouraged to leave by then-Vice President Saddam Hussein.

[7] It was originally planned that Ayatollah Khomeini would enter Iran on 26 January, but Prime Minister Shapour Bakhtiar announced that the airports would be closed.

[8][page needed] On 1 February Khomeini flew to Iran in a chartered Air France Boeing 747-100 (registered F-BPVD[9]) as flight AF 4721 from Charles de Gaulle Airport.

After delivering a speech at the Mehrabad International Airport, he traveled to the Behesht-e Zahra cemetery, where many people who were killed during the revolution were buried.

Millions of supporters lined the path cheering his name, and hundreds of thousands gathered at the cemetery to listen his speech.