This Week in History: Ayatollah Khomeini returns to Iran

Although revolution in Iran was likely to happen with or without Khomeini, his return ensured it became an Islamic Revolution.

On February 1, 1979, just shy of two weeks after Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi fled Iran, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini flew from Paris to Teheran, ending 15 years of exile. Long a symbol and leader of Islamic opposition to the shah’s secular and Western-aligned rule, his return was one of the final pegs in a series of events that led to the founding of the Islamic Republic that rules Iran to this day. Beginning in late 1978 and continuing through to the first weeks of 1979, popular protests grew and spread throughout Iran.

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By MICHAEL OMER-MAN 

02/04/2011

Read full article: www.jpost.com

2011-02-21