Ayatollah Khomeini Returns from Exile to Iran

Context

The Iranian monarchy under Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi had pursued aggressive modernization through the White Revolution, a program of land reform, women's suffrage, and secularization that alienated large segments of the Shia clergy and traditional society. Khomeini, a senior cleric based in Qom, emerged as a vocal critic, denouncing the Shah's policies as un-Islamic and calling for clerical oversight of government. His arrest and subsequent exile in 1964 removed him from direct action but did not silence his influence, as cassette recordings of his sermons circulated widely inside Iran.

What Happened

Mass demonstrations throughout 1978 had already forced the Shah to install a civilian prime minister, Shapour Bakhtiar, and to depart the country himself on January 16, 1979. From his base in Neauphle-le-Château near Paris, Khomeini coordinated with revolutionary committees and rejected any compromise with the Bakhtiar government. On February 1 a chartered Air France Boeing 747 carried him and a small entourage, including supporters and journalists, from Charles de Gaulle Airport to Mehrabad International Airport in Tehran.

Aftermath

Khomeini immediately declared Bakhtiar's cabinet illegitimate and, four days later, named Mehdi Bazargan to head an interim government. Military units began defecting to the revolutionary side; on February 11 senior commanders announced neutrality, Bakhtiar resigned, and revolutionary forces took control of key installations in the capital. The ten-day period from Khomeini's arrival to the collapse of the old regime is commemorated annually in Iran as the Fajr decade.

Legacy

Khomeini's return established the framework for an Islamic Republic in which a Supreme Leader, drawn from the senior Shia clergy, holds ultimate political and religious authority. The model of clerical governance influenced Islamist movements across the Middle East and hardened U.S.-Iranian antagonism, most visibly during the subsequent hostage crisis. Decades later, the 1979 revolution remains the central reference point for debates over sovereignty, secularism, and foreign policy in the region.