40 years on: Khomeini's return from exile and the Iran Revolution Feb 01,2019

On a foggy Thursday morning on February 1, 1979, a chartered Air France flight from Paris touched down at Mehrabad International Airport near central Tehran, carrying Iran's most revered spiritual figure.

Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, an outspoken critic of Iran's ruler Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, was coming home after 14 years in exile in Turkey, Iraq and France.

Before landing, the plane circled low overhead, reportedly to make sure that no tanks were blocking the runway.

Khomeini's return 40 years ago was essential to the success of the Iranian revolution. It eventually led to the establishment of the Islamic Republic and the cleric's ascent to supreme leader. It would also pave the way for Iran to recast its role in the Middle East and rejig its ties to the West - a geopolitical convulsion that continues to reverberate around the world to this day.

Wearing his trademark black robe and turban, the 78-year-old cleric slowly emerged from the aircraft holding onto the pilot with his right hand. His son, Ahmad, followed closely behind.

Iran Revolution - All You Need To Know

The Iranian Revolution also known as the Islamic Revolution or the 1979 Revolution)was a series of events involving the overthrow of the Monarch of Iran,Mohammed Reza Shah Pahlavi and replacing his government with an Islamic Republic  under the Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, a leader of one of the factions in the revolt.

Demonstrations against the Reza Shah Pahlavi commenced in October 1977, developing into a campaign  pf civil resistanceof  that included both secular and religious elements and which intensified in January 1978

Between August and December 1978, strikes and demonstrations paralyzed the country.

Mohammed Reza Shah Pahlavi left Iran for exile on 16 January 1979, as the last Persian monarch, leaving his duties to a regency council and Shapour Bakhtiar who was an opposition-based prime minister

Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini was invited back to Iran by the government,and returned to Tehran on Feb 01,1979 to a greeting by several million Iranians.

The royal reign collapsed shortly after on February11,1979 when Guerrillas and rebel troops overwhelmed troops loyal to the Mohammed Reza Shah Pahlavi in armed street fighting, bringing Khomeini to official power.

Iran voted by national referendum to become an Islamic republic on April 01,1979 and to formulate and approve a new Theocratic Republican Constitution whereby Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini became Supreme Leader of the country in December 1979