Jubilant throngs lined Tehran’s broad boulevards to hail Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini on his triumphal return from exile. The Shah had fled, and the Shiite imam vowed to sweep aside the blasphemous remnants of a ruthless regime that lavished wealth on a few while most Iranians lived in poverty.
The aging cleric wasn’t just a revered religious leader. In exile, he’d mastered social media long before the term was invented, laying the groundwork for his Islamic revolution with thousands of cassette tapes that secretly circulated in Iran. The austere Ayatollah Khomeini was installed as Supreme Leader, ushering in a still-unfinished era of theocratic rule and international isolation that transformed the region’s most powerful state into an international pariah.
Photos by Abbas/Magnum Photos
An ecstatic crowd in front of the provisory headquarters of Ayatollah Khomeini on his second day of arrival in Iran. Men come to greet him in the morning, women in the afternoon.
A mullah, sitting in a luxury car, exhibits his weapon on the day of the victory of the Revolution.
Armed revolutionaries attack the Shah's armed forces barracks of Eshrat Abad. A wounded rioter is evacuated.
Armed revolutionaries attack one of the centres of the SAVAK, the Shah's much feared political police.
Armed revolutionaries attack one of the centres of the SAVAK, the Shah's much feared political police. A wounded civilian is evacuated.
Armed revolutionaries attack the Shah's armed forces barracks of Eshrat Abad.
The statue of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi lies on the ground near Khomeini's headquarters.
At a rally in the Amjadiye stadium in favour of the Shah, a woman supporter puts a banknote to his effigy to her eye, meaning "He is the light of my eyes".
Armed revolutionaries attack one of the centres of the SAVAK. A civilian, presumed to be a member of the SAVAK, is taken away.
A crowd of chador clad women welcome Ayatollah Ruhullah Khomeini upon his return from exile.