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A 1979 picture of Iranian protestors during a demonstration in Tehran against the Shah (File) |
TEHRAN (AlArabiya.net, AFP)
Iran paid homage on Saturday to its revolutionary father Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini who landed in Tehran 30 years ago to set off the Islamic revolution, as President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the revolution would extend beyond Iranian borders.
Ahmadinejad joined Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and members of the government and military commanders at Khomeini's mausoleum in southern Tehran to mark his arrival from exile.
The country is holding 10 days of celebrations marking the 30th anniversary of the overthrow of the U.S.-backed shah, who ruled Iran for almost four decades but fled just two weeks before Khomeini's return.
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| Revolution beyond Iran " The revolution is lively and alive after 30 years...We are still at the beginning of the path and greater changes are ahead. This thunderous revolution will continue until justice is implemented " Ahmadinejad Ahmadinejad said that Iran's Islamic revolution was not limited to its borders.
"The revolution is lively and alive after 30 years," Ahmadinejad said at a ceremony marking the anniversary of the return from exile of the father of the revolution Khomeini.
"We are still at the beginning of the path and greater changes are ahead. This thunderous revolution will continue until justice is implemented, " the president said.
"Although the Islamic revolution happened in Iran it is not limited to Iranian borders," he said.
"We will guard the great legacy and principles of Imam Khomeini," vowed Khamenei on a banner of his mentor who died in 1989. |
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| Khomeini's legacy A file photo of Khomeini leaving the Air France flight at Tehran airport Every year, to mark Khomeini's triumphant return after 15 years in exile, all schools, trains and boats ring their bells at precisely 9:33 a.m., the moment his plane touched down on Feb. 1, 1979.
This year, however, Khomeini's return to Tehran is being celebrated on Jan. 31 because it is a leap year in the Iranian calendar.
Khomeini's shrine was decorated with a large poster of the elderly bearded cleric, then 76, as he disembarked from an Air France jumbo jet helped by a steward -- an image etched in world history.
The revolution led to the installation of a hardline clerical government that has become increasingly isolated on the world stage.
"The Islamic revolution is the result of sacrifices made by martyrs," read a banner inscribed with one of Khomeini's famous quotes.
A group from the Basij militia on Friday washed Khomeini's tomb with rose water -- an Iranian custom to honor the dead -- and the grave was later strewn with flowers, state television said.
This year's anniversary celebrations come barely four months before a presidential election in Iran, with Ahmadinejad seeking re-election for another four-year term. |
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| "Great Satan" Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini Khomeini backed Islamist students who stormed the U.S. embassy in Tehran in November 1979 and took its personnel hostage for 444 days, prompting Washington to sever ties with the Islamic republic.
Tension with the United States has soared over Iran's contested nuclear drive, which many in the West fear is a cover for a secret atomic weapons program, which Iran denies.
Khomeini branded the United States as the "Great Satan", and Iran was lumped in the "axis of evil" by former U.S. president George W. Bush.
New U.S. President Barack Obama has said he is willing to extend a diplomatic hand to Tehran if it is ready to "unclench its fist".
In response, Ahmadinejad said the United States must apologize for its "crimes" against Iran and said he hoped for "deep and fundamental" change from Obama. |
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