Historical Organization
Revolutionary movement
After more than fourteen years in exile, Khomeini landed at Mehrabad Airport and was welcomed by immense crowds.
The public reception demonstrated the scale of revolutionary mobilization and Khomeini's central symbolic authority.
At the graves of those killed in the struggle, he honored the martyrs and rejected the legitimacy of the Bakhtiar government.
Revolutionary leadership moved from exile to Tehran while the royal government retained offices but rapidly lost popular authority.
