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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Iran pays homage to Khomeini amid turmoil |
| 2010-02-02 |
| [Al Arabiya Latest] Bells chimed across Iran Monday to mark the return from exile in 1979 of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the trigger for a revolution which spawned an Islamic state now engulfed in a deep political crisis. To mark Khomeini's triumphant return after 15 years in exile, all schools, trains and boats rang their bells at precisely 9:33 am (0603 GMT), the moment his plane touched down at Tehran's Mehrabad airport on Feb. 1, 1979. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and other senior Iranian officials paid homage to the cleric at his mausoleum in southern Tehran. Monday marked the start of 10 days of celebrations which culminate on Feb. 11, the 31st anniversary of the fall of the U.S.-backed shah who had ruled the country for nearly four decades, but who fled two weeks before Khomeini's return. "I am sure the Iranian people will do something on Feb. 11, which will disappoint the enemies and the tyrants completely," Ahmadinejad said in a short address at the mausoleum. "This year will see the definite failure of capitalism, inhuman liberalism and the start of globalization of the Islamic revolution." |
| Posted by:Fred |