TEHRAN, Jan 31, 2009 (AFP) - Iran paid homage on Saturday to its revolutionary father Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who returned to Tehran from years of exile to lead the Islamic revolution 30 years ago.
His successor as supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, along with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his cabinet and military commanders gathered at Khomeini's mausoleum in southern Tehran to commemmorate his arrival.
Former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani was expected to speak at the shrine, where hundreds of military personnel and policemen were also present.
Each year, to mark Khomeini's triumphant return after 15 years in exile, all schools, trains and boats ring their bells at precisely 9:33 am, the moment his plane touched down on February 1, 1979.
The country is holding 10 days of celebrations marking the 30th anniversary of the overthrow of the shah, who ruled Iran for almost four decades but fled just two weeks before Khomeini's return.
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 Islamic revolution is the result of sacrifices made by martyrs," read a banner inscribed with one of Khomeini's famous quotes.
"We will guard the great legacy and principles of Imam Khomeini," vowed Khamenei on another banner of his mentor who died in 1989.
A group of hardline Basij militia on Friday washed Khomeini's tomb with rose water -- an Iranian custom to honour 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.
Khomeini arrived in Tehran on February 1 but his return is being celebrated on January 31 this year because it is a leap year in the Iranian calendar.
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Copyright AFP 2009.
