SAEDNEWS: A curated collection of rare photographs offers a striking portrait of Imam Ruhollah Khomeini—from his early days as a seminary student to his return from exile and the historic birth of the Islamic Republic.
According to Saed News, a new gallery compiled by the outlet traces the life of Imam Khomeini (RA), Iran’s revolutionary leader and founder of the Islamic Republic, through archival images spanning decades before and after the 1979 revolution.
The sequence begins with childhood portraits of Khomeini, born in Khomein in 1902, showing his formative years in traditional Islamic schooling under the guidance of family members. Later images capture his scholarly ascent and spiritual authority, surrounded by disciples and teaching in Qom—one of the nerve centres of Shi’a theology.
Among the most historically poignant frames are those taken during his exile in Najaf, Iraq, and in Neauphle-le-Château, a quiet French village where he continued his opposition to the Pahlavi monarchy. These moments of resistance are punctuated by the iconic image of Khomeini’s triumphant return to Tehran in February 1979, after 14 years in exile, followed by his address to a crowd of millions at Tehran’s Behesht-e Zahra cemetery—widely considered a defining moment of the revolution.
The collection closes with solemn photos from the final chapter of his life: his hospitalization and eventual passing in 1989. For Iranians and observers alike, these images chronicle the transformation of a cleric into a revolutionary icon whose influence shaped the modern political and religious landscape of the country.
