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While living in exile, Iranian religious and political leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (1902 - 1989) sits cross-legged and reads a letter, Neuphe-le-Chateau, France, January 1979. Shortly afterwards, on February 1, he returned to Iran after the Shah was ousted. (Photo by Chuck Fishman/Getty Images)

While living in exile, Iranian religious and political leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (1902 - 1989) sits cross-legged and reads a letter, Neuphe-le-Chateau, France, January 1979. Shortly afterwards, on February 1, he returned to Iran after the Shah was ousted. (Photo by Chuck Fishman/Getty Images)