The return of the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini from Paris to Iran for the first time in 15 years in February 1979 is a memory Reza Esmaili, who was four years old at the time, remembers well. @ananassf watched Khomeni’s plane land at Mehrabad International Airport on the rabbit-ear antenna TV sitting on the corner of the counter at a local bakery. He was with his father, and the two were getting pastries and delicacies in preparation for #Norooz, also referred to as the Persian New Year. “I just remember vividly that day, my father was like, ‘With the arrival of that guy’s airplane and his party, this country and our lives will change forever,’” Reza said. “And by the following Norooz, we were literally escaping our home and trying to get visas to leave everything behind.” Political upheaval, protests and mass unemployment in the country led to a general feeling of uncertainty of the future of Iran and its government, which in part prompted the return of Khomeini and a total of an es...