Iran begins marking 40th anniversary of Islamic Revolution

Iran on Friday began celebrating the 40th anniversary of the country's 1979 Islamic Revolution, which toppled the US-backed shah, overturned 2,500 years of monarchical rule and brought hardline Shiite clerics to power.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (C) and Khomeini's grandson Hassan Khomeini (L), pray inside the shrine of late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, ahead of 40th anniversary of Khomeini's return from his exile in Paris to Iran, in southern Tehran, Iran, 30 January 2019. (EPA/SUPREME LEADER OFFICE)