Noon. The church bells ring out, while a few locals begin to sit at one of the main bistros in the central square. In Neauphle-le-Château (Yvelines), about forty kilometers from Paris, life goes by peacefully. This wealthy town of 3,300 inhabitants seems ideal for settling down out of sight. This is where Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini chose to live decades ago. Taking advantage of the absence of a visa, the Shiite imam resided for several months in a small building on Rue de Neauphle, before returning to Iran and overthrowing Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi in 1979.
It’s in a small house – lent by a relative belonging to “the resistant left” – that he prepared his revolution and organized the seizure of power which will allow him to rule Iran for ten years, until his death. “He considered that France was a country whose left-wing intellectuals and the media were very favorable to revolutions”explains journalist Emmanuel Razavi, author of the book Paris – Tehran, the big unveiling (Deer).
More than forty years later, some residents still remember the visit of the future Iranian leader. “You had to show your credentials, always have your papers, because the area was heavily monitored by the police”remembers a woman who then lived in Neauphle with her parents. The media and many left-wing intellectuals came to visit him.
If some local residents took a dim view of his presence, others did not even know who he was. “At that time, I was a student and I listened to the radio, but we were not as informed as today and we were less concerned about what was happening in Iran”says a retiree, baguette under his arm.
Annual commemorations
Today, the house where the Ayatollah stayed has disappeared. On this narrow plot of land, at the edge of a road in this residential area, a dark green fence now protects a few steps, framed by fine arches and stilts in the colors of the Iranian flag (green, white, red), leading to a green space.
The site remains inaccessible to the public for most of the year, with the exception of February 2, when a commemoration is organized. “We see the gendarmes surrounding the scene. There is a little more noise than usual, but no excesses”slips Ludovic, based in Neauphle-le-Château for twenty-six years.
Every year, supporters of the Islamic Republic gather there to commemorate the Ayatollah’s return to Iran. This tribute, as well as a sign installed in his honor, caused a scandal in recent years. In 2023, the poster was finally removed in the face of outcry, particularly after the mobilization of the Femme Azadi collective. “Imagine if your neighbor stuck a photo of Hitler in his garden: it wouldn’t take 24 hours for someone to come and remove it”declared the president of the collective, Mona Jafarian, in a France Télévisions report on January 24, 2023.
Behind the image of a great progressive that he tried to convey, Khomeini was in reality an individual “ultraradical”. Faced with his visitors, he promised to establish democracy and restore equality between men and women – “while it already existed in Iran”. However, recalls Emmanuel Razavi, “Khomeini wrote several books that intellectuals have obviously not read. One of them explains how to kill homosexuals: by throwing them from the roof of a building, with their arms tied behind their back, by decapitating them with a saber or by burning them alive.
A religious opponent of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the Ayatollah is gradually leading a “political and terrorist resistance”. In 1963, “the shah launches the “White Revolution”, a series of progressive reforms, including the right to vote for women and an agrarian reform intended to redistribute part of agricultural land to Iranian peasants”recalls the Franco-Iranian reporter. However, these lands belonged largely to the Iranian clergy – from whom Khomeini came and where “servitude”. “In rural areas, the mullahs had all the powers », he continues.
On his return to Iran, Khomeini and his supporters executed numerous officers of the Shah’s army and attacked families suspected of being royalists. Mass executions were carried out and an Islamic authoritarian regime was established almost immediately.
Today, if the traces of his passage remain discreet in the Ile-de-France commune, the memories persist. “Neauphle is now known for that: we always hear about our town because of the Ayatollah. However, we also have Grand Marnier »regrets Claudine, resident of Neauphle-le-Château, where the famous liqueur was produced for 130 years.
