TEHRAN -- Iranians on Friday began Ten-Day Dawn celebrations to mark the 46th anniversary of the victory of the Islamic Revolution that toppled the U.S.-backed Pahlavi regime.
The day marked the homecoming of the late founder of the Islamic Republic, Imam Khomeini, after several years of living in exile, with motorcycle parades held in the capital Tehran and other cities across the country.
The seating area of Imam Khomeini in Behesht-e Zahra, Tehran’s major cemetery in the south of the city, where he delivered his first speech upon return from exile in 1979 was adorned with flowers in a ceremony attended by thousands of people as well as several high-ranking officials.
“After 46 years, we have been able to establish resistance in the world and steer the world toward multipolarity,” Hamidreza Hajibabaei, the deputy speaker of the Iranian parliament, said during the event.
“Over the past 46 years, the Iranian people have consistently been in a defensive position in the war that America has waged against us, and the victor of this war has always been the Iranian nation,” he added.
“The enemy imposed an eight-year war on us, shot down our passenger plane, assassinated General Soleimani, and imposed sanctions on us. All these wars were initiated by the Americans against the Iranian nation, and these actions have led the Iranian people to consider America as their enemy and hold resentment toward it.” 
Over 46,000 programs have been organized by the Islamic Propagation Coordination Council to mark the anniversary this year. 
They include visiting the tombs of martyrs, holding 900 meetings with the families of martyrs and sounding the bells in 110,000 schools across the country to mark the anniversary.
On Thursday, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei paid tribute to Imam Khomeini at his mausoleum in southern Tehran suburbs.
Every year, Iranians mark the anniversary of their Islamic Revolution from February 1 to 11, known as the Ten-Day Dawn ceremonies. During the celebrations, Iranians take part in different events and activities to mark the occasion.
Led by Imam Khomeini, the Islamic Revolution was driven by anti-imperialist sentiments since former Iranian monarch Muhammad Reza Pahlavi was heavily dependent on Western powers, not least the United States.
By toppling the Pahlavi regime 46 years ago, the Iranian nation ended 2,500 years of monarchic rule and established a new political system – a republic based on Islamic values and democracy.