anti-America legacy that would last for decades." Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran Return to Iran Khomeini was not allowed to return to Iran during the Shah's reign (as he had been in exile). On 16 January 1979, the Shah left the country for medical treatment (ostensibly "on vacation"), never to return. Two weeks later, on Thursday, 1 February 1979, Khomeini returned in triumph to Iran, welcomed by a joyous crowd estimated (by the BBC) to be of up to five million people. On his chartered Air France flight back to Tehran, he was accompanied by 120 journalists, including three women. One of the journalists, Peter Jennings, asked: "Ayatollah, would you be so kind as to tell us how you feel about being back in Iran?" Khomeini answered via his aide Sadegh Ghotbzadeh: "Hichi" (Nothing). This statement—much discussed at the time and since—was considered by some reflective of his mystical beliefs and non-attachment to ego. Many also interpret the reply as reluctance to continue the interview. Others considered it a warning to Iranians who hoped he would be a "mainstream nationalist leader" that they were in for disappointment. To others, it was a reflection of an unfeeling leader incapable or unconcerned with understanding the thoughts, beliefs, or the needs of the Iranian populace. Khomeini adamantly opposed the provisional government of Shapour Bakhtiar, promising "I shall kick their teeth in. I appoint the government." On 11 February (Bahman 22), Khomeini appointed his own competing interim prime minister, Mehdi Bazargan, demanding, "since I have appointed him, he must be obeyed." It was "God's government," he warned, disobedience against him or Bazargan was considered a "revolt against God." During his time as a student and teacher, Khomeini had developed an "unorthodox personal philosophy" that drew from an obscure interpretation of Shia Islam which proposed that all power should derive from "a divinely appointed religious leader." Khomeini had first promised Iranians a new era where freedom of expression and the nation's oil wealth would be used for the benefit of the Iranian people, but once in Tehran, he implemented a radical Islamic agenda that went at odds with the desire of most of the Iranian public. Khomeini told Revolutionary Council that the new government would be "a government based on the Sharia", and that opposing this new government would mean also opposing the Sharia of Islam, and that "Revolt against God's government