Upvote:3
The 1964 speech was arguably a turning point in Khomeini's campaign against the Shah. The speech was against the Shah's giving U.S. servicemen "extraterritorial" privileges, the right to be tried for crimes in Iran in American, rather than Irani courts.
It cut pretty close to home and upset the Shah. The Shah didn't try to kill him, but did arrest and imprison him for six months. The final result was exile, and Khomeini stayed abroad for 14 years.
He returned to Iran in 1979, and "the rest is history."