On 2 Mehr 1357/24 September 1978, Iraqi troops laid siege to Imam Khomeini's house in Najaf. The news of the siege angered the Muslims in Iran, Iraq and in other countries.
At a meeting of the foreign ministers of Iran and Iraq in New York, a decision was made to deport Imam Khomeini from Iraq.
In his visit to Imam Khomeini, Iraqi security chief, had indicated that if Imam wished to stay in Iraq he must give up his challenge and politics, and the Imam had strongly replied that, due to the responsibility he felt for the Muslim ummah, he was not willing to remain quiet nor was he willing to make a compromise.
On 12 Mehr, (early October) Imam Khomeini left Najaf for the border of Kuwait. The government of Kuwait did not let the Imam in on a hint by the Shah regime in Iran.
Previously, there was talk of Imam’s departure for Lebanon or Syria. However, after consulting his son (Hujjat al-Islam Sayyed Ahmad Khomeini), the Imam decided to migrate to France and on 14 Mehr, he entered Paris and two days later, he was stationed in the house of an Iranian, in Neauphle-le Chateau, a town on the outskirts of the French capital Paris.
Officials of the Palace de l'Elyse apprised the Imam of the views of the French President that the Imam must not indulge in politics.
The Imam's sharp reaction and answer was that such limitation contradicts the France's claim to democracy, and that he would rather, commute between airports, from one country to another than give up his objective.
Giscard d'Estaing, the then French President, has expressed in his memoirs that he had issued order that the Imam be expelled from France, but at the last moment the diplomatic delegates of the Shah, who were despondent in those days, advised Giscard d'Estaing of the danger of a vehement and uncontrollable reaction by the people, and had declared themselves exempt from the repercussions of such reaction, in Europe and in Iran.
During the four-month stay of Imam Khomeini in Paris, Neauphle-le Chateau was the most important news center in the world. Imam Khomeini's various interviews and his visits revealed to the world, his views of Islamic government, and the future aims of his movement.