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Flying into Iran in February 1979, former CBC News reporter Carole Jerome knew there was a good chance their plane would be shot down.

The aircraft was carrying Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, a Shia cleric, out of exile in Paris and returning him to Tehran where he intended to seize power from Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the U.S.'s closest ally in the Middle East.

"At that point we didn't know for sure if there were still any loyalty to the Shah or to the Royalist forces," Jerome told The Current's Anna Maria Tremonti.

"We were warned that there was a distinct possibility we might be shot out of the sky by Iranian phantom jets."

But Jerome said she was "too busy" to be scared, as she focused on reporting the cataclysmic events that were unfolding before her.

Listen to Carole Jerome's report from the 1979 flight:

Carole Jerome's report from the plane that brought Ayatollah Khomeini out of exile, Feb.4, 1979. 16:28

Monday marks the 40th anniversary of Khomeini's return, and the beginning of the revolution that swept the Shah from power and established the Islamic Republic.

Jerome watched the upheaval up close, reporting each twist and turn to Canadian audiences.

But she also had a personal connection to the revolution.

Jerome had fallen in love with Sadegh Ghotbzadeh, a close aide of Khomeini during his exile. He went on to become his foreign minister in the new regime.

Sadegh Ghotbzadeh in 1980. He was a close aide of Khomeini during his exile, and went on to become his foreign minister in the new regime. (Fox Photos/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Jerome says she fell for Ghotbzadeh "the moment [she] met him."

"He was extraordinarily charismatic and compelling," she remembered.

Jerome had journalistic reservations about being romantically involved with a prominent political figure in a story she was covering, but told Tremonti, "We don't really choose those things, do we."

When she disclosed the relationship to her bosses, they reviewed her work and — finding no bias — decided to trust she could remain impartial.

Carole Jerome on telling her CBC bosses that she was in a relationship with the Iranian foreign minister. 0:56

Fighting for a dream that turned into a nightmare

Ghotbzadeh had envisioned a modern republic, guided by the moral principle of Islam, Jerome said.

"He expected, they all expected, that once the revolution prevailed that the Ayatollah would … be a kind of an overall moral guide, but not a political leader."

Jerome remembers "very vividly" the day they realized that wasn't going to happen. She was at a news conference called by Khomeini on his return to Iran.

"Khomeini was so imposing, wearing his black robe and his turban and those scowling eyes and just no expression," she said of the event held at the Refah School in central Tehran.

She added that the first time she looked in Khomeini's eyes, it was like "looking into the abyss."

Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's supporters had believed he would act as a religious figurehead once the revolution was achieved. (The Associated Press)

At the news conference, she said, "he announced that religiously he has the right to declare this Provisional Revolutionary Government, and any opposition to this government will be considered blasphemy and will be punished according to the laws of Islam."

Such a punishment meant death, she explained.

Now that it was clear Khomeini did not intend to step back, Ghotbzadeh planned to challenge his position. But his plan never reached fruition.

In 1982, he was arrested for plotting to kill Khomeini and topple the Islamic Republic. Friends had tried to get him out of the country, Jerome said, but he refused.

"He didn't feel that he had the right to do that, that he'd helped to bring this nightmare upon his country, and that he felt a responsibility to try to stop it."

An entire life lived like that, fighting for a dream that turns into a nightmare. - Carole Jerome

He was tried that year and executed by firing squad.

Jerome learned of Ghotbzadeh's death during an early morning phone call with a CBC News colleague.

"They had shot him from the feet up, and … his beard had turned white when they went to bury him," she said.

Jerome feels the legacy of the Iranian revolution is the opposite of what he and his group wanted.

Decades later, she says she still misses Ghotbzadeh, and feels the tragedy "of an entire life lived like that, fighting for a dream that turns into a nightmare — his entire life."

Click 'listen' near the top of this page to hear the full conversation.

Produced by Julie Crysler.