Iranians Celebrate The Death Of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

Iranians celebrate worldwide after supreme leader is killed in Israeli strikes

Iranians across the country could be seen and heard celebrating the death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei after coordinated Israeli strikes overnight.

In one video, Iranians near Karaj, Iran, outside the capital of Tehran, took to the streets, honked their horns and cheered.

In social media videos, Iranians in Tehran cheered from their apartments, playing loud music and setting off fireworks as the news spread.

In Fuladshahr, people packed the streets, waving their arms in the air, whistling, honking and cheering over the news.

In Borazjan, Iran, celebrants chanted and, in Mamasani, they waved flags and danced.

People also celebrated in the Iranian cities of Shiraz and Abadan, “where the people are out on the streets till the wee hours of the night in celebration of an Iran that is on the brink of finding its freedom after almost five decades,” according to Lisa Daftari, editor at The Foreign Desk.

Iranian people also cheered the news in other parts of the world, such as Madrid, London, Berlin, Armenia and the United States.

Iranians react with joy and disbelief to Khamenei’s death

Celebration and stunned disbelief swept across parts of Iran on Saturday evening after US and Israeli officials announced that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei had been killed.

Across social media and in accounts from residents inside Iran, the news triggered an eruption of emotion—joy, shock and disbelief in equal measure.

One user wrote on X: “I’m crying, laughing, screaming and experiencing every feeling in the world in three seconds.”

According to sources in Tehran who were still able to communicate with the outside world through Starlink satellite internet, residents leaned out of windows or gathered on rooftops soon after the announcement, shouting in celebration.

Farzad, a Tehran resident, said the sound of whistling and honking motorcycles and cars quickly filled the air. “It just erupted all at once,” he said.

Despite severe internet disruptions, videos appearing to show people dancing and celebrating circulated online from cities including Karaj, Qazvin, Shiraz, Kermanshah, Isfahan and Sanandaj.

State media coverage appeared largely unchanged for hours after the reports. It was only in the early hours of Sunday that state television confirmed the news, declaring 40 days of national mourning and a week-long public holiday.

Meanwhile Iranian forces continued missile and drone attacks on Israel and other regional countries, including the United Arab Emirates.

Prince Reza Pahlavi addressed Iranians in a message saying that with Khamenei’s death the Islamic Republic had effectively reached its end and would soon be consigned to “the dustbin of history.”

“Any attempt by the remnants of the regime to appoint a successor to Khamenei is doomed to fail from the outset,” he said. “Whoever they place in his stead will have neither legitimacy nor longevity.”