Iranians across the country and around the world erupted in celebration following reports that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in overnight Israeli strikes.
Videos circulating on social media showed jubilant scenes in and around Tehran, as residents cheered from balconies, played loud music, and set off fireworks as the news spread. In Karaj, just outside the capital, crowds poured into the streets, honking car horns and shouting in celebration.
Similar scenes were reported in Fuladshahr, where people packed the streets waving their arms and whistling, while in Borazjan celebrants chanted and danced. In Mamasani, groups waved flags and danced openly, and in cities such as Shiraz and Abadan, people reportedly stayed outside into the early hours of the morning.
According to Lisa Daftari, editor at The Foreign Desk, the scenes reflected long-simmering public anger toward the Islamic Republic.
“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,” Daftari said.
Celebrations were not limited to Iran. Iranian communities abroad also took to the streets in cities including Madrid, London, Berlin, Armenia, and the United States.
“Iranian people all over the world, from Los Angeles to Tehran, are on the streets celebrating in sheer jubilation over the dawn of a new and free Iran,” Daftari told Fox News Digital. “It’s hard to imagine a people so starved for freedom, so desperate for justice, that they are cheering military strikes on their own soil as the price of liberation.”
In Los Angeles, home to the largest Iranian community in the U.S., hundreds gathered waving Iranian and American flags on Saturday.
“I love America. I love everything about this country,” Iranian-American journalist Masih Alinejad told Fox News. “I grew up in a country where I was brainwashed to say ‘Death to America’ — the same country that saved my life three times and is now helping my people in Iran. They’re celebrating out of joy.”
The unprecedented public celebrations underscored the depth of opposition among many Iranians to the Islamic Republic’s leadership and highlighted the hope among dissidents that the death of the supreme leader could mark the beginning of major political change after decades of authoritarian rule.
