Sky News Australia anchor Rita Panahi stunned viewers after unleashing a profanity-laced curse in Persian aimed at Iran’s late leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during a broadcast segment.
“You son of a b—h, shame on you, burn in hell!” Panahi declared on air, according to a clip that rapidly circulated on social media over the weekend. The viral video amassed more than 100,000 views within hours, with the on-screen chyron reading: “RITA’S TAKE ON STRIKES ON IRAN.”
“This will be the shortest editorial I’ll ever deliver,” Panahi began on Sky News Australia. “All I have to say is that after 47 years of Islamist tyranny, the dictator is dead and Iran is on the verge of being liberated.”
She added that she “never thought I would see this day” and praised former U.S. President Donald Trump for his “courage” in authorizing military action against Iran, calling it a significant risk.
Panahi, a longtime conservative commentator and host of The Rita Panahi Show, has frequently criticized Iran’s regime, often referencing her childhood in Iran before her family fled to Australia as refugees in 1984.
Khamenei, who had ruled the Islamic Republic since 1989, was reportedly killed late Saturday during a large-scale joint U.S.-Israeli offensive that struck his fortified compound in central Tehran, according to Iranian state media and Western reports. The mission — referred to by U.S. officials as “Operation Epic Fury” — targeted multiple senior regime figures using real-time intelligence from a rare leadership meeting.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Trump both confirmed the compound’s destruction, with reports claiming around 40 top Iranian officials were also killed.
Born in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, to Iranian parents, Panahi spent her early years in Tehran before emigrating to Melbourne. She has been outspoken about her opposition to the Islamic Republic and its treatment of women.
Saturday’s outburst marked one of her most direct and personal denunciations of Iran’s leadership. The clip shows Panahi seated between two male panelists as she delivered the rebuke in Persian. The show’s branding — “REAL NEWS, HONEST VIEWS” — appeared beneath the segment.
It remains unclear whether the comment aired live or was part of a prerecorded segment. Sky News Australia has not issued a public response.
Panahi, who also fronts “Lefties Losing It” and appears on the panel show Outsiders, commands a sizable online following, with more than 500,000 followers on X.
