Cheers of joy filled Iranians streets as citizens celebrated the reports of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s death with celebratory music, dance and fireworks.
There is no confirmation from Iran yet, but US President Donald Trump said that “Khamenei, one of the most evil people in history, is dead”.
Social media is flooded with visuals of Iranians blaring music, cheering, clapping and honking their car horns to celebrate the news. News agency AFP has verified the video footage.
According to multiple witnesses and video recordings, the celebrations began even before Trump’s post.
In the many videos circulating on social media, loud cheers echoed across parts of Tehran as residents took to their windows to applaud and play loud music.
Loud, sustained whistles, cheers, and fireworks were seen in the viral videos.
Celebrations took place in Tehran, the nearby city of Karaj and the central city of Isfahan, said Reuters. Viral videos showed celebrations in other places, such as Shiraz and Abdanan.
Iranian activist and Journalist, Masih Alinejad, posted one such video with the message, “A video of Iranian people celebrating inside Iran, Am I dreaming? Hello, new world.”
In another video, Alinejad said, “Every morning I wake up reading that my people are being killed by Ali Khamenei. But this is the first morning in my life that I get the good news, and I want to run. I want to just run and shout, and shout out of joy,”
Iranians were also seen carrying pictures of protesters who were killed in the deadly crackdown on mass anti-government protests last month
However, according to AFP, Iranians are not yet fully coming out en masse into the streets to celebrate, as they are fearful after the January anti-government demonstrations.
Iranians in America celebrate
Iranians in Los Angeles also took to the streets to cheer the death of Khamenei on Saturday, joining protests in support of the US and Israeli strikes on Iran across the North American diaspora.
“It’s mixed feelings,” a demonstrator in Toronto told AFP. “It seems this brutal regime is going to be gone, but at the same time I am very concerned about the people in Iran.”
The demonstrator said he hoped the “people in Iran now get the courage to get in the street and try to overthrow” the government.
‘Evil’ Khamenei is dead
“Khamenei, one of the most evil people in History, is dead,” Trump wrote in a social media post. He warned of “heavy and pinpoint bombing” that he said would continue throughout the week and even beyond, part of a lethal assault the US has justified as necessary to disable the country’s nuclear capabilities.
The killing of Khamenei in the second Trump administration’s assault on Iran in eight months appeared certain to create a leadership vacuum, given the absence of a known successor and because the supreme leader had final say on all major policies during his decades in power.
