- By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Large crowds of Iranians trooped into the streets of the capital, Tehran and other cities across Iran overnight, celebrating the news that Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had been killed during a day of coordinated U.S. and Israeli attacks.
Khamenei’s death, after nearly 40 years of authoritarian rule, represented a historic shift for Iran’s theocratic regime.
Many Iranians, inside and outside the country, rejoiced, even as the threat of more attacks by U.S. and Israeli forces cast a pall over some celebrations.
According to videos on Telegram verified by AFP, Iranians blared music, cheered, clapped and honked their car horns,
The celebrations began even before Trump’s post, in response to other reports of Khamenei’s death, shortly after 11 pm (1930 GMT), multiple witnesses and audio recordings show.
The witnesses said at the time that loud cheers echoed across parts of Tehran and residents took to their windows to applaud and play loud music.
Loud and sustained whistles, cheers were heard, and fireworks could be seen being launched on videos shared on social media.
At that point, people were not yet coming out en masse into the streets to celebrate, according to social media.
Many Iranians were fearful after the deadly crackdown on mass anti-government protests last month.
The initial wave of protests began in December, sparked by economic woes in the sanctions-hit country, but later snowballed into nationwide demonstrations that crested on January 8 and 9, posing one of the largest challenges to Iran’s leaders in years.
The unrest prompted a violent government crackdown that killed thousands of people.
The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency has recorded more than 7,000 deaths, while warning that the full toll is likely far higher.
Iranian officials acknowledge more than 3,000 deaths, but say the violence was caused by “terrorist acts” fuelled by the United States and Israel.
Earlier on Saturday, the United States and Israel launched a joint military operation against Iran, striking targets across the Middle Eastern nation after Iran failed to meet President Donald Trump’s expectations in nuclear negotiations.
Trump who announced the operation in an eight-minute video posted to his Truth Social account also called on Iranians to seize the chance to overthrow the Islamist regime.
He alleged that Iran “attempted to rebuild their nuclear programme and continue developing long-range missiles that can now threaten our very good friends and allies in Europe, our troops stationed overseas and could soon reach our American homeland.”
