A slew of mixed reactions, though not so much grief, flooded social media platforms as videos of Iranian women crying and dancing in joy after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s death in the recent US-Israeli strikes went viral.
Several Iranian women purportedly started what social media is calling the “Trump dance” trend, a set of dance moves supposed to be an ode to the US President for the strikes that took out the Iranian supreme leader. Follow live updates on US-Iran war
In contrast, thousands of Iranians were seen gathering in the squares of Tehran to mourn their leader, shedding tears for “martyr” Khamenei.
Iranian media confirmed Khamenei’s killing in the recent US-Israeli strikes as the Middle East became further engulfed in regional turmoil. Iran has vowed to avenge its supreme leader, warning the US and Israel of ‘fierce’ response.
The visuals and accounts from Iran and around the world reflect on one common note, and it was chants of “Death to America” and “Death to Israel” vs chants for hailing Khamenei.
Tears, joy, Trump dance
In Los Angeles, Iranian women were seen dancing to Trump’s signature jam, ‘YMCA’, jumping around in joy while also praising and thanking the US President.
One such viral visual was of the Iranian woman whose image of lighting a cigarette with Khamenei’s burning photo garnered massive attention on social. A handle on X shared a video of her dancing with a sea of other Iranians, captioned: “I said we’d dance on your (Khamenei’s) grave, didn’t I?”
Another visual saw three young Iranian women cheering, screaming in joy and dancing in their living room after receiving the news of Khamenei’s killing.
Several videos also surfaced of Iranian women shedding tears of ‘joy’ as they heard the news of the supreme leader’s death.
“I had tears rolling down my eyes,” a 24-year-old Nazanin was quoted as saying by the Guardian. She said that the streets were full of people celebrating, adding that no one outside could understand what Iranians “who were victims of this murderer feel right now”.
Mahsa Amini, Sarina Esmailzadeh, and Nika Shakarami, the three women who were killed in 2022, became icons of the ‘freedom for women’ campaigns, were also celebrated by Iranians after Khamenei’s death.
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A 20-year-old university student in Tehran, Mina, recalled seeing young boys and girls lying in pools of blood amid the Iranian government’s crackdown on protestors back in January. “The only thing in my head at that moment was to hope those responsible for their murder will face a worse fate. And today, that wish for vengeance I felt was fulfilled when I saw the news of Khamenei’s death,” she was quoted as saying.
A doctor in Rasht said that the day the news of Khamenei’s death came in, “it was one of the best nights of our lives”.
“It was actually my first time ever smoking a cigarette…We didn’t sleep at all. And we don’t even feel tired,” the ecstatic doctor was quoted as saying by the Associated Press.
A 33-year-old woman from Isfahan said she was crying from a mix of disbelief and joy when she heard that Khamenei was dead. She joined others to dance in the street and told Reuters that she hoped to “share my happiness with my people”.
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Actor Elnaaz Norouzi, an Iranian working in Indian cinema, also celebrated Khamenei’s death, calling it ” the most incredible news for us”.
“The news we’ve been waiting for, for 47 years, has arrived. Khamenei is dead. God is greatest,” she said in her Instagram Stories.
‘Ready to sacrifice’, ‘not happy’
On the other hand, some Iranian women and youngsters also shed tears for Khamenei, for their supreme leader. Hossein Dadbakhsh, 21, a university student in Mashhad, said Iran would avenge its leader.
“I am ready to sacrifice my life for Islam and for my Imam Khamenei. The Zionist regime and Trump will pay a heavy price for the martyrdom of my leader,” he said.
A primary school teacher, Atousa Mirzade, from the central city of Shiraz, said she could not be happy about Khamenei being killed by a foreign power. “I also cannot be happy because I don’t know what will happen to our country. We saw what happened in Iraq — chaos and bloodshed. I would prefer the Islamic Republic to that situation.”
In Pics | Crying, wailing, call for revenge: How Iranians mourned death of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
Netizens on social media were, however, torn over the slurry of reactions over Khamenei’s death, as conspiracy theories of Trump eliminating Khamenei to divert the limelight from the Epstein files surfaced. HT could not independently verify these claims/theories.
Netizens highlighted the 29-day gap between the release of the Epstein files and the US-Israeli strikes on Iran, saying, “Anyone else noticing this timing pattern?” Several such unverified theories and claims were floating on social media.
(with inputs from agencies)