Protests erupted across Iran on Sunday following the announcement that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had been killed in US-Israeli military strikes.
The development has dramatically escalated tensions in the Middle East and sparked widespread public reaction in Iran, news agencies said.
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Iranian state television soon confirmed that Khamenei had been killed during the US-Israeli strikes and declared that Iran’s “leader of the Islamic Revolution has achieved martyrdom”. The government also introduced a 40-day state mourning and a seven-day official holiday.z
Large crowds took to the streets in cities across Iran in response to news of Khamenei’s death, Turkey’s Anadolu news agency reported. The agency cited Iranian media as saying protesters with Iranian flags had gathered in city centers to express their grief.
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In Tehran, hundreds gathered in Inkilap Square, holding up flags and posters of Khamenei and shouting slogans condemning the US and Israel amid calls for “inteqam,” or revenge, the AFP news agency reported.
People were also reported from Lorestan province, where men and women were seen marching in videos denouncing the US and Israel, “Neither compromise nor surrender, fight against America,” protesters chanted, according to the Tehran Times.
Also in the city of Qom, hundreds gathered at the shrine of Hazrat Masumeh to condemn the attacks. In Mashhad, mourners observed a symbolic gesture of mourning by hanging a black flag over the dome of the Imam Reza shrine, one of Iran’s most revered religious sites, and many were seen shedding tears around the shrine, news agencies reported.
However, Iran continues to retaliate after the US and Israeli attacks on Saturday. Several reports indicated that Israel was on high alert on Sunday after Iran launched a missile attack, with sirens blaring across Tel Aviv and other parts of the country. Phones across Israel sounded an advanced alert warning residents that a rocket, missile or drone attack was on the way, shortly before air raid sirens were activated in Israel during Sunday’s Iranian missile attack, news agencies reported.
“More missiles fired from Iran”
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed that rockets had been fired from Iran, prompting a nationwide state of emergency. Residents are advised to stay close to shelters and follow official guidelines
On Sunday, crowds gathered in southern Iran to call for revenge after the killing of Khamenei, international news agencies reported.
Demonstrators carrying portraits of Khamenei in the city of Shiraz called on the armed forces to avenge his death, chanting “Death to America” and “Death to Israel,” according to a video carried by the Tasnim news agency.
What next in Iran?
In a statement following the announcement of Khamenei’s death, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said the Iranian nation had lost a great leader, “one who was unparalleled in his era in purity of spirit, strength of faith, prudence in affairs, courage against arrogant powers and striving for the path of God.”
“His martyrdom at the hands of the worst terrorists and executioners of mankind is a sign of the justice of this great leader and the acceptance of his sincere services,” the IRGC said in a statement.
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Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, was quoted by the Tasnim news agency as announcing that an interim leadership council would be formed today in accordance with the constitution.
On Sunday, Larijani stressed to state television that the Iranian nation had foiled the plans of the United States and the Zionist regime with its presence.
Demonstrators in Shiraz chanted Death to America and Death to Israel.
Larijani said that by maintaining its unity and maturity, the Iranian nation neutralized the conspiracy of the US and Israel and broke the spell that the enemies had designed for the disintegration and dissolution of Iran.
