Thousands of Iranians Mourn Ayatollah Khamenei's Death, Demonstrate Against US in Iran

Thousands of Iranians have assembled and mourned the death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei in Iran, following the joint US-Israeli attacks on the country.

The Details: Pictures and videos that have emerged from Tehran have shown protesters, mostly dressed in black and often crying, holding Iranian flags and pictures of the fallen leader. They have also reportedly shouted chants condemning the US and Israel. Demonstrations have also emerged across the country in other major cities like Qom and Mashhad. Qatari outlet Al Jazeera (Lean Left bias) reported that "tens of thousands" of Iranians assembled to mourn the killing of Khamenei.

Pro-Iran, Abroad: Pro-Iranian demonstrations have also broken out abroad. Most notably, at least 22 have been killed in anti-American demonstrations that turned violent outside the US Embassy in Pakistan, and police broke up crowds outside the US Embassy in Iraq. 

For Context: The majority of Iranians oppose the current regime, according to multiple surveys.

How The Media Covered It: Some mainstream Western outlets covered the pro-government demonstrations within Iran but framed them differently. NBC News (Lean Left) reported that in Tehran, "the mood was suspended between grief and disbelief" and that "there were no mass celebrations from the regime's opponents." NBC implied this was a directive from President Trump, however, and that "others, beyond Tehran and across social media, celebrated his death, dancing in the streets." Contrarily, Turkish state outlet Anadolu Agency (Center) and Associated Press (Left) played up the level of demonstrations within Iran. Anadolu wrote in its headline that "protests erupt[ed]" and reported "widespread public reaction." AP didn't publish written news coverage but shared a video and described "protests" with "death to America" and "death to Israel" chants. AllSides did not find coverage of the demonstrations within Iran from the right, though many covered the one outside the US Embassy in Pakistan.

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Updated 3/2/26 at 3:28pm ET to correct the misspelling of Khamenei's name.