by InTrieste
When reports circulated that Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, may have been killed in a military strike, more than 300 Iranian students living in Trieste gathered at the city’s Molo Audace on Saturday evening. The waterfront became a scene of celebration, with music, dancing and toasts, as many of the students expressed relief and joy at the possibility that the figure they associated with repression in their home country might no longer be in power.
The students, many of whom fled Iran in recent years to escape political and social constraints, embraced the news as a symbolic rupture with a regime they had actively resisted. In Tehran and other Iranian cities, independent media and social-media posts showed residents applauding from balconies and shouting slogans after similar reports emerged.
The claims about Khamenei’s death stem from statements by Israeli officials and allied sources following coordinated strikes by Israeli and U.S. forces that targeted key sites in Iran early Saturday, part of a broader escalation of tensions in the Middle East. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said there were “many signs” that Khamenei was killed, and some independent outlets reported celebrations in parts of Tehran.
Tehran has not formally confirmed the supreme leader’s death. Iran’s foreign minister told NBC News that, “as far as I know,” Khamenei was still alive, adding uncertainty to the conflicting accounts.
