After the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iranian crowds celebrate and nurture hope for real change. US President Donald Trump urges them to seize the moment and take power. This situation stems from a military operation by the United States and Israel against the Iranian regime.
On March 1, 2026, Patrick Saint-Paul's editorial in Le Figaro describes reactions in Iran following the death of the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. According to the article, joyful crowds nurture hope for profound change after decades of repression under the mullahs' regime.
Donald Trump, portrayed as a repented isolationist, has adopted the mantra 'Peace through strength.' With Israel's support, he deployed an armada and decapitated the Iranian regime on the first day of the war in Iran. Detractors of the US president criticize this method as a return to 19th-century power politics.
The editorial asks: who will mourn Khamenei? Not Iranian women, nor the regime's victims, nor the French affected by attacks like the Drakkar bombing, attributed to Tehran's supporters. Since the 1979 revolution, the regime aimed to stay in power by drowning the people in blood and igniting Middle East conflicts with slogans like 'Death to the Great Satan, death to Israel!'.
Gilles Kepel's tribune links this death to US and Israeli strikes, a direct consequence of the war launched by Hamas on October 7. A new chapter in history opens in Iran, marking the end of an era begun in 1979.
