Iranian state media and regime supporters celebrated the death of US Senator Lindsey Graham on Sunday, with state television presenters smiling on air and hardline outlets mocking the deceased lawmaker, while US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu mourned a close ally.“Graham dies, taking the destruction of Iran to the grave,” read the headline of a report by Tasnim, an Iranian news agency affiliated with the regime. One state TV host said of the news: “This news is so sweet that I’m reading it twice.” , and that the “war-mongering anti-Iran senator has gone straight to hell”.Regime supporters on social media shared a graphic showing several figures allegedly marked for revenge over the February attack on Iran, with Graham’s face crossed out with a red X — the only one “eliminated.” The image carried the words: “We will continue to update.”
Seyed Mohammad Marandi, a professor at the University of Tehran, shared the announcement of Graham’s death and wrote: “It’s a shame. I wanted him to see oil prices on Monday before he went to hell.”Iran’s exiled crown prince Reza Pahlavi offered condolences, calling Graham a “steadfast friend of the Iranian people” and a defender of freedom. Graham had told a gathering of Iranian opposition supporters in Munich in February: “I choose the Iranian people over the murderous ayatollah. It is time for him to go.”Pahlavi said Graham’s support for Iran’s Lion and Sun Revolution had earned him the title “Uncle Lindsey” among Iranians.
Trump, Netanyahu pay tribute
Trump called Graham “one of the greatest people and senators I have ever known” and a “hard-working patriot.” Netanyahu said: “Israel has lost one of its greatest friends. America has lost a great patriot. I have lost a beloved friend.”Graham, 71, died suddenly on Saturday evening after what his office described as a “brief and sudden illness.” US media reported emergency personnel had responded to a call for cardiac arrest at his Capitol Hill home.
