The Posthumous Makeover of Ali Khamenei
The scale of death at his hands is almost impossible to grasp. (Atta Kenare/AFP via Getty Images)
While Iranians danced in the streets, major Western outlets dressed up Ayatollah Khamenei as a statesman instead of what he was: the architect of decades of terror at home and abroad.
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Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, is dead. He was killed Saturday morning when U.S. and Israeli strikes reduced his compound in Tehran to rubble. In the hours after his death, the world reacted in different ways. For many Iranians, both in their country and the diaspora, it was a day of celebration. This man, a symbol of oppression for millions—and a leader with the blood of tens of thousands of his own people on his hands—was gone.
But some Western media outlets saw it differently. In obituaries written about Khamenei, excuses were made, his legacy was whitewashed, and nuance was introduced where none was necessary.
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