Iran’s state media and regime supporters celebrated the death of U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham on Sunday, with state television hosts smiling on air and hardline media mocking the late lawmaker, while U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu mourned a close ally.“Graham dies, bringing Iran’s destruction to the grave,” read the headline on a report by Tasnim, the Iranian news agency affiliated with the regime. “The news was so sweet I read it twice,” one state TV host said of the news, and “the anti-Iran senator who fomented the war has gone straight to hell.”Regime supporters on social media shared an image showing several figures purportedly seeking revenge for February’s attack on Iran, with Graham’s face painted with a red X – the only one to be “eliminated”. The image reads: “We will continue to update.”
Saeed Mohammad Marandi, a professor at the University of Tehran, shared the news of Graham’s death, writing: “This is a shame. I hope he sees the oil price before he goes to hell on Monday.”Iran’s exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi expressed condolences and called Graham “a staunch friend of the Iranian people” and a defender of freedom. “I choose the Iranian people over the murderous Ayatollah,” Graham told a rally of Iranian opposition supporters in Munich in February. “It’s time for him to step down.”Pahlavi said Graham’s support of Iran’s Lion and Sun revolution earned him the nickname “Uncle Lindsay” among Iranians.
Trump, Netanyahu pay tribute
Trump called Graham “one of the greatest men and senators I have ever known” and a “hard-working patriot.” “Israel has lost one of its greatest friends. America has lost a great patriot. I have lost a beloved friend,” Netanyahu said.Graham, 71, died suddenly Saturday night after what his office described as a “brief and sudden illness.” US media reported that emergency responders received a call of cardiac arrest at his Capitol Hill home.
