The death of Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during a joint military campaign by the United States and Israel on Saturday is being celebrated by the St. Louis-Iranian community.

Iranians in St. Louis are dancing and celebrating the military action in Iran.. They were chanting “USA thank you” “bye-bye Islamic Republic” pic.twitter.com/LPIxMZkWp1

— David Carson (@PDPJ) February 28, 2026

A group rallied in Forest Park and downtown St. Louis on Sunday to dance and chant “Freedom for Iran.” 

Pastor Raymond Gharabeygi told FOX 2 News the group was “shocked” and “happy.”

“This is what our people were looking for for a long time, and now we see that this is a first step,” Gharabeygi said.

Dr. Armin Ghobadi, an oncologist who moved to the United States in 2004, said he still has family inside the country.

“I think that this is the start of a new process that’s gonna bring Iranian people to the level they deserve,” Ghobadi told FOX 2 News.

“This is probably the happiest day of my life, of all Iranians all around the world,” Arian Madani Neishaboori told KMOV.

“I was just talking with my father, and he was like, we have lived for 47 years under the tyranny of this regime. The feelings in our heart, it’s unimaginable, undescribable, and it’s unlike anything, and this means huge hope for the people of Iran and huge disappointment for the IRGC, for the Islamic Republic forces. So, this is a key moment,” Madani Neishaboori said.

Meanwhile, a group calling itself the Party for Socialism and Liberation of St. Louis organized an “emergency protest” to “stop the war on Iran.”