Across Iran, Iranians could be seen and heard celebrating the after overnight coordinated Israeli strikes.
A video shows Iranians near Karaj—located outside Tehran, Iran’s capital—taking to the streets, honking horns, and cheering.
Social media videos capture cheering from their apartments, blaring loud music and setting off fireworks as the news circulated.
In Fuladshahr, residents packed the streets, waving their arms aloft, whistling, honking, and cheering about the news.
In Borazjan, Iran, those celebrating chanted, while in Mamasani, people waved flags and danced.
Celebrations also took place in the Iranian cities of Shiraz and Abadan. “In those places, people are out on the streets until the early hours of the morning, celebrating an Iran that is on the verge of gaining freedom after nearly five decades,” said Lisa Daftari, editor at The Foreign Desk.
Iranians living abroad also celebrated the news in locations like Madrid, London, Berlin, Armenia, and the United States.
“Iranians around the globe—from to Tehran—are taking to the streets in pure joy, celebrating the start of a new, free Iran,” Daftari told Digital.
“Iranians flooded the streets, cheering, clapping, waving the lion and sun flag, dancing freely, and singing the old national anthem. It’s difficult to fathom a people so hungry for freedom and desperate for justice that they are cheering as the cost of liberation.”
Los Angeles—home to the biggest Iranian community in the U.S.—saw hundreds of people come out on Saturday to wave Iranian and American flags.
Some attendees also held signs with slogans like “Make Iran Great Again.”
“I love America—every single thing about this country,” Iranian American journalist Masih Alinejad told on Saturday.
“I was raised in a country where I was brainwashed to chant ‘Death to America’—the very same country, how ironic, that has saved my life three times and is now supporting my people in Iran. They’re celebrating, and it’s out of pure joy.”
“Thank you, President Trump, for taking decisive action. This is what true leadership looks like.”
Los Angeles and other U.S. cities—including Boston; and New York City—hosted competing anti-war protests, as did several European cities.